Royal baillis

Who he is

Name

Guillaume de la Chapelle is attested as bailli in the Orleanais in 1202-03, working with Pierre du Thillay; other names on 1 January 1200 are not pinned

Title

Baillis (bailivi) of the king

Since

The office is set out in the ordinance-testament of 1190

Born

not pinned

Family

Knights and clerks of modest Ile-de-France families, chosen for loyalty

Confidence

medium

The account of 1202-03 groups prevotes under baillis who travel in small teams; fixed bailliages (Senlis, Sens, Vermandois, Bourges) are later.

Overlord

Philip II

What it holds

• Assizes and the king's pleas
• Oversight of the prevots' farms
• Execution of royal orders and inquests

How it was acquired

Created by the 1190 ordinance, building on earlier itinerant justices.

Allies and rivals

The prevots, whom they check; the barons, whose courts they encroach on.

How things stand that morning

In operation across the demesne; names and circuits on 1 January 1200 not pinned.

Wealth

Paid wages.

Military

Command local levies when ordered.

Places of note

• The Temple, Paris: Where the accounts are rendered and the treasure kept.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The system is well known from the 1190 ordinance and the 1202-03 account; individual assignments in 1199-1200 are not.

On the map: Not drawn: the baillis had no fixed districts in 1200.

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.