Stephen I (1133–1190), Count of
Sancerre
Sancerre () is a medieval hilltop town and commune in the department of Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, France, overlooking the river Loire. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association, no ...
(1151–1190), inherited Sancerre on his father's death. His elder brothers
Henry Ι and
Theobald V received Champagne and Blois. His holdings were the smallest among the brothers (although
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
, the youngest, received no land and entered the church instead).
Biography
Born in 1133, Stephen was the third son of Count
Theobald II of Champagne and
Matilda of Carinthia.
Travel to Jerusalem
In 1169, a delegation led by Archbishop
Frederick de la Roche arrived in France to seek a husband for
Sibylla, the daughter of King
Amalric of Jerusalem
Amalric (; 113611 July 1174), formerly known in historiography as , was the king of Jerusalem from 1163 until his death. He was, in the opinion of his Muslim adversaries, the bravest and cleverest of the crusader kings.
Amalric was the younger ...
. Stephen accepted the offer and traveled east with Duke
Hugh III of Burgundy in 1170. He brought with him the monies raised by King
Louis VII's tax of 1166, which had been levied for four or five years.
Since it was anticipated that Stephen might someday be king in right of his wife—Amalric's only son,
Baldwin, was suspected of having
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...
—the
High Court of Jerusalem
The Haute Cour ({{langx, en, High Court) was the feudal council of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was sometimes also called the ''curia generalis'', the ''curia regis'', or, rarely, the ''parlement''.
Composition of the court
The Haute Cour was a ...
invited Stephen to decide the case of the division of the estate of the sonless Henry the Buffalo among his three daughters. Stephen divided it up equally, but ordered the younger two to do
homage to the eldest. After several months in the Holy Land, Stephen refused to marry Sibylla and returned home.
Return to France
Stephen built a six-towered castle on the local hill and strengthened the fortifications of the town of Sancerre itself. In 1153, he married the daughter of
Godfrey of Donzy, named Alice. By 1155, Stephen granted the
Customs of Lorris to the merchants of the town and probably seven others. He was the ''de facto'' leader of a group of powerful baronial rebels against King
Philip II between 1181 and 1185. In 1184, Stephen and a band of
Brabançon mercenaries were defeated by the Philip and his
Confrères de la Paix, an organisation of warriors formed in 1182 in
Le Puy dedicated to curbing feudal warfare. Stephen abolished
serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
in his domains by 1190.
Crusade
Stephen and his brother, Theobald, joined the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
in 1190. He died on 21 October 1190 at the
Siege of Acre, and Theobald died there a few months later in January 1191.
Issue
Stephen and Alice had:
*
William I William I may refer to:
Kings
* William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England
* William I of Sicily (died 1166)
* William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion
* William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...
, who succeeded him as Count of Sancerre.
*Jean
*Stephen, lord of Saint-Brisson
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen 01 of Sancerre
House of Blois
1133 births
1190 deaths
Christians of the Third Crusade
Counts of Sancerre