Nevers, Auxerre, Tonnerre

Who rules

Name

Mahaut (Matilda) of Courtenay, with her husband Herve IV of Donzy ruling Nevers as count; her father Peter of Courtenay keeps Auxerre and Tonnerre for life

Title

Countess of Nevers, heiress of Auxerre and Tonnerre

Since

1199: Nevers passed to Herve with Mahaut's hand as the price of Peter's release, by an agreement made through Philip Augustus's mediation and a wedding in October 1199 (probably the 20th); Mahaut has been heiress since her mother's death in 1192

Born

Mahaut about 1188, so about 11; Herve about 1175

Family

Mahaut is the daughter of Peter of Courtenay (grandson of Louis VI and the king's cousin) and of Agnes I, countess of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre (died 1192). Herve IV is lord of Donzy since 1187, son of Herve III and Mathilde Gouet of Montmirail.

Confidence

medium

fr.wikipedia Herve IV de Donzy, Mathilde de Courtenay and Pierre II de Courtenay; Lespinasse, Herve de Donzy comte de Nevers (1868)

What the realm holds

• the county of Nevers (Herve and Mahaut): Nevers, Decize, Clamecy, Moulins-Engilbert, the Nivernais castellanies
• the county of Auxerre (Peter of Courtenay for life): Auxerre city with the bishop, Coulanges, Mailly, Crain, Chablis region
• the county of Tonnerre (Peter for life): Tonnerre, the Tonnerrois
• the barony of Donzy (Herve's own): Donzy, Cosne side of the Loire, Saint-Aignan in Berry, Montmirail in the Perche-Gouet
• the guard of Vezelay and La Charite claimed by the counts

How it was acquired

Agnes I inherited the three counties in 1181 on her brother William V's death; Peter of Courtenay held them by marriage from 1184-1185 and kept them after her death in 1192. The 1199 settlement split them.

Allies and rivals

Herve: ally of Philip Augustus, who approved the settlement; rival of Peter. Peter: the king's cousin and brother-in-law of Baldwin IX of Flanders through Yolande; rival of Herve and of the bishop of Auxerre. William I of Sancerre, the neighbour across the Loire, later goes east with Peter (1217).

The realm that morning

Nevers and the Donziais are ruled by Herve IV in his child-wife's name; Auxerre and Tonnerre by Peter of Courtenay for life. The split is recent and resented.

Threats

• Peter of Courtenay's resentment and his claim to undo a bargain made in captivity
• the missing dispensation for the Nevers marriage
• the bishop of Auxerre's lawsuits
• Gien and the Loire crossings, coveted by the king

Consort

Herve IV of Donzy is Mahaut's husband. The marriage is within the forbidden degrees (fourth degree) and has no papal dispensation: an inquiry opens in 1205 and Rome approves only in 1212-1213, after the couple found the charterhouse of Bellary (1209) and the abbey of L'Epeau (1211). The wedding is dated October 1199, probably the 20th (en.wikipedia, Matilda I, Countess of Nevers; a genealogy after Saunier-Seite, Les Courtenay, gives 20 October 1199), so they are married on 1 January 1200.

Heirs

Mahaut is the heiress of all three counties. Her children by Herve (William, died young before 1214; Agnes, later countess of Saint-Pol) are born later. Peter of Courtenay's children by his second wife Yolande of Hainaut, sister of Baldwin IX (married 1193), are Margaret (1194), Philip (1195), Sibyl (1197) and Elizabeth (1199); Yolande is born in 1200 and Robert in 1201.

Officers

Comital officers (seneschal, provosts of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre) not pinned for 1200.

Court

Herve and Mahaut at Nevers and Donzy; Peter of Courtenay at Auxerre, Tonnerre and his Gatinais castles.

Treaties and wars

The war of 1199 between Peter and Herve ended with Peter's capture near Cosne and the marriage settlement. In 1196 Peter's brother-in-law William of Brienne had rebelled, ravaged the Auxerrois and besieged Vezelay. The counts have long quarrelled with the bishop of Auxerre (Hugh of Noyers, bishop since 1183) and with the abbey of Vezelay over justice and rights of lodging.

Rome and interdict

Nevers and Auxerre are suffragans of Sens, vacant since 28 November 1199. Peter of Courtenay is described by chroniclers as violent towards churches and often excommunicated. The Nevers marriage lacks a dispensation, a lever Rome can pull.

Coinage

Counts of Nevers and of Auxerre strike their own deniers; detail for 1200 not pinned.

The host

Comital vassals of the Nivernais, Auxerrois and Donziais; Herve's knights beat Peter's in 1199. No figures.

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. during 1200Peter's daughter Yolande is born; Peter rules Auxerre and Tonnerre and quarrels with the bishop of Auxerre.Depends on: Peter's life and liberty Stopped by: a new war with Herve

Later, on the likely course

1. 1205 to 1213 (later course)Rome inquires into the marriage of Herve and Mahaut (1205) and approves it only in 1212-1213.Depends on: nobody forcing the issue earlier Stopped by: a papal challenge brought by Peter or another party, which could void the marriage and with it Herve's title to Nevers
2. 1219 (later course)At Peter's death Auxerre and Tonnerre pass to Mahaut.Depends on: the 1199 life grant holding Stopped by: a new settlement

Where the sources disagree

• The wedding: October 1199, probably the 20th, in en.wikipedia's Matilda I and in a genealogy after Saunier-Seite; en.wikipedia's Herve IV, citing Bouchard, Sword, Miter and Cloister (1987), p. 328, puts the marriage in 1200. October 1199 is followed. If the campaign prefers 1200, then on 1 January the agreement is made but Peter still holds Nevers until the wedding.
• The quarrel over Gien began in 1198 (en.wikipedia, after Perry, John of Brienne); the battle near Cosne and the settlement are 1199.
• fr.wikipedia's Herve IV gives Mahaut's age at the marriage as about 11 and elsewhere as 14; born about 1188, she is about 11 in 1199.
• Some lists give Mahaut's first child as born before 1200; no source seen pins any child before 1 January 1200.

Evidence: The 1198-1199 war and the 1199 settlement are well attested; the wedding is dated October 1199 (probably the 20th) by most sources and 1200 by Bouchard; the day of the battle is not pinned.

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
• 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