Theobald I (Thibaut IV) (30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), called
the Troubadour,
the Chansonnier, and
the Posthumous, was
Count of ChampagneThe Counts of Champagne ruled the region of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the county of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title "Count of Champagne". When Louis became King of France in 1314, upon the death of his father Philip...
(as
Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He was the first Frenchman to rule Navarre.
Regency of Champagne
Born in
TroyesTroyes is a commune, the préfecture of the north-eastern Aube département in France and is located on the Seine river. It is around south-east of Paris...
, he was the son of
Theobald III of ChampagneTheobald III was Count of Champagne from 1197 to his death.Theobald was the younger son of Henry I of Champagne and Marie, a daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine...
and Blanca of Navarre, the youngest daughter of
Sancho VI of NavarreSancho VI Garcés , called the Wise , was the king of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194....
. His father died before he was born, and Blanca (
Blanche in French) ruled the county as
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
until Theobald turned twenty-one in 1222. He was a notable
trouvèreTrouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur, is the Northern French form of the word troubadour . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...
, and many of his songs have survived, including some with music.
The first half of Theobald's life was plagued by a number of difficulties. His uncle, Count
Henry IIHenry II of Champagne or Henry I of Jerusalem , was count of Champagne from 1181 to 1197, and king of Jerusalem from 1192 to 1197, although he never used the title of king.- Biography :...
, had left behind a great deal of debt, which was far from paid off when Theobald's father died. Further, Theobald's right to the succession was challenged by Henry's daughter Philippa and her husband,
Erard I of BrienneÉrard de Brienne was a French nobleman. He was lord of Ramerupt and of Venizy, and also a pretender to the county of Champagne as an instigator of the Champagne War of Succession...
, Count of Ramerupt and one of the more powerful nobles of
ChampagneChampagne is a historic province in the northeast of France, now best known for the sparkling white wine that bears its name.Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area...
.
The conflict with Erard and Philippa broke into open warfare in 1215 as the Champagne War of Succession, and was not resolved until after Theobald came of age in 1222. At that time he bought out their rights for a substantial monetary payment. Some years later, in 1234, he had to spend still more to buy off Philippa's elder sister Alice, Queen of Cyprus. The settlement of 1222 did not end Theobald's problems, for in the following years he antagonized
Louis VIIILouis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut...
.
Conflict with the crown
At the death of Louis VIII, Theobald's political situation was difficult: he had abandoned the king in his campaigns, there were rumors that he had poisoned him, and he was barred from the coronation of
Louis IXLouis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was a member of the House of Capet, the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile...
. At the beginning of the regency of
Blanche of CastileBlanche of Castile , wife of Louis VIII of France. She was born in Palencia, Spain, the third daughter of Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, and of Eleanor of England...
, he abandoned a conspiracy against the French king, which also included Hugues de Lusignan and Pierre Mauclerc, and cemented a strong relation with the regent. Many have hinted at a possible love for Blanche, and he wrote a poetical homage to her. He became so influential at court, that other barons resented him and started a rebellion in 1229.
The first chronicler to report the rumors about a love affair between Theobald and Queen Blanche was
Roger of WendoverRoger of Wendover , probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century. At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell of Belvoir, but he forfeited this dignity in the early years of Henry III,...
. Wendover claims that Theobald, "tormented by passion" for the queen, tried to poison King Louis VIII at the siege of Avignon.
Matthew ParisMatthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He wrote a number of works, mostly historical, which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour...
adds a story that the French nobles goaded the young King Louis IX to challenge Theobald to a duel to avenge his father's death, but that Blanche put a stop to the duel.
In the following years, however, he antagonized the young king of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Louis IXLouis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was a member of the House of Capet, the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile...
, which led to an invasion of Champagne by a group of French barons. They were driven off at the cost of further expense and hardship in Champagne. Thus in order to settle with Alice, Theobald had to sell his overlordship over the counties of
BloisBlois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-Sights:...
,
SancerreSancerre is a medieval hilltop town , commune and canton in the Cher department of central France overlooking the Loire River. It is noted for its wine.-History:...
, and
ChateaudunChâteaudun is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in north-central France. It is a sub-prefecture of Eure-et-Loir.-Geography:Châteaudun is located about northwest of Orléans, and about south-southwest of Chartres, on the river Loir, a tributary of the Sarthe.-Sights:Its château is known for...
to the king.
Rule of Navarre
Theobald experienced a reversal of his fortunes in 1234, when he succeeded his uncle
Sancho VII of NavarreSancho VII Sánchez , called the Strong or the Prudent, was the King of Navarre from 1194 to his death...
as
King of Navarre. While Sancho's will named
James I of AragonJames I the Conqueror was the King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276...
as his heir, the Navarrese ignored this and elected Theobald, son of Sancho's sister. Theobald was in
PamplonaPamplona is the capital city of Navarre, Spain and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 7 to 14, in which the running of the bulls or encierro is one of the main attractions...
at the time of Sancho's death and he immediately affirmed the
fueros of the realm. This greatly increased his resources (not to mention his prestige), and the remaining years of his rule were far more peaceful and prosperous.
Domestic and foreign policy
As king, Theobald sealed pacts with the
Crown of CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
and
that of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
, and the
Kingdom of EnglandThe Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state and island country to the northwest of continental Europe. At its zenith, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands—what is today the legal unit of...
. He entrusted most of the government to nobles of Champagne and divided Navarre into four new districts based on fiscal functions and maintenance of public order. He began the codificaton of the law in the
Cartulario Magno and wrote down the Navarrese traditions known as the
Fuero General.
In order to gain the support of Castile, he married his daughter
BlancaBlanca of Navarre may refer to:* Blanca Garcés of Navarre , wife of King Sancho III of Castile* Blanca Sánchez of Navarre , also Blanche de Navarre...
to the infante
AlfonsoAlfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
, later Alfonso X. By the marriage pact, Ferdinand III of León offered the lands of Guipúzcoa as long as Theobald lived, but not those of
ÁlavaÁlava is a province of northern Spain in the southern part of the Basque Autonomous Community. The province numbers a population of 301,926 inhabitants in an area of 2,963 km²....
to which the Navarrese monarchs had long laid claim. But with Guipúzcoa he would have attained direct access to the Cantabrian Sea. This alliance was never effected, however, as it would have meant the incorporation of Navarre as a
feudum of Castile. The next year, Theobald engaged his daughter to
John I, Duke of BrittanyJohn I the Red , known as John the Red due to the colour of his beard, was Duke of Brittany, from 1237 to his death...
, the son of his close crusading ally Peter of Dreux.
Crusade of 1239
It was in 1239 that Theobald directed a crusading host to the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
. Militarily, his crusade was not glorious. He spent much time dallying at pleasant
AcreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre....
(where he wrote a poem to his wife) before moving on
AscalonThe word Ascalon comes from Ashkelon, a coastal city in Israel. It can refer to a number of possible topics:-Ashkelon history related:* Battle of Ascalon, considered the last action of the First Crusade...
, where he began the construction of a castle. He fought two minor battles, one was a slight victory. The second battle, near
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
was a decisive defeat. He negotiated with the Ayyubids of
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
and
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and finalised a treaty with the former against the latter whereby the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
regained
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
itself, plus
BethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
,
NazarethNazareth is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, and most of the region of
GalileeGalilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country...
with many
TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
castles, like
BelfortBelfort is a town and commune of north-eastern France, préfecture of the Territoire de Belfort département in the Franche-Comté région. Population : 50,417...
. Some contemporary sources even imply that the whole of the land between the
Jordan RiverThe Jordan River or River Jordan is a river in Southwest Asia which flows into the Dead Sea. It is considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers...
and the Mediterranean was put back in crusader hands. It is debatable how much of the ultimate success of the crusade (the most successful since the
FirstThe First Crusade was a military expedition by European Christians to regain the Holy Lands taken by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. It was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to the appeal from Byzantine...
in territorial terms) was attributable to Theobald's intentions and how much was just fortuitous. He returned from
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
late in 1240, before
Richard of CornwallRichard of Cornwall may refer to:*Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, *Richard Rufus of Cornwall, , philosopher and theologian...
arrived, because he did not wish to be present during any more debating over the leadership and direction of the enterprise.
Conflict with church and final years
Theobald passed most of the remainder of his reign travelling back and forth between Navarre and Champagne. He was at odds with the bishop of Pamplona, Pedro Jiménez de Gazólaz, who held a provincial synod in 1250 to excommunicate him. He refused to respond to papal tribunals, but
Pope Innocent IVPope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 28, 1243, to December 7, 1254.-Early life:Born in Genoa in an unknown year the boy, Sinibaldo, belonged to the noble family of Liguria, the Fieschi, Counts of Lavagna...
conceded him the privilege of kings: nobody could excommunicate him save the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
.
Theobald died at Pamplona, on a return from one of his many visits to Champagne. He was buried in the
Cathedral of PamplonaThe Cathedral of Royal Saint Mary is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the archdiocese of Pamplona, Spain. The current 15th century Gothic temple replaced an older Romanesque one. Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of other two previous churches. The Neoclassical façade was...
. He was succeeded first by his elder son
Theobald IITheobald II , called the Young, was Count of Champagne and Brie and King of Navarre from 1253 until his death....
and then by his younger son
Henry IHenry I the Fat was the Count of Champagne and Brie and King of Navarre from 1270...
.
Marriages and Issue
Theobald married three times. He married
Gertrude of DagsburgGertrude was the daughter and heiress of Albert II, count of Metz and Dagsburg , a trouvère, and three times a wife....
in 1220, and divorced her two years later when he came of age. They had no children.
Secondly, in 1222, he married
Agnes of BeaujeuAgnes of Beaujeu was a French noblewoman, the daughter of Guichard IV, Sire of Beaujeu and his wife Sybille of Flanders. Agnes was Countess of Champagne by her marriage to Theobald I of Navarre.- Family :...
, she was a daughter of Guichard IV, sire of
BeaujeuBeaujeu is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Beaujeu, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence département* Beaujeu, Rhône, in the Rhône département...
and his wife, Sybille of Flanders.
The marriage produced at least one daughter:
- Blanche of Navarre (1226-1283), married to John I, Duke of Brittany
John I the Red , known as John the Red due to the colour of his beard, was Duke of Brittany, from 1237 to his death...
and was mother of John II, Duke of BrittanyJohn II was Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, from 1286 to his death. He was son of Duke Jean I and Blanche, princess of Navarre....
.
Agnes died in 1231. Theobald married thirdly to
Margaret of BourbonMargaret of Bourbon was the wife of Theobald I of Navarre, she became Countess of Champagne and Queen of Navarre. Margaret was the daughter of Archambaud VIII of Bourbon and his first wife, Guigone of Forez.- Marriage :...
. Theobald and Margaret had six children:
- Eleanor of Navarre (1233 -?), Died young
- Peter of Navarre (died young)
- Margaret of Navarre in 1255 married to Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine
Frederick III was the Duke of Lorraine from 1251 to his death. He was the only son and successor of Matthias II and Catherine of Limburg....
(1238-1303)
- Theobald II of Navarre
Theobald II , called the Young, was Count of Champagne and Brie and King of Navarre from 1253 until his death....
(1238-1270) married in 1255 to Isabelle of France
- Beatrix of Navarre
Beatrice of Navarre was a daughter of Theobald I of Navarre and his third wife Margaret of Bourbon. Her siblings included, Theobald II of Navarre and Henry I of Navarre. She is also known as Beatrix of Champagne.- Biography :...
(1242-1295), married in 1258 to Hugh IV, Duke of BurgundyHugh IV of Burgundy was duke of Burgundy between 1218 and 1271. Hugh was the only son of duke Eudes III and Alice of Vergy...
(1212-1272)
- Henry I of Navarre
Henry I the Fat was the Count of Champagne and Brie and King of Navarre from 1270...
married Blanche of ArtoisBlanche of Artois was the queen regent of Navarre from 1274 to 1284, and later became Countess of Lancaster by marrying into the English royal family. She was the daughter of Count Robert I of Artois and Matilda of Brabant...
in 1269
Sources
- Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, 1189 – 1311. Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, editors. University of Wisconsin Press: Milwaukee, 1969.
External links