Soissons

Who he is

Name

Raoul of Nesle (Raoul I, 'the Good')

Title

Count of Soissons

Since

1180, on the death of his brother Conon

Born

not pinned

Family

A younger son of the Nesle family of the Vermandois. His daughter Gertrude married Matthew II of Montmorency in 1193. His son John will succeed him.

Confidence

medium

Count 1180-1235; the details of his marriages are not pinned here.

Overlord

Philip II

What it holds

• The count's rights in Soissons (tolls, part of the justice, the count's castle)
• The villages of the county round the city

How it was acquired

Inherited from his brother in 1180.

Allies and rivals

Kin of Montmorency; the bishop and the commune of Soissons; the counts of Dreux at Braine nearby.

How things stand that morning

In possession.

Wealth

Tolls on the Aisne, wine and grain of the Soissonnais.

Military

Count's castle at Soissons; the commune's militia serves the king.

Places of note

• Soissons: City shared with the bishop and the commune.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The count is firm; what he holds outside the city on this date is not pinned.

On the map: Only the district round the city.

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.