Meulan

Who he is

Name

Robert IV of Meulan (Robert de Beaumont; Robert II in some English lists)

Title

Count of Meulan; lord of Beaumont-le-Roger, Brionne and Pont-Audemer

Since

1166, on the death of his father Waleran

Born

About 1142 (not pinned)

Family

Son of Waleran of Meulan and Agnes of Montfort (of the Evreux-Montfort house). Wife: Maud of Cornwall, daughter of Reginald, earl of Cornwall. His eldest son Waleran died in 1191; his surviving son Peter is his heir. Daughters married into the Norman baronage (one, Mabel, to William de Reviers, earl of Devon).

Confidence

medium

A lord of two allegiances whose Norman lands were confiscated more than once; Philip dispossesses him of Meulan in 1203-04 and he dies an exile (1204). His exact dealings in 1199 are not pinned.

Overlord

John, duke of Normandy, for the Norman honours; Philip II for Meulan itself

What it holds

• Meulan, its castle and Seine bridge (held of the king of France)
• Beaumont-le-Roger, castle and honour, with the priory of La Sainte-Trinite
• Brionne castle
• Pont-Audemer, castle, town and Risle bridge
• Vatteville-la-Rue and the Brotonne forest
• English manors (not detailed)

How it was acquired

Inherited 1166.

Allies and rivals

Kin of the Montforts and the earls of Devon; his Norman neighbours Harcourt, Montfort-sur-Risle and the earl of Leicester (his Beaumont cousin).

How things stand that morning

Holds Meulan under Philip and his Norman honours under John. No open defection this winter.

Wealth

Pont-Audemer's port and tanning, the Seine toll at Meulan, forests of Brotonne and Beaumont.

Military

Castles at Meulan, Beaumont-le-Roger, Brionne, Pont-Audemer, Vatteville.

Threats

• Debt
• Being forced to choose between the kings
• Confiscation of the Norman lands

Places of note

• Beaumont-le-Roger castle: Head of the Norman honour
• Pont-Audemer: Castle and town on the Risle

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Holdings well known; dated evidence for his conduct in 1199-1200 not found in the sources checked.

On the map: Castle districts only; the honours' scattered fiefs are not drawn.

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.