Limoges

Who holds it

Name

Bishop Jean de Veyrac (the Cite); the abbot of Saint-Martial and Viscount Guy V (the Chateau)

Title

Lord of the town

Since

see lord_1200

Confidence

medium

Two-town structure and crafts well known; institutions in 1200 not pinned.

Lord in 1200

Two towns side by side. The Cite, round the cathedral of Saint-Etienne, is the bishop's (Jean de Veyrac, since 1198). The Chateau, round the abbey of Saint-Martial, is shared between the abbot and Viscount Guy V, whose castle stands there, against townsmen who want self-government.

Overlord

Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine, with John as her heir

How things stand that morning

The viscount's town sits in a lordship unreconciled with John (see Limoges viscounty); the bishop is Eleanor's man.

Charter

No commune; the Chateau's townsmen have customs and will have consuls (attested later); state in 1200 not pinned.

Council

Not pinned for 1200.

Communities

The abbey of Saint-Martial and its chroniclers; the cathedral chapter; enamel and goldsmith workshops.

Fairs and markets

Markets and the great feasts of Saint-Martial.

Militia

Townsmen of the Chateau; no figures.

Walls and castle

The Cite and the Chateau each walled; the viscount's castle in the Chateau. Both towns suffered in the sieges of 1183.

Trade and crafts

Enamelled metalwork (opus lemovicense) for altars and shrines; silver and cloth; the pilgrimage to Saint-Martial on the road to Compostela.

Places of note

• Abbey of Saint-Martial: Heart of the Chateau and its pilgrimage

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Two-town structure and crafts well known; institutions in 1200 not pinned.

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.