Troyes

Who holds it

Name

Theobald III, count of Champagne

Title

Lord of the city

Since

1197

Born

1179

Family

House of Blois-Champagne

Confidence

high

The count's capital; the bishop, the chapters and the viscount hold rights inside it.

Lord in 1200

Count Theobald III, through his prevot and officers. Inside the city: Bishop Garnier holds the cathedral and his own men; the collegiate chapter of Saint-Etienne (the count's foundation, 1157) has its own jurisdiction; the lords of Chappes hold the hereditary viscounty.

What the town holds

• The count's palace and Saint-Etienne
• The cathedral of Saint-Pierre (the bishop's)
• The fair quarters and the Seine mills

How things stand that morning

The count's city, at peace, rebuilding after the 1188 fire. The cathedral chapter has been given the count's mills to help pay for the new cathedral.

Threats

• Fire
• The interdict, if Bishop Garnier shuts the churches during the fairs
• The count's crusade debts

Charter

None in 1200. The townsmen have no commune; Theobald IV grants Troyes a charter of franchise only in 1230.

Council

None of its own. The count's prevot governs; the fair wardens (gardes des foires) police the fairs.

Communities

A Jewish community under the count's protection, heir to Rashi's school (Rashi died at Troyes in 1105); the Templars, whose rule was set at the council of Troyes in 1129; Italian and Flemish merchants in fair time.

Fairs and markets

Two of the six fairs of Champagne: the hot fair or fair of Saint-Jean (from the first Tuesday after the fortnight of Saint John: 11 July in 1200) and the cold fair or fair of Saint-Remi (from 2 November). The mark of Troyes is the standard weight for silver (attested from 1147).

Militia

Not established for 1200.

Walls and castle

The old walled city (the cite) around the cathedral, rebuilt on the Roman wall about 891-892, with newer quarters outside; the count's palace beside Saint-Etienne, burned in 1188 and being rebuilt.

Trade and crafts

Money-changing and credit at the fairs; cloth, linen and hemp; fulling mills on the Seine channels (fifteen mills are attested in the later twelfth century, some for cloth).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 11 July 1200Hot fair opens.Depends on: Custom. Stopped by: War or interdict.
2. 2 November 1200Cold fair opens.Depends on: Custom. Stopped by: War or interdict.

Later, on the likely course

1. 24 May 1201 (later course)Theobald dies in his palace at Troyes and is buried in Saint-Etienne; Theobald IV is born at Troyes on 30 May.Depends on: His natural death. Stopped by: Play that changes his health.

Places of note

• Cathedral of Saint-Pierre: Bishop Garnier's see, burned in 1188.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The fire, the fairs and the absence of a commune before 1230 are well attested; the fair days are reckoned from later custom.

On the map: The district drawn is the city and its near suburbs, not a commune's banlieue (there is none).

Primary sources for Champagne

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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online

3 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.