Guillaume II. Des Barres

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Guillaume II. Des Barres ( German Wilhelm , * around 1160 ; † March 23, 1234 ) was a French knight who was known as "the bravest of the brave" (French le Brave des braves ) , especially through the battle of Bouvines in 1214 . He was a son of Guillaume I des Barres († 1179), from whom he inherited the castle Oissery . A relative of his was the Templar Grand Master Everard des Barres .

Life

Coat of arms of Guillaume II des Barres

Guillaume married Amicia de Beaumont († September 1215), daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester , widow of Simon IV , Earl of Montfort and Rochefort , around 1188 . Through her he became a stepfather of Simons and Guidos von Montfort . As regent for his stepson Guido, he became lord of La Ferté-Alais and Bréthencourt . He had two children himself:

Guillaume can be proven as a knight for the first time in 1179 at the tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne . This tournament was organized by the Count of Champagne and was one of the largest of the Middle Ages with over 3,000 participants. Among others, the young King Henry of England and Guillaume le Maréchal took part. Just like his father, Guillaume entered the royal service as a chevalier royaux . At the side of King Philip II of France , he first took part in battles in Burgundy, where in 1187 in Châtillon-sur-Seine they met Duke Odo III. captured by Burgundy .

In January 1188 he took part in the deliberations between Philip II of France and Henry II of England about their participation in the Third Crusade . In this context, Guillaume is referred to as the Count of Rochefort . He seems to have usurped this title, including Rochefort Castle, after his marriage to Amicia, Rochefort actually belonged to his stepson Simon V, who soon regained his property.

In August 1188, during the fighting for Châteauroux , he was captured by Richard the Lionheart , the French king's worst enemy. Although Guillaume gave his word of honor not to attempt any escape if he was left in knightly custody, he immediately took the first opportunity to escape by jumping on a pack horse and riding away. The English king still remembered this unknightly act during the Third Crusade , which Guillaume took part in in the wake of his king. During the stopover in Messina in Sicily , Lionheart challenged him to pierce his lance, believing he could throw Guillaume off his horse. Instead, however, it was Guillaume who lifted the Lionheart from his saddle, whereupon the latter in anger demanded his punishment from King Philip II, but this did not materialize.

Despite these incidents, Guillaume won the respect of Richard the Lionhearted during the siege of Acre and even joined his entourage after King Philip II left early for his homeland. At the side of Lionheart, Guillaume distinguished himself in the Battle of Arsuf (September 1191), where the Crusaders inflicted a heavy defeat on the Saracens under Saladin .

Back in France, Guillaume rejoined King Philip II and again supported him in the fight against Richard the Lionheart and his brother Johann Ohneland (see: Angevin Empire ). It came on July 27, 1214 at Bouvines to the decisive battle at Bouvines against the Roman-German Emperor Otto IV , who was a nephew and ally of Johann Ohneland. In this battle, King Philip II was in extreme danger after he was pulled from his horse by the Emperor's Flemish infantry. The king was saved by Guillaume, who was able to free the king from his distress with an attack and thus enabled him to be rescued under the protection of his own ranks. At the same time, this was the signal for the other royal knights to join the battle, as the emperor and his Saxon knights now intervened directly in the battle. Together with the knights Pierre de Mauvoisin and Gérard la Turie, Guillaume turned directly against the emperor. Guillaume struck the emperor's helmet with his sword while Mauvoisin seized the reins of the imperial horse. At the same time Turie tried to stab the emperor with a dagger, but instead hit one of the eyes of his horse, which collapsed dead. The emperor, for his part, was now able to avoid capture after his own knights saved him in time. Nevertheless, this meant victory for the French, as the emperor fled the field.

Guillaume II. Des Barres died in 1234 in the women's monastery of Fontaine-les-Nonnes near Meaux , where he was also buried. His deeds were mainly described in the biographies of La Philippide and Gesta Philippi Augusti of the royal chronicler Guillaume le Breton .

swell

  • Rigord / Guillaume le Breton : Gesta Philippi Augusti. - H. Francois Delaborde: Œuvres de Rigord et de Guillaume Le Breton. BiblioBazaar LLC, 2009, ISBN 1-103-28939-X .
  • Itinerarium Regis Ricardi , ed. by HG Bohn: Itinerary of Richard I in: Chronicles of the Crusades: being contemporary narratives of the crusade of Richard Cœur de Lion (1848)
  • Gesta Regis Henrici Secundis et Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti abbatis , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 49 (1867), Vol. 2
  • Roger von Hoveden , Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 51 (1870), Vol. 3

literature

  • John W. Baldwin: The government of Philip Augustus. Foundations of French royal power in the Middle Ages. University of California Press, Los Angeles 1991, ISBN 0520073916 .
  • Jean Flori : Richard Cœur de Lion. Le roi-chevalier. Payot, Paris 1999, ISBN 2228892726 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guillelmus de Barris Comes de Rupeforti , see Rigord , Gesta Philippi Augusti , in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 17 (1878), p. 25
  2. ↑ See H. Francois Delaborde: Œuvres de Rigord Et de Guillaume Le Breton. P. 83 f.
  3. ↑ Gesta Regis Henrici secundis et Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti abbatis , edited by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series . 49 (1867), Vol 2, p 46
  4. ↑ Roger of Hoveden, The annals of Roger de Hoveden, Vol. 2 , edited by Henry T. Riley (1853), pp. 191-192
personal data
SURNAME Guillaume II. Des Barres
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lord of Oissery and La Ferté-Alais, Titular Count of Rochefort
DATE OF BIRTH around 1160
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1234