Alain de Dinan

Alain de Dinan , also called Alain de Vitré (* around 1155, † 1197 ) was a Breton knight who became known as an opponent of the English king Richard the Lionheart .

Alain was a son of Sire Robert III. from Vitré and Emma from Dinan. While his older brother, André II, took over the paternal inheritance, Alain inherited the castle of Dinan from his maternal uncle . His sister Eleanor was married to William , 2nd Earl of Salisbury .

Alain was, like almost all barons in Brittany , an enemy of the Plantagenet family and resisted the duchy belonging to their territory, the so-called Angevin Empire . With the death of Duke Gottfried II (1186), under the reign of his widow Konstanze , Brittany was actually able to break away from the supremacy of the Plantagenets. In April 1196, Richard the Lionheart tried to regain control of Brittany by invading the country with a mercenary army to usurp the person of the underage Duke Arthur I , who was also his designated heir. Duchess Konstanze, however, brought her son to safety in the castle of Brest , whereupon Richard devastated the country. In his function as ducal seneschal, Alain raised an army of the Breton barons and surprised Richard near Carhaix . In a hard fight, the Bretons won, Richard reportedly lost more than 6,000 warriors.

Duchess Konstanze realized that Duke Arthur was only safe from Richard the Lionheart at the court of the French King Philip II . Alain accompanied the young duke on his trip to Paris and joined the royal army with other Breton knights. In June 1196 they captured the castle Nonancourt and began the siege of the castle Aumale , which Richard wanted to save with a relief. In the ensuing battle, Alain was able to lift Richard the Lionheart out of the saddle with his lance in a personal duel, but capture failed. Still, this act of arms brought victory after Richard was forced to retire; the occupation of Aumale surrendered a little later and handed over the castle. Alain died the following year.

He was married to Clementia von Fougères ( House Fougères ), with whom he had an heir:

• Gervaise († around 1235/41)
  • ∞ after 1197 with Juhel III. from Mayenne ( House Mayenne )
  • ∞ around 1220 with Gottfried I , Vice Count of Rohan ( Rohan House )
  • ∞ around 1222 with Richard Marshal , 3rd Earl of Pembroke († 1234) ( House Marshal )

His widow later married Ranulph de Blondeville , 4th Earl of Chester , the ex-husband of Duchess Konstanze.

literature

• Pierre Antoine Noel Bruno Daru: Histoire de Bretagne (University of Lausanne, 1826)
• Jonathan Duncan: The Dukes of Normandy, from the Times of Roll to the Expulsion of King John (J. Rickerby, 1839)
• J.-Marie-Etienne Peigné: Dinan et ses environs (University of Lausanne, 1862)
• Martin Aurell: Noblesses de l'espace Plantagenêt (1154–1224) (Université de Poitiers, 2001)

footnote

1. ↑ Guillaume le Breton: Philippéde , page 150