Blois, Chartres, Châteaudun

Who rules

Name

Louis (Louis de Blois)

Title

Count of Blois, Chartres and Châteaudun; count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis in right of his wife

Since

1191, on the death of his father Theobald V at Acre; his mother Alix governed for him until 1197

Born

1172 (aged about 27)

Family

Son of Theobald V of Blois and Alix of France (daughter of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine; died 1197 or 1198): nephew of Philip Augustus and of King John, first cousin of Theobald III of Champagne.

Confidence

high

Wikipedia lives of Louis, Alix of France and Margaret of Blois.

Overlord

Philip II, king of France

The realm that morning

At peace; planning the crusade.

Threats

• Philip's displeasure over the Angevin alliance
• The count's coming absence on crusade with a young heir
• The interdict

Ruler

Louis, count of Blois (about 27).

Consort

Catherine of Clermont, countess of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis in her own right since her father Ralph I, constable of France, died at Acre in 1191.

Heirs and children

Theobald (VI), his heir (birth year not pinned; count 1205-1218); Ralph and Joan died young. Louis's brother Philip is alive (dies 1202). Sisters: Margaret, wife of Otto I, count palatine of Burgundy (consort 1190-1200), with two small daughters; Isabelle, wife of Sulpice III of Amboise; Alix, abbess of Fontevraud.

Officers

Not pinned in the sources consulted. In Chartres the viscount and the bishop's vidame hold hereditary offices; in the Dunois the viscount (Geoffrey).

Court winter 1199 in 1200

Not pinned; Blois or Chartres. He was at Écry in Champagne on 28 November 1199.

Treaties and wars

Went over to Richard's coalition in the late 1190s, with Baldwin IX of Flanders. With Richard dead and the crusade vowed, he is not at war with Philip that morning, but no formal reconciliation is pinned; Baldwin makes his peace at Péronne on 2 January 1200.

Marriages

Louis to Catherine of Clermont (date not pinned). His widowed sister Margaret will marry Walter II of Avesnes after Otto's death.

Rome and the interdict

A crusader under papal protection since 28 November 1199. The interdict decreed at Dijon falls on the king's lands; whether the bishop of Chartres, Renaud de Mouçon, applies it in the Chartrain is not pinned. The province of Sens, to which Chartres belongs, has no archbishop (Michel de Corbeil died 28 November 1199).

Coinage

Three comital coinages: blésois (Blois), chartrain (Chartres) and dunois (Châteaudun).

The host

The count's knights and the service of his vassals: the viscount of Châteaudun, the lords of Fréteval, Amboise (for Chaumont), the Perche-Gouet baronies, Saint-Aignan. No figures.

Vassals

Viscount Geoffrey of Châteaudun (Mondoubleau); the lords of Fréteval; Sulpice III of Amboise for Chaumont; the Perche-Gouet baronies (Montmirail, Authon, Brou, Alluyes, La Bazoche-Gouet; holder in 1200 not pinned); Saint-Aignan in the Berry march; the Chartrain castellanies (Courville, Illiers and others). The lords of Beaugency on the Orléanais border are often counted among Blois vassals; not pinned for 1200.

Borders with the royal demesne

East: the royal Orléanais begins at Beaugency and the forest of Orléans; Janville, Artenay and Étampes are royal. North: Épernon (Montfort) and Nogent-le-Roi, Dreux (count of Dreux). The Chartrain, Dunois and Blésois are solidly Blois. West: Touraine (John) at Chaumont and Amboise, Vendôme (Angevin vassal) on the Loir, Maine at Mondoubleau and Saint-Calais.

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. 2 January 1200Baldwin IX makes peace with Philip at Péronne; Louis's former ally leaves the Angevin camp.Depends on: Already agreed. Stopped by: A last-minute break.
2. 13 January 1200Otto I, count palatine of Burgundy, is murdered at Besançon; Louis's sister Margaret is left regent for their daughters (1200-1208) and will marry Walter II of Avesnes.Depends on: Natural course of the plot. Stopped by: Play warning Otto.
3. 1200-1201Crusade planning with Theobald III and Baldwin IX; envoys to Venice (treaty of April 1201).Depends on: The leaders living. Stopped by: War at home.

Later, on the likely course

1. 24 May 1201Theobald III dies.Depends on: Natural course. Stopped by: Not likely.
2. 1202Louis leaves for the East with a parting gift of money from John; killed at Adrianople on 14 April 1205.Depends on: The crusade sailing. Stopped by: Staying home.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Family and crusade dates secure; officers and his formal standing with Philip that morning not pinned.

On the map: Drawn through Count of Blois (the three counties), loi-clermont, the vassal records and the anchors.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• 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
• 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
• Documents of the French Royal Treasury of Charters, vol. 1 (755 to 1223) (755 to 1223; the archive was organised from the 1190s). The treaties and bonds the French crown kept in its own archive, printed in date order. 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