Gilbert de Vascoeuil, Lord of

Saint-Denis-le-Thiboult Saint-Denis-le-Thiboult is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A farming village situated in the Pays de Bray between Ry and Vascœuil, some east of Rouen near the junction of the D ...

, Lord of

Vascœuil Vascœuil () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure department of France France, officially ...

, Castellan of

Gisors Gisors () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Eure, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, France. It is located northwest from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Gisors, together with the ...

, was a nobleman during the time of the

Angevin Empire The Angevin Empire (; ) was the collection of territories held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England, half of France, and parts of Ireland and Wal ...

. He owned lands in both England and France, and served as Governor of Gisors during its surrender. He is best known for his role in the incredibly quick surrender of the

Château de Gisors The Château de Gisors is a castle in the town of Gisors in the Departments of France, department of Eure, France. The castle was a key fortress of the Dukes of Normandy in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was intended to defend the Anglo-Normans, ...

as part of the 1193 French invasion of Normandy.

King Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

was originally betrothed to Princess Alys, King Phillip II of France's sister with a dowry of the

Vexin Vexin () is a historical county of northern France. It covers a verdant plateau on the right bank (north) of the Seine running roughly east to west between Pontoise and Romilly-sur-Andelle (about 20 km from Rouen), and north to south betw ...

. Richard later repudiated the marriage to marry

Berengaria of Navarre Berengaria of Navarre (, , ; 1165–1170 – 23 December 1230) was Queen of England as the wife of Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile. As is the case with many of the medieval ...

, but managed to force Phillip to allow him to keep the dowry. Eventually, Phillip contested this, and while Richard was held captive by

Leopold V, Duke of Austria Leopold V (1157 – 31 December 1194), known as the Virtuous () was a member of the House of Babenberg who reigned as Duke of Austria from 1177 and Duke of Styria within the Holy Roman Empire from 1192 until his death. The Georgenberg Pact resul ...

he invaded Vexin. The keep of Gisors was described as "The key of the region" and was thus crucial to its defense. It fell so quickly under Gilbert's command that some chroniclers suspected foul play, and its fall perpetuated the loss of the entire Vexin region and later Normandy East of Rouen. He had an unknown wife, with whom he had a daughter in around 1170, named Pétronille.

References

1150 births 12th-century French nobility {{France-noble-stub