Hughes of Champagne
Encyclopedia
Life
Hugh was the third son of Theobald III, Count of BloisTheobald III, Count of Blois
Theobald III of Blois was count of Blois, Meaux and Troyes. He was son of Odo II, Count of Blois and Ermengarde of Auvergne....
, bearing the title Count of Bar-sur-Aube
Bar-sur-Aube
Bar-sur-Aube is a commune of France in the Aube department, of which it is a sub-prefecture.-Population:The inhabitants of the commune are called Baralbains.-Culture:*Market every Saturday morning in the halls...
. His older brother Odo V, Count of Troyes, died in 1093, leaving him master of Troyes
Troyes
Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
, where he centred his court, and Vitry-le-François
Vitry-le-François
Vitry-le-François is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. It is located on the Marne River and is the western terminus of the Marne-Rhine Canal.- History :In 1142, Louis VII invaded Champagne and seized Vitry-le-François...
. In this way the three contiguous countships that formed the core of an emerging Champagne
Count of Champagne
The Counts of Champagne ruled the region of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the county of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title "Count of Champagne". When Louis became King of France in 1314, upon the death of his father Philip...
were united in his person, and though he preferred "Count of Troyes", the oldest of his lordships and site of the only bishopric in his domains, his descendants chose to use only the title of Count of Champagne.
His first recorded act, a monastic gift in 1094, became the oldest document of the comital archive. The act of his that resonated longest in history was his grant of lands in 1115 to the monk Bernard of the reformed Benedictines at Cîteaux — the Cistercians — in order to found Clairvaux Abbey
Clairvaux Abbey
Clairvaux Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, 15 km from Bar-sur-Aube, in the Aube département in northeastern France. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; a high-security prison, the Clairvaux Prison, now occupies the grounds...
, a Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux (in the present Ville-sous-la-Ferté
Ville-sous-la-Ferté
Ville-sous-la-Ferté is a commune in the Aube department in the Champagne-Ardenne region in north-central France.The best-known landmark of Ville-sous-la-Ferté is the nearby ruin of Clairvaux Abbey, now the site of Clairvaux Prison.-External links:*...
), in a wild valley of a tributary of the Aube
Aube
Aube is a department in the northeastern part of France named after the Aube River. In 1995, its population was 293,100 inhabitants.- History :Aube is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
, where Bernard was appointed abbot and became famous as Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
. Hugh's charter makes over to the new foundation Clairvaux and its dependencies, fields, meadows, vineyards, woods and water. A deeply affectionate letter from Bernard to Hugh survives, written in 1125, as Hugh went off for a third time to fight in the Holy Land, joining the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, leaving his pregnant wife, and disinheriting his son Eudes I - Hugh believed himself impotent and never acknowledged his son. Instead, he transferred his titles to his nephew, who became Theobald II of Champagne
Theobald II of Champagne
Theobald the Great was Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV from 1102 and was Count of Champagne and of Brie as Theobald II from 1125....
. Eudes I two sons, Eudes II of Champlitte
Odo II of Champlitte
Odo or Eudes II of Champlitte was the first son of Odo I of Champlitte and a grandson of Hugh, Count of Champagne, although Hugh disowned Odo I. Along with his brother, William of Champlitte, Odo was a prominent leader of the fourth crusade. He was injured in the siege of Constantinople and died...
and William of Champlitte
William of Champlitte
William I of Champlitte was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea .- Early years and the Fourth Crusade :...
were important figures in the fourth crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
.
When Hugh became a Knight Templar himself in 1124, the Order comprised few more than a dozen knights, and the first Grand Master of the Templars was a vassal of his, Hugues de Payens, who had been with him at Jerusalem in 1104.
Hugh was also the generous patron of the abbeys of Moustier-Ramey and of Molesme
Molesme Abbey
Molesme Abbey was a well-known Benedictine monastery in Molesme, in Laignes, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy, on the border of the Dioceses of Langres and Troyes.-History:...
, at his castle of Isle-Aumont, south of Troyes. In a surviving letter to him from Yves of Chartres
Ivo of Chartres
Saint Ivo ' of Chartres was the Bishop of Chartres from 1090 until his death and an important canon lawyer during the Investiture Crisis....
(Letter CCCXLV), the Bishop of Chartres reminds him of his obligations of marriage, perhaps to deter him from making vows of continence.