Poitiers

Who holds it

Name

Eleanor, countess of Poitou (provost William of Lozay)

Title

Lord of the town

Since

see lord_1200

Confidence

high

The provost and the Montierneuf bourg are dated (1199); the commune of 1199 is reported but not checked.

Lord in 1200

Eleanor as countess: her palace and her provost, William of Lozay (May 1199). Bishop Maurice of Blazon (since 1198) in the cathedral close. The count is lay abbot of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand, which has its own bourg; the abbey of Saint-Jean (Montierneuf) holds a free bourg with a new market by Eleanor's confirmation of 4 May 1199.

Overlord

Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine, with John as her heir

How things stand that morning

Firmly in the duchess's hand; the seneschal of Poitou acts here in her absence.

Charter

Louis VII crushed an attempted commune in 1138. Eleanor is reported to have granted the townsmen a sworn commune during her 1199 tour, confirmed by Philip II after 1204; the 1199 act was not checked here. Poitiers is among the towns later governed by the Etablissements de Rouen.

Council

Mayor, jurors and peers on the Rouen model are attested later; their form in 1200 not pinned.

Communities

Canons of the cathedral and of Saint-Hilaire, the abbeys of Montierneuf, Saint-Cyprien and Sainte-Croix; masters and students. A Jewish community in 1200 is not documented here.

Fairs and markets

Weekly markets; the new market of Montierneuf's free bourg (1199). No annual fair pinned.

Militia

The commune's host; no figures.

Walls and castle

The old Roman wall around the cathedral and palace, and the great new circuit enclosing the whole plateau built under Henry II and Eleanor; the comital palace with its hall and the Maubergeon tower.

Trade and crafts

Crossing of the Clain on the road from Tours to Bordeaux and Spain; wine, grain and leather; the toll of the new bridge belongs to Montierneuf (1199).

Places of note

• Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand: Collegiate church whose lay abbot is the count

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The provost and the Montierneuf bourg are dated (1199); the commune of 1199 is reported but not checked.

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.