Duchy of Brabant

Who rules

Name

Henry I (Hendrik I, Henri I)

Title

Duke of Lotharingia (Lothier) and of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, count of Leuven and Brussels

Since

Styled duke of Brabant from 1183 in his father's lifetime; sole ruler from Godfrey III's death in 1190, when Henry VI confirmed the ducal rank

Born

About 1165

Family

House of Leuven (Louvain). Son of Godfrey III of Leuven and Margaret of Limburg, so a nephew of Duke Henry III of Limburg. Brother of Albert of Leuven, bishop-elect of Liege, murdered at Reims on 24 November 1192. Half-brother of William, lord of Perwez (Godfrey III's son by Imagina of Loon).

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia and de.wikipedia on Henry I; the ADB article (de.wikisource); de.wikipedia on Otto IV.

Overlord

The king of the Romans, for the duchy and the margraviate: on 1 January 1200 Henry recognises Otto IV.

What the realm holds

• County of Leuven and the duke's lands in the Hageland and on the Gete (Tienen, Zoutleeuw, Landen)
• County of Brussels with Vilvoorde (charter of 1192)
• The Roman pays (Walloon Brabant): Nivelles (advocacy of the abbey), Genappe, Wavre, Jodoigne, Gembloux (advocacy of the abbey)
• Margraviate of Antwerp
• The Kempen: Herentals, Turnhout, Hoogstraten and the ducal heaths
• The Meierij of 's-Hertogenbosch: 's-Hertogenbosch (founded about 1185), Oisterwijk, Eindhoven district
• Herstal on the Meuse below Liege (ducal allod)
• Overlordship of Breda, Bergen op Zoom and the vassal houses: Berthout (Grimbergen), Aarschot, Diest, Gaasbeek, Rotselaar, Wezemaal, Perwez, Walhain
• The ducal title of Lotharingia: the right to lead the host of the old duchy and to keep the peace of the roads, in practice limited to what the duke can enforce

How it was acquired

Inherited from Godfrey III (died 1190); the duchy of Brabant created in 1183; the title of duke of Lower Lotharingia held by the house of Leuven since 1106 and confirmed by Henry VI in 1190.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Otto IV and Archbishop Adolf of Cologne; Baldwin IX of Flanders and Hainaut, who also leans to Otto (France map). Rivals: Holland (Dirk VII) and Guelders (Otto I), Philip's partisans, against whom Henry fights in these years (en.wikipedia); his uncle Henry III of Limburg, Philip's man; Louis II of Loon, Philip's man until 1201; the bishops of Liege, with whom the house quarrelled over the elections of 1191-1195 (Albert of Leuven, then Henry's backing for Simon of Limburg).

The realm that morning

Henry holds all his counties and the margraviate in peace at home, backs Otto IV, and has his daughter betrothed to the king. His northern frontier with Holland and Guelders is hostile but no campaign that winter is recorded in the sources used; his southern frontier with Liege and Loon is quiet. He is the natural candidate to receive the king's rights at Maastricht, which come to him only in 1202 or 1204. No raided zone is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200 on either the Liege or the Holland border, so no frontier belt is drawn.

Wealth

Cloth and the road from Bruges to Cologne, which crosses his lands through Brussels, Leuven, Tienen and Zoutleeuw; the Scheldt trade of Antwerp; tolls; rents from the Kempen and the Hageland; the advocacies of Nivelles and Gembloux.

Military

Castles at Leuven, Brussels (Coudenberg), Antwerp (the Steen), Vilvoorde, Genappe and Tervuren; the new town of 's-Hertogenbosch as a fortress against Holland and Guelders; frontier towns Tienen and Zoutleeuw toward Loon and Liege.

Threats

• No male heir
• Holland and Guelders on the Meuse frontier
• Philip's party all round him (Limburg, Loon, Holland, Guelders)
• The Liege vacancy after 1 or 2 February 1200

Consort

Matilda (Mathilde) of Boulogne, married 1179 or 1180 (sources differ), daughter of Matthew of Alsace, count of Boulogne, and Mary of Blois; niece of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders; sister of Ida, countess of Boulogne. Living (dies 1210).

Heirs and children

Born by 1 January 1200: Maria (born about 1190), betrothed to Otto IV at Aachen in July 1198 (the ADB calls her ten at the betrothal, de.wikipedia seven or nine); Adelaide (Aleidis, born about 1190), unmarried; Margaret (born 1192), unmarried. Matilda is born 'about 1200': whether before or after 1 January is not pinned. No son: Henry II is born in 1207 and Godfrey in 1209. The duke's heir that morning is therefore not settled; a royal grant letting his daughters inherit Brabant is reported from Philip of Swabia only in 1204 (general accounts, not checked here).

Officers

The marshal's office is tied to the lords of Wezemaal (en.wikipedia dates their privilege to 1160; an Arnold of Wezemaal witnesses charters of Godfrey III and Henry I). The seneschal (dapifer, later drossaard) is not pinned for 1200; the lords of Rotselaar hold that office later. The castellans (burgraves) of Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp and the duke's officers in the towns (in later usage the meier at Leuven, the amman at Brussels, the schout at Antwerp and 's-Hertogenbosch) are not named for 1200 in the sources used.

Court winter 1199 in 1200

Not pinned. The duke's residences are the castles of Leuven and Brussels (the Coudenberg) and the hunting seat of Tervuren.

Treaties marriages wars

1192-1194: after Albert of Leuven's murder Henry ravaged the estate of the Hochstaden kin of the imperial candidate, accepted an imperial peace at Koblenz, then fought Baldwin V of Hainaut and was beaten at Noville-sur-Mehaigne (1194), where his uncle of Limburg was taken (ADB). 1195: Henry mediated the Liege dispute, sending both claimants to Rome. 1197: a contract gives parts of Moha to Brabant and Loon (nl.wikipedia on Louis II of Loon).

1197-1198: crusade, Beirut taken in October 1197. 1198: alliance with Otto IV and the betrothal of Maria. Duras: Henry occupied Duras and pressed Sint-Truiden when its last count tried to sell him the advocacy (about 1189-1190); the county went to Loon.

Throne war

WELF since 1198: Henry supported Otto's election and betrothed Maria to him at Aachen in July 1198. The de.wikipedia Otto IV article notes his support was first put in writing only in 1204, the year he went over to Philip (at Koblenz in November 1204, per the ADB). Confidence for 1 January 1200: high.

Rome and the Church

No quarrel with Rome on record for 1199. Innocent III leans to Otto and has not yet said so, so Henry is on the side Rome will choose.

Coinage

The duke strikes pennies (deniers) in his towns; the mint places in 1200 are not pinned here.

The host

The duke's vassal houses and their knights, the town levies of Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp, and paid soldiers: the routiers whom the chroniclers call Brabançons (Brabantiones) took their name from this country. No numbers in the sources used.

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. 1 or 2 February 1200Albert of Cuyck, bishop of Liege, dies; the see falls vacant next door, and the duke whose brother and nephew were both candidates in 1191-1195 has a stake in the election.Depends on: Albert's natural death on its date. Stopped by: Albert surviving.
2. 1200, date not pinnedHugh of Pierrepont is elected at Liege against Henry of Jauche and a Conrad; he will be Otto's man (fr.wikipedia). The duke's own part in the election is not recorded in the sources used.Depends on: Albert's death; the chapter's majority; papal confirmation. Stopped by: A Brabant or Limburg candidate forcing his way in; a royal intervention.
3. August 1200 (the attack fails on 21 August)Philip besieges Otto's city of Brunswick without success; Otto's attention is in Saxony, leaving Henry and Adolf of Cologne to hold the Lower Rhine for him.Depends on: Philip's campaign in Saxony. Stopped by: A truce between the kings.
4. End of 1200 to 3 July 1201Innocent III decides for Otto (examination at the turn of 1200/1201; announced by the legate Guido at Cologne on 3 July 1201).Depends on: Otto's promises to Rome (the Neuss oath of 8 June 1201). Stopped by: A settlement between the kings, or Philip winning the curia.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201-1204 (later course)Loon goes over to Otto in 1201; Otto enfeoffs Henry with Maastricht and the St Servatius chapter in 1202 (Loon history; other accounts date the grant 1204); in 1202 Henry helps the bishop of Utrecht against Holland and Guelders and both counts are taken prisoner (ADB); in November 1204 Henry goes over to Philip at Koblenz.Depends on: The throne war continuing as it did. Stopped by: Any change in the balance of the two kings.

Where the sources disagree

• The France map anchors Antwerpen, Nivelles and Gembloux as 'empire'. In 1200 Antwerp is the duke's margraviate and the duke is advocate of the abbeys of Nivelles and Gembloux; this file colours them brabant.
• The France map's Namur polygon (Namur) reaches north to about 50.66 N and takes in Gembloux and Perwez; both are Brabant's in 1200 (the duke's advocacy and the duke's half-brother's lordship).

Evidence: The betrothal and the alliance with Otto are well attested; officers and towns' privileges for 1200 are thin; the birth of Matilda and the order of the daughters are given loosely by the sources.

On the map: The realm's ground is drawn through the lord records (the duke's own lands, the margraviate and the vassal lordships).

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.

• Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
• 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 Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online
• Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online