Peter Mauclerc

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Peters coat of arms

Peter von Dreux or Peter von Braine , called Mauclerc ( bad cleric ) (* 1191 ; † July 6, 1250 ), was Duke of Bretagne from 1213 to 1237 and Earl of Richmond from 1219 by his wife or their son to 1235.

He was the second son of Count Robert II von Dreux and Braine and Jolanthe von Coucy. Through his father, Peter was a member of the French ruling dynasty of the Capetians , descended from King Ludwig VI. the fat of France .

Initially, he was intended for a career in the clergy, but gave it up, which is where his nickname Mauclerc - malus clericus - comes from. The (heraldic) right corner in his coat of arms, which was reserved for the clergy in this way, is also a reminder of this time. In this addition to the coat of arms, he added the stylized ermine , the symbolic animal of Brittany.

biography

Peter Mauclerc, representation after a window in Chartres Cathedral

In 1213, at the behest of his cousin and French king , Philip II August , Peter was married to the Duchess of Brittany, Alix von Thouars , whose father had previously died. Peter became a Duke of Brittany from the rights of his wife. With Peter's appointment, the king intended to bring the duchy closer to the French kingdom and at the same time to free it from the sphere of influence of the House of Plantagenet and their so-called Angevin empire . Consequently, Peter supported his cousin in his fight against Johann Ohneland, who belonged to the Plantagenets, and in 1214 fought with the later King Louis VIII the Lion at La Roche-aux-Moines . In 1216 he accompanied the crown prince on his invasion of England , which failed in September of that year.

In 1219 Peter's wife was invested in the English county of Richmond , whereby Peter dubbed himself the Earl of Richmond from their right. As a result, he got into a double vassal relationship, through which he increasingly loosened his position with France. Once again in the entourage of Crown Prince Ludwig, Peter took part in the conquest of Marmande and the siege of Toulouse during the Albigensian Crusade in 1219 . After his return to Brittany, he suppressed an uprising by Breton nobles. After the death of his wife (1221) he became regent of the duchy (and Richmonds) in the name of his underage son Johann . In 1224 he helped the now King Ludwig VIII in his fight against the Plantagenet Heinrich III. of England (siege of Niort and La Rochelle ).

Theobald von Champagne, Peter Mauclerc von Bretagne and Hugo von Lusignan conspire against the regent Blanche of Castile.

During this time Peter became the head of an opposition of the French feudal nobility against the crown. This came about due to the strengthening of the kingship in the previous years, in which the feudal princes recognized a threat to their own power. The princes made their displeasure about this clear during a renewed crusade by the king to the south, when they left the royal army with their troops at the siege of Avignon in 1226 after the prescribed forty-day period for participation in the crusade had expired. Although justified, it was perceived by the royal court as an act of treason. After the king's death in the same year, Peter and his supporters stayed for the coronation of the underage King Louis IX. demonstratively far away, as they rejected the reign of Queen Mother Blanka of Castile . In the anticipated military conflicts, Peter even entered into an alliance with the English Prince Richard of Cornwall . In January 1227, however, the regent was able to counter the opposition with skillful diplomacy, in that she was able to win over the powerful Count Theobald IV of Champagne on her side. Weakened considerably by this, the rebels had to submit to Vendôme on March 16, 1227 , Prince Richard terminated the alliance and withdrew to England.

Peter took up the fight again in the same year by trying to usurp the person of the king in Montlhéry , but this was prevented by the timely intervention of the regent. After disregarding a summons to the royal court in Melun on December 31, 1227, he allied himself with Philipp Hurepel , the king's uncle, and Enguerrand III. de Coucy . The struggle was increasingly waged against the Count of Champagne, who now appeared as the regent's protector. After the royal party gained the upper hand there, Peter entered into an alliance with the English king and paid homage to him in October 1229 for Brittany. In doing so, making himself guilty of Felonie , he accelerated the collapse of the opposition, since his followers did not support this step and succumbed to the crown one after the other. After King Ludwig IX. with a superior army took several castles in Brittany and the English King Henry III. After his campaign in Brittany in October 1230, he withdrew to England without a notable fight, Peter finally gave up the fight in 1231. In 1235 he ended his alliance with England and therefore suffered the loss of Richmond.

In 1237, Peter lost his power base after his son came of age and was able to take over the government in Brittany. All that remained to him was rule over La Garnache and Montaigu , and he called himself “Knight of Braine” ever since. During his reign in Brittany, Peter promoted the strengthening of the ducal power, improved the chancellery and intensified the fiscal system. Because of the curtailment of church rights, he came into conflict with the Breton clergy, which his successors also continued.

From 1239 to 1240 Peter took part in the barons' crusade to the Holy Land , during which he commanded a victorious battle against the Damascene Ayyubids in early November 1239 . Back in France, he won several naval victories against the English (1242 and 1243). In 1249 he accompanied King Ludwig IX. on the Sixth Crusade . After the capture of Damiette in June 1249, he spoke out in favor of a train against Alexandria , but this was rejected. On February 8, 1250 he was part of the vanguard of Count Robert I of Artois and therefore took part in the fateful storming of al-Mansura . Peter was one of the few who could escape the city alive; a sword stroke across his face had hurt him badly. On April 6, 1250 he was also taken into captivity by the Mameluks , in which he fell ill. After his release in July of the same year, he went back to France with Count Alfonso von Poitiers . He died doing it at sea. Peter was buried in his family's crypt at Saint-Yved Abbey in Braine .

Peter had three children from his first marriage to Alix:

In his second marriage, Peter was married to Margarethe, daughter of Moritz II. Herr von Montaigu. With her he had a son:

  • Olivier I (* 1231, † 1279), Lord of Machecoul ; ⚭ Eustachie de Vitré, † 1288, daughter of André III., Sire de Vitré ( House Vitré )

Individual evidence

  1. On January 27, 1213, Peter Mauclerc swore the feudal oath for Brittany to King Philip II August in Paris, after he himself had been recognized as the new duke by the Breton vassals. See: Léopold Delisle : Catalog des actes de Philippe-Auguste. Avec une introduction sur les sources, les caractères et l'importance historique de ces documents. Durand, Paris 1856, p. 323, no.1421 .
  2. See Sidney Painter: The Crusade of Theobald of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall, 1239-1241. In: Kenneth M. Setton (Ed.): A History of the Crusades. Volume 2: Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard (Eds.): The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 2005, ISBN 0-299-04844-6 , pp. 463-486, here p. 463 ff.
  3. ^ The Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville. A new English version by Ethel Wedgwood. J. Murray London 1906, II, § 8-16.

Web links

Commons : Peter Mauclerc  - collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Alix Duke of Brittany
(de iure uxoris )
1213–1221
Johann I.
Arthur I of Brittany Earl of Richmond
(de iure uxoris)
1219-1235
Peter II of Savoy
Heinrich I. Count of Penthièvre
1230–1235
Hugo XI. of Lusignan
(de iure uxoris)