Guy I. de Lévis

Guys de Lévis family coat of arms

Guy I. de Lévis (German: Guido ; * around 1180 ; † 1233 ) was a French knight and crusader , and Lord of Mirepoix . He was a son of Philippe, lord of Lévis-Saint-Nom ( Yvelines department ).

Guy became known as a participant in the Albigensian Crusade , in which he advanced as "Marshal of the Crusade" or "Marshal of the Faith" ( Maréchal de la foi ) to one of the closest confidants of the crusade leader, Simon IV. De Montfort . He fought in the sieges of Béziers (June 1209) and Carcassonne (August 1209). For his work, Guy received the town of Mirepoix as a fief, which had been taken on September 22, 1209. He then fought at Termes (1210), Lavaur (1211) and Castelnaudary (1211).

Since the defeat at Beaucaire (1216) by Count Raimund VII of Toulouse , the crusaders increasingly came on the defensive. In June 1218 Guy also fought in the siege of Toulouse , in which Montfort was killed by a catapult projectile. In 1223 he lost Mirepoix again to its previous owner, Pierre Roger II. De Mirepoix . With the fall of Carcassonne in 1224 the crusade had in fact failed.

Then Guy moved back to his home in northern France, where he was one of the supporters of a new crusade to the Languedoc with King Louis VIII . Guy then participated in the king's crusade in 1226, which subjugated the south. In the Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1229) he was returned to Mirepoix. The so-called Terre du Maréchal was removed from the domain of the Count of Foix and set up as a direct crown fief. The Montségur should also belong to his possessions, but it was still held by the Cathars and only conquered in 1244 and handed over to his son.

Guy de Lévis died in 1233. He was buried in the Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-la-Roche near Lévis-Saint-Nom, which he founded in 1196. A grave stele of his can be seen there.

Guy was married to Guiberge. Your children were:

• Guy II (* 1210; † 1247), Lord of Mirepoix
• Philippe († around 1226)
• Jeanne († 1284), ∞ with Philippe de Montfort († 1270), Lord of Castres

Guy de Lévis is the progenitor of the extensive Lévis-Mirepoix family, which also rose to the French pair nobility in the 16th century . His most famous descendants were Gaston-Pierre de Lévis, duc de Mirepoix (* 1699; † 1757), and François-Gaston de Lévis (* 1719; † 1787), both Marshals of France .

swell

• Guilhem de Tudèla : Canso de la crozada
• Pierre des Vaux de Cernay : Historia Albigensis (1212-1218)
• The Chronica des Guillaume de Puylaurens

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Guy de Lévis' grave stele in Notre-Dame-de-la-Roche ( Memento of the original of January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.