Montluel

Who he is

Name

Humbert II of Montluel

Title

Lord (sire) of Montluel

Since

1195

Born

not pinned

Family

The sires of Montluel, named from the 11th century (Humbert I); kin of the dauphins of Viennois. Humbert II rules 1195-1236; his father is credited with building the castle and the chapel of Saint-Barthélemy about 1170-1176. His grandson Humbert IV grants the town its franchise charter on 6 March 1276.

Confidence

medium

Geneawiki page on Montluel (local history compilation).

Overlord

Later sources make the count of Savoy their suzerain; for 1200 this is not pinned, and the ground is imperial.

What it holds

• Montluel: the castle (built about 1170-1176) and the settlement on the Côtière
• The villages of the Côtière round Montluel (extent not pinned)

How it was acquired

Inherited; the house is attested from the 11th century.

Allies and rivals

Kin of the dauphins of Viennois; rivals of the sires of Beaujeu (Miribel) and of the Thoire and Villars (Trévoux).

How things stand that morning

Held by Humbert II. No side in the throne war recorded.

Wealth

The road from Lyon towards Geneva and the Bugey at the foot of the Côtière; grain and fish ponds of the Dombes edge.

Military

The castle of Montluel; the town wall comes only with the charter of 1276.

Threats

• The Beaujeu pushing across the Saône into the Dombes
• The archbishop of Lyon's county next door

Places of note

• Montluel castle: Castle of the sires

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One local history compilation; the lord's dates are given there, the extent of the lordship is not.

On the map: Extent inferred from the castle's position; the villages' tenure in 1200 is not pinned.

Primary sources for Empire

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.

• Annals of Marbach (compiled to 1238, the section on 1198 to 1210 written in the early 13th century). Alsatian annals on the Staufen side of the Upper Rhine. Read online
• Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
• Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
• Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
• Chronicle of Reinhardsbrunn; Chronicle of St Peter's, Erfurt (Erfurt chronicle in the 13th century; Reinhardsbrunn compilation about 1340 to 1349 from older annals). The two Thuringian chronicles. Read online
• Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. Read online
• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
• Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online

8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.