Henry the Liberal: Count of Champagne, 1127-1181 (The Middle Ages Series)

319 Pages·2016·5.341 MB·English

by  Theodore Evergates

Henry the Liberal
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
HENRY THE LIBER AL
Count of Champagne, 1127–1181
Theodore Evergates
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Copyright © 2016 University of Pennsylvania Press

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Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
ISBN 978- 0- 8122- 4790- 9
Contents
Preface vii
Chapter 1. The Young Count, 1127–1145 1
Chapter 2. The Second Crusade, 1146–1151 16
Chapter 3. Count Palatine of Troyes, 1152–1158 34
Chapter 4. The Late Bachelor Years, 1159–1164 61
Chapter 5. The Culture of Count Henry 86
Chapter 6. Pesky Prelates and English Exiles, 1165–1170 100
Chapter 7. Count Henry in Mid- Life, 1171–1175 124
Chapter 8. The Last Years, 1176–1181 148
Chapter 9. Legacy and Afterlife 170
Appendix 1. Tables 187
Appendix 2. Chronology 193
List of Abbreviations 201
Notes 203
Bibliography 273
Index 299
Acknowledgments 309
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Preface
Count Henry the Liberal of Champagne (1127–81) was justly celebrated in his
own time for his generosity (hence “the Liberal”), for his unusually inquisitive
mind, and for balancing the practical arts of governance with learning. And
that is how he is generally remembered today. As I delved into the details of
his life, however, those characterizations seemed inadequate to encompass the
experiences and accomplishments of one of the most engaging princes of
twelfth- century France. Tutored in the liberal arts from an early age, men-
tored in the practice of rulership from the age of seven, leader at twenty of the
Champenois contingent on the Second Crusade, and count of two of his fa-
ther’s counties from twenty-t wo to twenty-fi ve, he was by then an experienced
and well- traveled prince who would rule the county of Champagne for the
next three decades. As the most reliable of King Louis VII’s great lords, Henry
served the king in military affairs and on diplomatic missions, and he married
Louis and Queen Eleanor’s eldest daughter, Marie. His brother Thibaut was
royal seneschal for more than three decades, another brother, William, was
archbishop successively of Sens and Reims, and his sister Adele became Louis
VII’s third wife and mother of the future Philip II. Henry knew all the major
political and religious figures of his time— three popes, the emperors of Ger-
many and Constantinople, Henry II of England and his sons, and a long list
of archbishops, bishops, and abbots, not to mention learned clerics with
whom he shared a love of books and history.
It is curious that no contemporary writer saw fit to pen a biography or
even a significant portrait of Henry, who lived so large in the public sphere.
Obituaries remembered him primarily for his benefactions, and one simply
noted his name, Henricus dictus Largus. Three lengthy praise letters by Philip
of Harvengt (ca. 1160), Nicholas of Montiéramey (ca. 1160), and Guy of Ba-
zoches (1170s) laud Henry as a literate and generous prince but offer few de-
tails about his life, and the brief remembrances after his death are anecdotal
rather than substantive. Pierre Pithou, who wrote the first history of the
viii Preface
counts of Champagne (1572), had little to say about the counts themselves,
despite the title of his book.1 The first substantial account of Henry and his
rule appeared in 1861, as volume 3 of Henry d’Arbois de Jubainville’s seven-
volume history of the counts of Champagne.2 Beyond being a font of infor-
mation about Henry and his world, it provides a catalogue of the count’s acts
and establishes a framework for understanding Henry’s life and the evolution
of his county. A century later, in 1959, John F. Benton revisited Arbois de
Jubainville’s work preparatory to a study of the court of Champagne under
Henry and Countess Marie, and although Benton was unable to complete the
project, he made two enduring contributions.3 The first was to begin a critical
edition of Henry’s known acts, which Michel Bur recently has brought to
fruition with the publication of more than 550 acts.4 Benton also proposed
that we reconceptualize the twelfth- century “court” of Champagne by extend-
ing the concept of the court beyond the vernacular writers to include a galaxy
of writers in Latin, the literati clerics and prelates who were intimately part of
the “twelfth- century renaissance,” thus enlarging our understanding of the
cultural achievements of twelfth- century Champagne.5
The world of Henry the Liberal is much better known today than only a
generation ago thanks to the vigorous and probing scholarship devoted to
medieval Champagne, its art and architecture, monasticism (especially Cister-
cian), aristocratic families and their practices, the trade fairs, and literature
both Latin and vernacular. Critical editions are now available of letter collec-
tions, ecclesiastical and comital cartularies, library catalogues, and the regis-
ters of the High Court that describe the customs of the principality. Among
the significant new subjects opened to inquiry are Patricia Stirnemann’s iden-
tification of Count Henry’s personal library and her recovery of southern
Champagne as a center of book- making and manuscript painting from the
mid- twelfth century.6 Within that broad cultural context the friendship net-
works linking literati prelates in Champagne with their colleagues across
northern France and England assume new significance, as does Count Hen-
ry’s singular tomb commissioned from Mosan craftsmen. Without exaggera-
tion it can be said that the rise of Champagne as one of the more important
princely states of twelfth- century France and its cultural efflorescence can be
attributed largely to the interests, vision, and policies of Henry the Liberal.
This study traces Henry through the distinct stages of his life in order to
capture the contingent events compelling his attention at those specific mo-
ments. It is based on the premise that Henry was not the same person in his
early twenties, when he led a company of Champenois barons and knights on
Preface ix
the Second Crusade, that he was in his forties, when he commissioned copies
of books by ancient authors in concert with Thomas Becket, then in exile in
Sens. The stages- of- life approach is especially useful for understanding Hen-
ry’s life and policies as a bachelor prince, the thirteen years (1152–64) when the
county of Champagne took shape as a new political entity. Seen from a dis-
tance of almost nine centuries, that was Henry’s singular achievement, to con-
struct a major new polity, the county of Champagne, and to endow it with
the institutions and identity as a province in early modern France that would
survive his dynasty.
It should be said at the start that in the absence of contemporary ac-
counts of Henry’s life we must rely primarily on several types of non- narrative
sources to reconstruct his life and works: his sealed letters patent, the letters
written by literati clerics to or about him, his chancery’s administrative regis-
ters (the rolls of fiefs), the fragmentary catalogue of his library, and the re-
mains or later sketches of his material works (his tomb, residences and chapels,
and books). We also can learn something about Henry from his decision to
construct a new capital in Troyes, to found chapters of secular canons, and to
make the trade fairs the economic motor of his county’s economy. The chron-
iclers who mention Henry’s military expeditions, crusades, and diplomatic
missions beyond the county do so almost in passing, yet they testify to the
considerable range of Henry’s travels and engagement in “foreign affairs.” This
study consequently is highly contextual in that it locates Henry within the
events of his time, even when he was not immediately involved, and often
deals more with the individuals who directly influenced him than with Henry
himself. From these disparate materials emerges the portrait of an engaging
personage, as original and captivating as the better- known monarchs, prelates,
and intellectuals of the time with whom he interacted.
Count Henry and His Relatives
William The Conqueror
king of
England
1066-87
Henry I Adela =Stephen
king of countess count of
England of Blois Blois
1100-35 d.1137 d.1102
Blois Carinthia Burgundy
Stephen Henry Agnes=Hugh III Thibaut IV = Mathilda Henry Ida =William IIIII Sibyl=Roger II Henry Walter
king of bishop of of Le Puisetcount of Blois- countess of Blois bishop of countess count of king of bishop of bishop of
England Winchester d.1132 Champagne 1126-52 Troyes of Nevers Nevers Sicily Autun Langres
1135-54 1129-71 1120-52 d.1160 1145-68 d.1179 1147-61 1140-54 1148-70 1163-79
William IV Roger of Apulia=Elizabeth of
count of Nevers d.1149 Champagne
1161-68
France
Evrard IV Hugh Hugh Henry I=Marie Alice =Thibaut V Stephen William Adele =Louis VII Marie=Odo II Elizabeth=Roger Mathilda=Rotrou Agnes = Renaud II
of Le Puiset bishop of abbot of 1152-81 countesscountess count count of archbishop queen king duke of of Apulia count of countess of count of
viscount of Durham Lagny 1165-98 of Blois of Blois Sancerre of Sens, of France of France Burgundy d.1149 Perche Bar-le-Duc Bar-le-Duc
Chartres 1153-95 1163-71 1164-97 1152-91 1152-90 1168-75 1160-80 1137-80 1143-62 1144-91 1165-70 1149-70
1129-90 archbishop d.1206 d.1207
of Reims,
1176-1202
Philip II Hugh III Henry I
king of France duke of Burgundy count of
1180-1223 1165-92 Bar-le-Duc
Henry II Thibaut III 1170-90
count of count of
Champagne Champagne
1187-90/97 1198-1201
Figure 1. Genealogy: Count Henry and his relatives.