County of Brienne

The county of Brienne was a small medieval feudal territory in France located in the historic Champagne countryside . With the municipality of Brienne-le-Château as its center, it had encompassed its immediate surroundings, corresponding to the south of today's canton of Brienne-le-Château in the Aube department . It bordered in the south on the counties of Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube and in the west on the county Troyes and in the north on the county Rosnay .

history

The pagus Breonensis already existed in the Frankish Empire in Merovingian times , which was apparently divided into two administrative units under the Carolingians . For in the Servais chapter of King Charles the Bald in 853 he is referred to as "duobus Brionisis". The county of Brienne emerged from the southern part of the old Pagus in the 10th century, while at the same time the county of Rosnay was established in the northern part.

The county of Brienne was not one of the great territorial rulers of feudal medieval France, the power political weight of its count house was regionally limited and from the 11th century at the latest it had to recognize the feudal sovereignty of the powerful counts of Champagne. It was known for this in the High Middle Ages as a family with a long crusader tradition. Their most famous offspring was Johann von Brienne who became King of Jerusalem , Emperor of Constantinople and father-in-law of Emperor Friedrich II. Von Hohenstaufen . Younger branches of the House of Brienne became Counts of Bar-sur-Seine , Eu and Guînes . Another side branch existed in England until the 16th century.

The first count's house died out in 1360 and the House of Enghien followed until 1397 . This was inherited by the French branch of the Luxembourg imperial family .

coat of arms

The earliest heraldic representations of the House of Brienne date from the 13th century and have the basic motif of a golden, upright lion on a blue shield (Fig. 1). This lion depiction appears for the first time on a seal of Johann von Brienne from the year 1209. On seals of the count's main line, this motif appears subsequently supplemented with shingles (image 2), which today serves as the coat of arms of the Commune Brienne-le-Château.

• 

  Image 1

• 

  picture 2

First Counts ( House of Brienne )

• Engelbert I. (called 951 and 968)
• Engelbert II. († before 1027/31) probably his son
• Engelbert III. († before 1035) probably his son
• 1035–1089 Walter I son
• 1089–1125 Erard I son (his younger brother was Count Milon II of Bar-sur-Seine )
• 1125–1161 Walter II son
• 1161–1191 Erard II son
• 1191–1205 Walter III. Son (his younger brother was King John of Brienne )
• 1205–1246 Walter IV. The Great Son (was Count of Jaffa from 1221 to 1250 )
• 1246–1261 Johann I son
• 1261–1296 Hugo brother
• 1296–1311 Walter V son (was Duke of Athens from 1308 to 1311 )
• 1311–1356 Walter VI. Son ( Duke of Argos and Nauplia , Connétable of France )
• 1356–1360 Isabella sister

House Enghien

• 1360–1364 Sohier son of Isabella and Walter III. d'Enghien
• 1364–1381 Walter VII son
• 1381–1394 Ludwig I's brother Sohier
• 1394–1397 daughter of Margarethe

House Luxembourg-Ligny

• 1394–1397 Johann II. De Luxembourg husband Margarethes, son of Count Guido V. von St. Pol
• 1397–1433 Son of Peter I (Count of St. Pol), his younger brother, John II of Ligny , took Johanna von Orléans prisoner on May 23, 1430
• 1433–1475 Ludwig II. Son (as Ludwig I, Count of St. Pol and Ligny )
• 1475–1481 Peter II's son (Count of St. Pol and Soissons ) - but also: Charles I. d'Amboise , who is named as Count of Brienne for the same time
• 1481–1519 Antoine I brother (Count of Ligny)
• 1519–1530 Charles I son (as Karl II. Count of Ligny)
• 1530–1557 Antoine II's son (Count of Ligny)
• 1557–1576 Johann III. Son (Count of Ligny)
• 1576–1608 Charles II's son (as Karl III. Count of Ligny)
• 1608–1647 Louise I's sister , married to Bernard de Béon, Marquis de Bouteville
• 1647–1665 Louise II daughter

House Loménie

• 1647–1666 Henri-Auguste de Loménie, husband of Louises II (was French Foreign Minister from 1643 to 1663 )
• 1666–1698 son of Louis Henri
• 1698–1758 Nicolas son
• 1758–1794 Athanase Louis Marie Sohn (was French Minister of Defense from 1787 to 1788 )

Remarks

1. ↑ Cf. Capitularia regum Francorum, in: MGH Leges (in folio) 1, p. 426.
2. ↑ See Louis Douët d'Arcq, Inventaires et documents publ. par ordre de l'Empereur: Collection de sceaux, Vol. 1 (1863), No. 1016, p. 428.