Vermandois and Valois

Who he is

Name

Eleanor of Vermandois (Alienor, Eleonore)

Title

Countess of Vermandois (styled countess of Saint-Quentin) and of Valois

Since

Valois kept by the agreement of La Grange-Saint-Arnoul (20 March 1182); part of the Vermandois after Boves (1185); a life interest in the eastern Vermandois after Philip of Alsace died in 1191

Born

1148 or 1149; aged about 51

Family

Daughter of Raoul I of Vermandois and Petronilla of Aquitaine; sister of the late Elisabeth, wife of Philip of Alsace. Four times married: Godfrey of Hainaut-Ostrevant (died 1163), William IV of Nevers (died 1168), Matthew of Alsace, count of Boulogne (died 1173), and Matthew III of Beaumont-sur-Oise (married 1175; said to be divorced in 1192, though some historians think the marriage lasted). No living children.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia (Eleanor; County of Vermandois). Her lands revert to the king if she dies without children; she dies in June 1213.

Overlord

Philip II, to whom her lands revert

What it holds

• Saint-Quentin and the eastern Vermandois: Ribemont, Origny, Vermand, Bohain and the land between the Somme and the Oise [the exact list on this date is not pinned]
• The Valois: Crepy-en-Valois, La Ferte-Milon, Villers-Cotterets and the forest of Retz, Vez
• The homage of the Vermandois barons east of the king's Peronne (Ham, Moy and their like) [not pinned]

How it was acquired

Inheritance from her sister Elisabeth (died 1183), won from Philip of Alsace through the king's arbitration (1182, 1185) and the settlement after 1191.

Allies and rivals

The king, her heir; the chapter of Saint-Quentin; the commune of Saint-Quentin; her Beaumont husband or former husband; the lords of Coucy and Guise as neighbours.

How things stand that morning

In possession for life, at peace with the king, with Flanders settling on 2 January.

Wealth

Saint-Quentin's cloth and grain, tolls on the Somme and Oise, the Valois forests.

Military

Castles of Saint-Quentin, Ribemont, Crepy and La Ferte-Milon; the communal militia of Saint-Quentin.

Threats

• Her age and the reversion to the crown.

Places of note

• Saint-Quentin: Chief town of her Vermandois.
• Crepy-en-Valois: Chief town of the Valois.
• Ribemont: Castle.
• La Ferte-Milon: Castle.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The division of 1191-92 is firm in outline (the king took Peronne and its dependencies at once; she kept a life interest in the eastern part with the title countess of Saint-Quentin). Village-level bounds are approximate.

On the map: Rough outlines; lesser baronies inside are not cut out.

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.