Baudouin de Béthune

Baudouins de Béthune coat of arms

Baudouin de Béthune (German: Balduin , English: Baldwin ; † October 13 or 14, 1212 in Burstwick ) was a French knight , Earl of Aumale and Baron of Holderness in the right of his wife.

Baudouin came from the influential noble family Béthune from the Artois , who had their ancestral home in Béthune . He was the son of Sire Robert V of Béthune (called the Red ) and the Adelheid of Saint-Pol. His brothers were:

• the future sires of Béthune, Robert VI. († 1193) and Guillaume II. († 1214)
• the famous trouvère and crusader Conon († 1219/20)
• as well as Jean III. , Bishop of Cambrai († 1219)

Life

In 1179 Baudouin took part in the great tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne , organized by the Count of Champagne . He made the acquaintance of the famous knight William Marshal (Guillaume le Maréchal) , with whom he befriended. As a result, Baudouin came into the environment of the Plantagenets and entered the service of the English King Henry II Plantagenet , to whom he became one of his most loyal knights. After Marshal refused the king's offer to marry the heiress of the Seigneurie of Châteauroux in 1188 , her hand was offered to Baudouin. However, the castle of Châteauroux was conquered by King Philip II of France in the same year . At the side of Marshal, Baudouin fought for the king in 1189 against his rebellious son, Duke Richard the Lionheart of Aquitaine , and his ally, King Philip II of France. The two knights covered the escape of their king on June 12, 1189 in Le Mans , who was surprised there by his enemies. One after the other they fought a duel against the knight André de Chauvigny , who was not only a follower of Richard the Lionheart, but was also promised the hand of the heiress of Châteauroux. Marshal was able to knock Chauvigny off his horse and take him prisoner.

On July 6, 1189, Baudouin was, along with Marshal and the bastard Geoffrey , one of the last faithful at King Henry II's deathbed in Chinon . He then entered the service of the new King Richard the Lionheart. However, this meant the end of his engagement to the heiress of Châteauroux, who was married to Chauvigny.

At the side of Richard the Lionhearted Baudouin took part in the Third Crusade . He was accompanied by his father Robert V and his brothers Guillaume II and Conon, who traveled in the wake of their liege lord, Count Philip I of Flanders . During the siege of Acre in 1191 the father, from whom Baudouin received the castle of Chocques as an inheritance, died. But Count Philipp also died in this fight, which was momentous for the Béthune. Because the Artois was considered the dowry of the late Queen of France and was now claimed by her husband, King Philip II , on behalf of both sons. The new Count of Flanders , Baldwin IX. , did not want to accept this and thus triggered a conflict with the French crown, in which the Béthune 'positioned each other. Baudouin himself remained a knight of Richard the Lionheart.

On the return trip home, Baudouin was one of Richard's four companions. When crossing Austria he led the tour company, while the king followed him as "Kaufmann Hugo". Nevertheless, they were exposed on December 21, 1192 and arrested by Duke Leopold V. Unlike the king, Baudouin was soon released; nevertheless he stayed on the side of the king, who soon passed to the emperor Heinrich VI. was delivered. In June 1193 he was able to take part in the negotiations between the Kaiser and Richard in Worms about the terms of release. Richard was released in the spring of 1194, Baudouin was placed hostage by the Duke of Austria, who was also joined by the Welfensons Otto and Wilhelm , as a pledge for the ransom still to be paid to the Duke of Austria. When Richard delayed payment, the Duke threatened the execution of the hostages. The excommunication pronounced against him by the Pope did not impress him. Baudouin was sent by the Duke to the court of King Richard in the autumn of 1194, which he reached at Rouen in Normandy . After Baudouin informed the king of Leopold's intentions, he received the ransom and set out for Austria. He was accompanied by Richard's niece, Eleanor of Brittany (who was to be married to the Duke's son Friedrich ), and the daughter of Isaak Komnenos, the former Emperor of Cyprus (a relative of the Austrian). When he reached Vienna in the spring of 1195, Leopold had died after a riding accident. The new Duke Friedrich I renounced the two princesses, but took the money and released the six hostages that Baudouin escorted to France.

There Baudouin now supported Richard the Lionheart in the fight against King Philip II August. He was married to Countess Hawise von Aumale at the instigation of Richard at the end of 1195 or beginning of 1196 , whereby he was able to lead the dignity of her own. The castle of Aumale was not only considered to be particularly strong, it was also strategically important on the border between Upper Normandy and the French crown domain. But already in June 1196 Aumale was surrounded by an army of the king of France. Richard hurried up with an army to relieve the castle. In the subsequent fight in front of the castle wall, he was thrown from the saddle by the Breton knight Alain de Dinan . To avoid captivity, Richard decided to retreat. Shortly afterwards, the crew had to surrender to the superior force and handed the castle over to the enemy. The county of Aumale was permanently lost, it was later given by King Philip II to Count Rainald I of Dammartin .

Baudouin withdrew to his wife's English possessions and, after Richard's death (1199), remained in the service of King John Ohneland until 1205 .

From his marriage to Hawise d'Aumale († 1214) he had a daughter:

• Alice de Bethune († around 1216, buried in St Paul's Cathedral ), ⚭ 1214 with William Marshal , 2nd Earl of Pembroke , († 1231)

Alice simply inherited her father's castle at Chocques in Artois. Holderness went to William de Forz , a son of Hawise from the previous marriage to Guillaume de Forz , who also continued the anglicised title of Count of Aumale .

literature

• Dieter Berg : Richard the Lionheart . Scientific Book Society , Darmstadt 2007, ISBN 978-3-534-14511-9 .
• David Crouch: William Marshal. Knighthood, war and chivalry; 1147-1219 . 2nd ed. Longman, London 2002, ISBN 0-582-77222-2 (former title William Marshal. Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219 ).

source

• Roger von Hoveden , Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 51 (1870), Vol. 3 ("Chronica")

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chronica , p. 185
2. ↑ Chronica , pp. 187 and 215
3. ↑ Chronica , p. 275
4. ↑ Chronica , p. 278
5. ↑ Chronica , p. 306

Web link

• William Marshal, King Henry II and the Honor of Chateauroux by Nicholas Vincent (eng.) ( Memento from February 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )