Nevers

Who holds it

Name

Herve IV of Donzy and Countess Mahaut, with the bishop of Nevers

Title

Lords of the city

Since

1199

Confidence

high

Lord in 1200

The count (Herve, for his wife) holds the castle and comital rights; the bishop of Nevers holds the cathedral quarter. The bishop's name in 1200 is left to the Church map.

How things stand that morning

Held by Herve and Mahaut.

Charter

None yet: the townsmen receive franchises from Countess Mahaut in 1231.

Communities

Canons of Saint-Cyr; the priory of Saint-Etienne (Cluny).

Walls and castle

Comital castle; a new enclosure was raised by Peter of Courtenay in the 1190s (often dated 1194; not pinned here).

Trade and crafts

The Loire bridge and port at the mouth of the Nievre; tolls on Loire shipping.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1231 franchise date and the wall attribution are from general literature, not checked here.

Primary sources for Nevers

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 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
• The Acts of Philip Augustus, with Delisle's Calendar, Various (the French royal chancery) (1179 to 1223). The king's own charters and treaties for the year: the peace of Peronne with Baldwin IX in January 1200, the treaty of Le Goulet with John on 22 May 1200, the marriage settlement for Louis and Blanche, the privilege for the scholars of Paris, grants to towns, abbeys and Norman lords, and the first acts of the king's new acquisitions in the Vexin, Evreux and Berry. Read online