Louis I, comte de Blois

Louis de Blois

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http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Blois

Louis de Blois (1172 † 1205), fut comte de Blois, de Chartres, de Châteaudun et de de Clermont de 1191 à 1205. Il était fils de Thibaut V, comte de Blois, de Châteaudun et de Chartres, et d'Alix de France.

Biographie

Il commence par s'allier à Richard Cœur de Lion pour combattre Philippe Auguste. Le 7 juin 1196, il signa une Charte, laquelle engageait l'abolition du servage dans ses comtés:

« Moi, Louis, comte de Blois, fais savoir que les hommes n’ont plus à payer la taille. Il sera permis aux bourgeois d’élire douze d’entre eux pour diriger la ville. Si un habitant veut vendre ce qu’il possède, qu’il le vende, s’il veut s’éloigner de la ville, qu’il parte librement. Nul ne fera la corvée" (Charte de Châteaudun, 1197) ».

Il décide de prendre la croix en 1191, s'engage en 1202 dans la quatrième croisade qui prend Byzance en 1204. Il reçoit alors le titre de duc de Nicée, titre qui resta théorique car les croisés échouèrent à prendre la ville qui devint la capitale d'un empire grec. Le 14 avril 1205, le nouvel empereur de Constantinople Baudouin Ier livra bataille près d'Andrinople. Ce fut une sévère défaite, où fut tué Louis de Blois.

Il avait épousé Catherine, comtesse de Clermont, fille de Raoul Ier le Roux, comte de Clermont, et d'Alix de Breteuil, et eut:

1) Thibaut VI († 1218), comte de Blois, de Chartres, de Châteaudun et de Clermont,

2) Jeanne, citée en 1202

Sources

France Balade: les Comtes de Blois

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Louis de Blois

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_I,_Count_of_Blois

Louis I, Count of Blois

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Louis I of Blois (1172 – 14 April 1205) was count of Blois from 1191 to 1205. He was the son of Theobald V and Alix of France. His maternal grandparents were Louis VII of France and his first wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Louis promulgated a charter in 1196 abolishing serfdom in his domains.

[edit] Leadership in the Fourth Crusade

At the Tournament at Écry-sur-Aisne on 28 November 1199, Louis and his cousin Theobald III of Champagne were the first major nobles to respond to Pope Innocent III's call for a Fourth Crusade. He left France in 1202. During the July 1203 siege of Constantinople, Louis was one of eight division commanders, the others including Boniface of Montferrat (the crusade leader), Doge Enrico Dandolo (leader of the Venetians), Baldwin of Flanders (who controlled the largest division and later became emperor), and Baldwin's brother Henry. Louis was later afflicted with a severe fever for months, and missed participating in the capture of Constantinople in 1204. He was too ill to take part in the subsequent forays of his men into Asia Minor, where he had been created Duke of Nicaea, a title he never vindicated.

He had just recuperated when he participated in the Battle of Adrianople, where he was slain by a force of Cumans led by Kaloyan of Bulgaria ("Johanitza"). Louis chased the enemy too far, exhausting his men and horses and stretching them over a broad plain, where he brought himself and the emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople into a trap.

He married Catherine, countess of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, who bore him 3 children:

  1. Raoul, who died young

2. Jeanne, who died young
3. Theobald VI of Blois (d. 1218)
Preceded by

Theobald V Count of Blois

1191 – 1205 Succeeded by

Theobald VI

Preceded by

Raoul I Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis

1191 – 1205

With: Catherine

This page was last modified on 7 April 2010 at 17:31.