Theobald III, Count of Champagne

Theobald III of Champagne (French: Thibaut) (13 May 1179 – 24 May 1201) was Count of Champagne from 1197 to his death. He was the younger son of Henry I, Count of Champagne and Marie, a daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.[1] He succeeded as Count of Champagne in 1197 upon the death of his older brother Henry II.[2]

Theobald III
Count of Champagne
Seal of Theobald III
Born	13 May 1179 Troyes
Died	24 May 1201(1201-05-24) (aged 22) Troyes
Noble family	Blois
Spouse(s)	Blanche of Navarre ​ ( m. 1199)
Issue Theobald IV of Champagne
Father	Henry I, Count of Champagne
Mother	Marie of France

Charters were written by him and Philip II of France in September 1198 to dictate the rights of the Jews of the one vis-à-vis the other and to repay debts by Philip to the count of Champagne for the employment of his Jews. These laws were reinforced subsequently in charters that were signed between 1198 and 1231.

In 1198, Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade. There was little enthusiasm for the crusade at first, but on 28 November 1199 various nobles of France gathered at Theobald's court for a tournament (in his castle at Ecry-sur-Aisne), including the preacher Fulk of Neuilly.[lower-alpha 1][4] There, they "took the cross", and elected Theobald their leader, but he died in 1201 and was replaced by Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat.[5]

Theobald married Blanche of Navarre[1] on 1 July 1199 at Chartres. They had two children:

• Marie
• Theobald IV[1]

As her dower, Blanche received Theobald's seven castles – Épernay, Vertus, Sézanne, Chantemerle, Pont-sur-Seine, Nogent-sur-Seine, and Méry-sur-Seine – and all the subsidiaries coming from these castles and castellaries at the Count's death. Following Theobald's death on 24 May 1201, she was to rule as regent for the following 21 years,[6] during which the succession was contested by Theobald's nieces, Alice and Philippa.[7]

Theobald was buried beside his father, Henry, at the Church of Saint Stephen at Troyes.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Theobald III, Count of Champagne

16. Theobald III, Count of Blois 8. Stephen II, Count of Blois 17. Garsinde du Maine 4. Thibaut II of Champagne 18. William I of England 9. Adela of Normandy 19. Matilda of Flanders 2. Henry I, Count of Champagne 20. Engelbert I of Sponheim 10. Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia 21. Hedwig 5. Matilda of Carinthia 11. Uta of Passau 1. Theobald III, Count of Champagne 24. Philip I of France 12. Louis VI of France 25. Bertha of Holland 6. Louis VII of France 26. Humbert II, Count of Savoy 13. Adelaide of Maurienne 27. Gisela of Burgundy 3. Marie of France 28. William IX, Duke of Aquitaine 14. William X of Aquitaine 29. Philippa of Toulouse 7. Eleanor of Aquitaine 30. Aimery I, Viscount of Châtellerault 15. Aenor de Châtellerault 31. Dangereuse de l'Isle Bouchard

Notes

1. Edgar McNeal and Robert Wolff both state that Villehardouin's account of the tournament makes no mention of Fulk of Neuilly and that Fulk's inclusion was the work of nineteenth-century writers(ex.Michaud, M. Pettitot[3]).[4]

References

1. Evergates 2007, p. 248.
2. Evergates 2007, p. 34.
3. McNeal 1953, p. 371-373.
4. McNeal & Wolff 1969, p. 158.
5. McNeal & Wolff 1969, p. 164.
6. Evergates 2007, p. 36-37.
7. Evergates 2007, p. 39.

Sources

• Evergates, Theodore (2007). The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100-1300. University of Pennsylvania Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• McNeal, Edgar H. (1953). Fulk of Neuilly and the Tournament of Écry. Speculum. Vol. 28, No. 2 April.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• McNeal, Edgar H.; Wolff, Robert Lee (1969). "The Fourth Crusade". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. Vol. Two. University of Wisconsin Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Theobald III, Count of Champagne House of Blois Born: 13 May 1179 Died: 24 May 1201
Preceded by Henry II	Count of Champagne 1197–1201	Succeeded by Theobald IV