Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · Royal demesne of Philip II · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Prévôté of Paris

The king's chief officer in Paris, sitting at the Chatelet: he farms the royal revenues of the city and banlieue, keeps order, judges the king's men and leads the Paris contingent.

The bishop, the chapter of Notre-Dame and the great abbeys (Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Sainte-Genevieve, Saint-Martin-des-Champs) keep their own justice over their quarters, and the scholars claim the bishop's.

Who he is

Name
Thomas (the prevot named in the 1200 privilege to the scholars); later in 1200 Robert of Meulan and Pierre du Thillay act together as the king's prevots at Paris
Title
Prevot of Paris
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
medium

Thomas is known from the 1200 affair of the students; that he is in office on 1 January 1200 is likely but not pinned. Pierre du Thillay, a knight of Gonesse, first appears about 1200 with Robert of Meulan as the king's prevot at Paris (Francia 30/1, 2003).

Overlord

Philip II

What it holds

  • The Chatelet and the king's justice in Paris
  • The royal revenues of the city: tolls, the halls at Champeaux, the bakers' and butchers' dues
  • The king's villages of the banlieue

How it was acquired

Royal office; prevots farmed the revenues.

Allies and rivals

The water merchants of Paris; rivals: the bishop's and abbeys' justice, the masters and scholars.

How things stand that morning

In office under the king. The quarrel with the scholars that ends in the 1200 privilege has not yet happened.

Wealth

Farm of the Paris revenues.

Military

The Paris militia and sergeants; the Chatelet.

Threats

  • The students' riot of 1200 and the king's anger at his prevot.

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, month not pinnedThomas leads an armed attack on a students' hostel; the king imprisons him and grants the scholars freedom from the prevot's justice.Depends on: The brawl taking place. Stopped by: A different prevot or a calmer town.

Places of note

  • Grand Chatelet: Seat of the prevot.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The office is firm; the holder on this exact date is not.

On the map: The prevote's outer bounds are not pinned.

Primary sources for France (royal)

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
  • 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
  • Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. 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
  • Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online

15 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.

Sources and studies

  1. Pierre du Thillay, knight and lord (Francia 30/1, 2003), summary
  2. University of Paris (the 1200 privilege)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.