Seneschal of Gascony

Who he is

Name

Brandin (Brandinus), a routier captain in John's service

Title

Seneschal of Gascony, acting for Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine and for John as her heir

Since

1199, month not pinned

Born

Not known

Family

Not known. A mercenary captain, not a Gascon baron.

Confidence

low

Modern lists of the seneschals of Gascony give Geoffrey de Celles in 1195, Brandin 1199-1201, Robert of Thornham 1201-1202 and Martin Algais 1202-1204. That Brandin already held the office on 1 January 1200 is likely but not pinned. His men are in Bordeaux at Easter 1200, when six men-at-arms in his pay kill his rival Mercadier there (10 April). No contemporary text we could see calls him seneschal on 1 January 1200.

Overlord

Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine and Gascony, who did homage to Philip II for the duchy at Tours in July 1199; John is her heir and holds the duchy of her (the duchy itself is the Aquitaine map record).

What it holds

• Bordeaux: the ducal palace-castle of the Ombriere, the prevote of Bordeaux, the duke's share of the tolls and the wine custom on the Garonne
• Bayonne: the castle, the prevote and the port dues; Labourd since the viscounts sold their rights in 1193, governed by a ducal bailiff at Ustaritz
• Dax: the city and its prevote, ducal since Richard's capture of it in 1177
• The duke's castle at La Reole beside the priory, and ducal rights in the Entre-deux-Mers (extent not pinned)
• Overlordship and the right to summon the host of the Gascon barons: Armagnac and Fezensac, Astarac, Pardiac, Lomagne, Albret, Tartas, Orthe, Soule, Marsan and Gabardan (held by Gaston VI), Fronsac, Castillon, Benauges, Blaye and the lesser lords
• Lesser lords of the Medoc and the Bordelais (Blanquefort, Lesparre and others) and of the Bazadais and the Landes (Tursan, Maremne, the lords of Gironde and Caumont), whose holders on 1 January 1200 we could not pin

How it was acquired

The office goes back to Henry II and Richard. The demesne grew under Richard: Dax and Bayonne were taken from their viscounts in 1177, and the viscounts of Labourd sold their rights in 1193.

Allies and rivals

Archbishop Helie de Malemort of Bordeaux, Eleanor's prelate and the duchy's chief churchman. The routier captain Mercadier, Brandin's rival, who served Richard and now serves Eleanor and John. Sancho VII of Navarre, Richard's ally, whose trade now passes through Bayonne. Raymond VI of Toulouse, John's brother-in-law and widower of Joan, who holds the Agenais of the duke as her dower for their son. Alfonso VIII of Castile, husband of Eleanor's daughter Eleanor, who will later claim Gascony as her dowry.

Gaston VI of Bearn, who serves Aragon for Bearn and Bigorre but holds Gabardan, Brulhois and Marsan in Gascony.

How things stand that morning

Quiet. The duchy passed to Eleanor on Richard's death (6 April 1199) and she toured Poitou and Saintonge that spring and summer, buying loyalty with charters to the towns, while John granted charters to Bordeaux (18 July 1199) and Saint-Emilion (1199). No Capetian force stands south of the Dordogne, and Philip's interdict does not reach the Angevin lands. The Gascon counts are in the duke's homage except where they look to Aragon (Bearn and Bigorre) or to Toulouse (Comminges, Couserans), and none is in revolt on 1 January 1200.

Wealth

Tolls and customs on wine leaving Bordeaux and Bayonne for England, Flanders and the north; salt and fish on the Adour; the pilgrim road to Santiago through Bordeaux, Dax and the passes; the profits of justice; the dues of Labourd.

Military

The castles of Bordeaux, Bayonne, Dax and La Reole; the Gascon host when the barons answer; John's routiers (Brandin's company, Mercadier's). The Bayonne galleys and ships can be pressed for service.

Threats

• The rivalry of routier captains, Brandin against Mercadier, in a land that resents both
• Gascon barons who serve the duke only when it suits them, and the pull of Aragon on Bearn and Bigorre
• A future Castilian claim to Gascony through Eleanor of England's dowry (pressed only after Eleanor's death in 1204)

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.

In 1200

1. January 1200 (crossing date not pinned)Eleanor rides south through Gascony and over the Pyrenees to Castile to choose one of Alfonso VIII's daughters for Louis of France.Depends on: The Angevin and Capetian talks going ahead. Stopped by: A breakdown of the talks; Eleanor's capture or illness on the road (she is about 75).
2. 9 April 1200 (Easter)Eleanor is back at Bordeaux with her granddaughter Blanche.Depends on: A safe return over the passes. Stopped by: Delay in Castile or on the road.
3. 10 April 1200Easter Monday: Mercadier, come to Bordeaux to pay his respects to Eleanor, is murdered in the city by six men-at-arms in Brandin's pay. Eleanor, as the story is usually told, hands Blanche to Archbishop Helie to take north for her marriage and retires to Fontevraud.Depends on: Both captains being at Bordeaux at Easter and their quarrel left unchecked. Stopped by: The seneschal or the duchess keeping the two companies apart.
4. 22 May 1200Treaty of Le Goulet: John is accepted by Philip as heir to all his brother's French lands, Aquitaine included, and does liege homage; Gascony is not touched by the territorial terms.Depends on: Both kings willing to settle. Stopped by: A failure of the talks, which would leave the 1199 truce as the only settlement.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201 (after the year)Robert of Thornham replaces Brandin as seneschal, followed by Martin Algais in 1202.Depends on: John's choices. Stopped by: Brandin keeping John's favour.

Places of note

• Castle and palace of the Ombriere, Bordeaux: The ducal residence and seat of the seneschal's court.
• Castle of Bayonne: Ducal castle commanding the Adour and the Nive.
• Ustaritz: Seat of the ducal bailiff of Labourd since 1193.
• Dax: City and prevote ducal since 1177.
• Castle of La Reole: Ducal castle over the Garonne beside the priory of Saint-Pierre.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes describe the province of Auch as 'under the duke of Aquitaine and the Pyrenean counts'; in 1199 Bearn and Bigorre in fact answer to the king of Aragon (Gaston VI's homage at Huesca in 1187; Alfonso II's investiture of him with Bigorre in 1192), so the duke's lordship there is nominal.

Evidence: The office and the ducal demesne are well attested; the holder on 1 January 1200 rests on modern lists of seneschals and is not pinned to the day.

On the map: Only Labourd is drawn as ducal land; Bordeaux, Bayonne and Dax are drawn by their town records, and the ducal rights in the Entre-deux-Mers are too scattered to draw. The rest of Gascony takes its colour from the barons who held of the duke.

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.