Maine

Who he is

Name

John (Jean sans Terre)

Title

Count of Maine

Since

April 1199 by succession; Le Mans was in Arthur's and Philip's hands from late April 1199 and back in John's by September 1199

Born

24 December 1166 (aged 33)

Family

As for Anjou. Richard's widow Berengaria claims dower in Maine; it is not delivered.

Confidence

high

Holder certain; control shifted twice in 1199.

Overlord

Philip II in law; John has not yet done homage (Le Goulet, May 1200). Arthur did homage to Philip for Maine in 1199.

What it holds

• The city of Le Mans with the comital castle and the mint of the mansois penny
• Château-du-Loir, comital since the twelfth century through Erembourg of Maine
• Overlordship of Mayenne, Laval, Beaumont, Sillé, Sablé, La Ferté-Bernard, Montfort-le-Rotrou and the Saosnois (held by the lords of Alençon)
• The ruined site of Ballon, razed by Philip in 1199

How it was acquired

Maine came to the Angevins through Erembourg of Maine's marriage to Fulk V (about 1110); Henry II and Richard held it as counts.

Allies and rivals

William des Roches (seneschal, lord of Sablé in right of his wife); Juhel III of Mayenne and Guy V of Laval, whose loyalty in 1199 was divided; Philip II, who razed Ballon; Arthur.

How things stand that morning

John holds Le Mans and the comital castles; William des Roches governs for him. The barons hold their own castles and have not fought John since September 1199. Ballon lies razed. No French garrison is known in Maine that morning.

Wealth

The mansois penny (deniers mansois), the Le Mans market and its cloth and leather, tolls on the Sarthe and Loir, comital forests (Bercé, which Arthur had granted to William des Roches in 1199).

Military

The castle and walls of Le Mans (said to have been slighted by John in 1199 for receiving Arthur: not pinned), Château-du-Loir; the barons' castles at Mayenne, Laval, Sablé, Sillé, Beaumont, Fresnay and Sainte-Suzanne.

Threats

• Philip and Arthur returning from the east, as in spring 1199
• Baronial defections (Mayenne, Laval) if Arthur's party revives
• Berengaria's unpaid dower claim, which the pope will take up

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 22 May 1200Le Goulet confirms Maine to John.Depends on: The truce of January 1200 holding. Stopped by: A collapse of the truce.
2. 1200-1201Berengaria presses her dower claim (in Maine and elsewhere) through the pope; John stalls.Depends on: John's finances and his relations with Rome. Stopped by: John settling the dower.

Places of note

• Le Mans: Comital city and castle
• Château-du-Loir: Comital castle on the Loir
• Ballon: Castle taken and razed by Philip in 1199; the quarrel over it drove William des Roches to John

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The April and September 1199 episodes at Le Mans are well attested; the slighting of the walls in 1199 is reported in later accounts and is not pinned here.

On the map: Follows the later province of Maine less the Saosnois (Mamers), which the lords of Alençon held; the Perche-Gouet and Montmirail edge is approximate.

Primary sources for Angevin lands

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. Read online
• Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. Read online
• The Great Chronicle of Tours, Anonymous (a canon of Saint-Martin of Tours) (about 1227). The Loire valley's view of the Angevin succession. Read online
• Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online

14 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.