Guy IV
[1]
(c. 1197 ? 1226) of the
House of Chatillon
was the
de facto
count of Saint-Pol
as
Guy II
from 1219/1223 until his death.
Life
[
edit
]
Born around 1197, Guy was the eldest son of
Walter III of Chatillon
and
Elizabeth
, heiress of Saint-Pol.
Upon his father's death in 1219, he inherited the castle of
Montjay-la-Tour
and the county of Saint-Pol, although his mother retained the right of residence for life. His younger brother,
Hugh
, inherited Chatillon,
Crecy
and the butlership of the
county of Champagne
.
Guy and Hugh consented to their father placing his lands under the guardianship of
Philip of Nanteuil
, his executor.
In a sign of his father's wealth and prestige, Guy made a very advantageous marriage. In 1221, he married
Agnes of Donzy
, daughter of
Herve IV of Donzy
, who had been betrothed to Philip, eldest son of the future King
Louis VIII
, until his premature death in 1218.
She was supposed to then marry the future
Louis IX
, but this marriage never took place.
Her marriage to Guy was challenged as
consanguineous
, but the couple received a
papal dispensation
.
Before the marriage, Guy and Hugh signed an agreement with King
Philip II
whereby they ceded him their joint lordship of
Pont-Sainte-Maxence
and he ceded them the
right of redemption
over Nevers, which had thitherto required a new count of Nevers to pay the king at his accession.
In 1223, Elizabeth ceded control of Saint-Pol to Guy, although the exact terms of this cession are unclear. She continued to be called countess while Guy preferred to call himself "son of the count of Saint-Pol".
In 1224, he and his brother were forced by Count
Theobald IV of Champagne
to make all their castles renderable, that is, liable to be made available as needed to Theobald as their feudal lord. Guy attended Theobald's Christmas court in 1224.
In Theobald's charter from this occasion, Guy is styled as count of Saint-Pol.
In August 1225, Guy made a donation of 10
livres tournois
annually to the
domus Dei
(monastery) of
Troissy
for the construction of a chapel. This would eventually become the
abbey of L'Amour-Dieu
.
Agnes died in 1225, possibly in childbirth.
[12]
In 1226, Guy founded the
Cistercian
nunnery of
Pont-aux-Dames
for the sake of his soul and his late wife's.
He donated an annual ten
muids
of wheat from the mills of
Claye
and ten
livres
from his lands at
Montge
. This was, however, a whole new convent.
In 1226, Guy joined Theobald in the royal army on the
Albigensian Crusade
.
At the
siege of Avignon
, he led the only major assault on the walls on 8 August and was killed by a stone.
Louis VIII ordered his body taken to the priory of
Longueau
for burial.
Marriage and issue
[
edit
]
Guy and Agnes had two children:
The county of Saint-Pol reverted to his mother, Elizabeth, who ceded it to Hugh.
Walter inherited his mother's estates.
References
[
edit
]
Sources
[
edit
]
- Baldwin, John W. (1986).
The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages
. University of California Press.
- Berman, Constance Hoffman (2018).
The White Nuns: Cistercian Abbeys for Women in Medieval France
. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Evergates, Theodore (2007).
The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100?1300
. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Lester, Anne E. (2011).
Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement and Its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne
. Cornell University Press.
- Painter, Sidney
(2019) [1937].
The Scourge of the Clergy: Peter of Dreux, Duke of Brittany
. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Nieus, Jean-Francois (2008).
Les chartes des comtes de Saint-Pol (XIe?XIIIe siecles)
. Atelier de recherche sur les textes medievaux. Vol. 11. Brepols.
doi
:
10.1484/M.ARTEM-EB.5.105709
.
ISBN
978-2-503-52845-8
.
- Nieus, Jean-Francois (2012). "Elisabeth Candavene, comtesse de Saint-Pol (†1240/47): une heritiere face a la Couronne". In Eric Bousmar; Jonathan Dumont; Alain Marchandisse; Bertrand Schnerb (eds.).
Femmes de pouvoir, femmes politiques durant les derniers siecles du Moyen Age et au cours de la premiere Renaissance
. De Boeck. pp. 185?211.
- Rosenberg, Samuel N., ed. (2022).
Tales of a Minstrel of Reims in the Thirteenth Century
. The Catholic University of America Press.
- Rouse, Richard; Rouse, Mary (2010). "French Literature and the Counts of Saint-Pol, ca. 1178?1377".
Viator
.
41
(1): 101?140.
doi
:
10.1484/j.viator.1.100569
.
- Sumption, Jonathan
(1978).
The Albigensian Crusade
. Faber and Faber.
- Zezula, Jindrich (1976).
"L'element historique et la datation d'
Anseys de Mes
(ms. N)"
.
Romania
.
97
(385): 1?22.
doi
:
10.3406/roma.1976.7188
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Nieus, Jean-Francois (2005).
Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France: Saint-Pol, 1000?1300
. De Boeck.