Perche

Who he is

Name

Geoffrey III (Geoffroy III du Perche)

Title

Count of Perche

Since

1191, after his father Rotrou IV was killed at the siege of Acre

Born

Not pinned (an adult crusader by 1190)

Family

Son of Rotrou IV and Matilda of Blois-Champagne, so first cousin of Philip Augustus, Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois. Wife (married 1189 at Rouen): Matilda of Saxony (born 1172), daughter of Henry the Lion, niece of John and sister of Otto IV. Children: Thomas (born 1195, so about four; the heir) and Theobald (later a deacon of Tours). Brothers: Stephen (a crusader) and Rotrou, count-bishop of Chalons.

Confidence

medium

In 1193-94 he sided with John (then allied to Philip) against the captive Richard; in 1194 he took Moulins and Bonsmoulins, which his father had ceded to Henry II; Richard imprisoned him and seized his lands until autumn 1195. He took the cross with his brother Stephen (Villehardouin; date not pinned, late 1199 or early 1200) and dies at Soissons in Lent 1202 before sailing.

Overlord

Philip II for Mortagne and Nogent; John, duke of Normandy, for Bellême; Richard and John for his English manors

What it holds

• Mortagne, the comital seat
• Bellême and its forest, held of the duke of Normandy
• Nogent-le-Rotrou and its castle
• Longny, Remalard and the forests of the Perche
• Moulins-la-Marche and Bonsmoulins, taken from Normandy in 1194; probably still the count's in 1200, since Philip took them from the Perche inheritance only after 1217
• Patronage of La Trappe and Thiron
• English manors in Suffolk, Essex and Kent granted by Richard (1189-90), once Henry of Essex's

How it was acquired

Inherited 1191.

Allies and rivals

Kin on both sides: Philip, Theobald III and Louis of Blois (cousins); John and Otto IV (by marriage). Neighbours: the count of Alencon, the lords of Maine, the Montfort-Evreux and Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais lords.

How things stand that morning

Holds his county. Allegiance on 1 January 1200 not pinned in the sources checked: leaning to John, but likely neutral under the truce and bound for the crusade. Realm is set to crown because Mortagne and Nogent answer to the king of France; Bellême is drawn as a separate part held of the duke.

Wealth

Forests and iron of the Perche, tolls on the roads from Chartres to Alencon and Le Mans, Nogent's market; he sold tolls to abbeys to pay crusade debts after 1191.

Military

Castles of Mortagne, Bellême, Nogent-le-Rotrou; a crusading household.

Threats

• Being caught between the kings on the Norman march
• Crusade debts

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. 1200, date not pinnedTakes or confirms his crusade vow with Stephen and the barons of the Perche, which removes him from the war.Depends on: The Ecry movement Stopped by: War on his borders

Places of note

• Bellême: Castle held of the duke of Normandy
• Nogent-le-Rotrou: Castle Saint-Jean

Where the sources disagree

• Allegiance not pinned; the campaign may rule. Medieval Lands and Kathleen Thompson's study of the Perche (Power and Border Lordship, 2002) are the sources to settle it.

Evidence: Family and lands fair; his side in 1199-1200 is inferred, not documented here.

On the map: The Perche-Gouet (Brou, Montmirail, Authon) is not the count's and is left out; the county's edge is approximate.

Primary sources for Held of the king

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 Andres, William of Andres (about 1220 to 1234). The chronicle and cartulary of a small abbey between Guines and Ardres, near the border of Flanders and Boulogne. 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
• 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
• 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
• Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online
• Deeds of Philip Augustus; The Philippide, William the Breton (Guillaume le Breton) (Gesta about 1214 to 1220; Philippide 1214 to 1224). William abridged Rigord for the years before 1207 and then continued him, so for 1200 the Gesta is a shortened Rigord with a few added touches: the Le Goulet settlement, Blanche's marriage, and the interdict. Read online
• History of the Counts of Guines, Lambert of Ardres (about 1196 to 1203, unfinished). A house history of the counts of Guines and lords of Ardres, written while Count Baldwin II and his son Arnold were alive and finishing in 1203. Read online

4 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.