Theobald I, Count of Blois

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Theobald I, Count of Blois
Born913
Died975
Noble familyHouse of Blois
Spouse(s)Luitgarde of Vermandois
Issue
FatherTheobald the Elder
Mother

Theobald I (913–975), called the Trickster (le Tricheur meaning cheater), was the first count of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun as well as count of Tours.

Life[]

Theobald I was the son of Theobald le Vieux of Blois,[a] who from 908 on was viscomte of Tours.[2] Theobald le Vieux's wife, the mother of Theobald I, was Richende De Bourges, a great-granddaughter of Rorgon I, Count of Maine.[1] Theobald I was initially a vassal of Hugh the Great, Duke of France.[3] Around 945, Louis IV was captured by Northmen and given over to Hugh the Great, who placed the king in Theobald's custody.[3] After about a year in his vassal's custody king Louis negotiated his freedom by offering Hugh the city of Laon which Hugh then gave to Theobald.[4] Theobald was the count of Tours from 942, was also count of Blois and in 960 count of Châteaudun and Chartres.[5]

Theobald's sister Adelaide had married Alan II of Nantes, the Duke of Brittany, giving Theobald influence all the way to Rennes.[6] However the death of Alan II left a void in Brittany and left it vulnerable to encroachment by either the Normans or the Angevins.[7] Theobald made an alliance with Fulk II of Anjou, which gave him control of Saumur, a strategic citadel located between the Loire and Thouet rivers guarding the Angevin march.[7] This included control of the monastery of Saint-Florent inside the walls of Saumur.[7] In turn the recently widowed Fulk married Theobald's sister, the widow of Alan II of Nantes.[7]

In 960, he began opposing Richard I of Normandy and entered into a long war with the Normans. In 961, he attacked Évreux.[8] The Normans responded by attacking Dunois. In 962, he launched an assault on Rouen which failed.[8] The Normans burned Chartres in response. He took control of the fortresses of Saint-Aignan in the Loir-et-Cher, Vierzon, and in Berry. During the minority of Hugh Capet, he reinforced Chartres and Châteaudun. He founded the Château de Chinon. By his death, he had built a vast power on the Loire, dominating central France.

About 943-44,[9] he married Luitgarde of Vermandois, widow of William I of Normandy.[10] She was the daughter of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois and Hildebrand of France, daughter of king Robert I of France.[11] Her half-brother was Hugh the Great Duke of France.[12]

Family[]

His wife Luitgarde of Vermandois bore him:

Notes[]

  1. ^ Theobald was also called Theobald 'the Elder' who in 878 replaced Warnegald as viscount in Maine, quite probably on the basis of his marriage to a Rorgonid cousin Richildis. See: Pierre Riché, The Carolingians (1993), p. 237.[1]
  2. ^ His daughter Emma brought him the county of Provins, nucleus of the later county of Champagne.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, 'Two Studies in North French Prosopography', Journal of Medieval History, Vol. 20 (1994), p. 10
  2. ^ The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth M.V. Van Houts (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992), pp. 56-7 n. 1
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b The Annals of Flodoard of Reims; 919-966, Ed. & Trans. Steven Fanning & Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, 2011), pp. 41-2
  4. ^ The Annals of Flodoard of Reims; 919-966, Ed. & Trans. Steven Fanning & Bernard S. Bachrach (University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. 44
  5. ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe,Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993), p. 264
  6. ^ Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 7
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 8
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Potts 1997, p. 65.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany, J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 46
  10. ^ The Normans in Europe, Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester University Press, UK, 2000), p. 183
  11. ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Marburg, Germany, J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 49
  12. ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany, J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 10
  13. ^ Bradbury 2007, p. 56.
  14. ^ Potts 1997, pp. 65-66.

Sources[]

  • Bradbury, Jim (2007). The Capetians: The History of a Dynasty. Hambledon Continuum.

Potts, Cassandra (1997). Monastic Revival and Regional Identity in Early Normandy. The Boydell Press.65



Theobald I, Count of Blois
Born: 913 Died: 975
Preceded by

as Viscount of Blois 		Count of Blois
928–975 		Succeeded by
Odo I
Preceded by
Theobald
as Viscount of Tours 		Count of Tours
928–975
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