Theobald III (13 May 1179 – 24 May 1201) was Count of 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...

 from 1197 to his death.

Theobald was the younger son of Henry I of Champagne

Henry I of Champagne

Henry I of Champagne , known as "the Liberal", was count of Champagne from 1152 to 1181. He was the eldest son of Count Thibaut II of Champagne and his wife, Matilda of Carinthia....

 and Marie, a daughter of Louis VII of France

Louis VII of France

Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...

 and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

. He succeeded as Count of Champagne in 1197 upon the death of his older brother Henry II

Henry II of Champagne

Henry II of Champagne was count of Champagne from 1181 to 1197, and King of Jerusalem from 1192 to 1197, although he never used the title of king.- Early Life and Family :...

.

Charters were written by him and Philip Augustus in September 1198 to dictate the rights of the Jews of the one vis-à-vis the other and to repay debts by Augustus 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

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

 called 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...

. There was little enthusiasm for the crusade at first, but on November 28, 1199 various nobles of France gathered at Theobald's court for a tournament

Tournament (medieval)

A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....

 (in his Ecry-sur-Aisne's castle), including the preacher Fulk of Neuilly

Fulk of Neuilly

Fulk of Neuilly was a French preacher of the twelfth century, and priest of Neuilly-sur-Marne. He preached the Fourth Crusade.A priest at Neuilly from 1191, he attended the lectures of Peter the Chanter in Paris. He began to preach, and gained a reputation for piety and eloquence. An invitation...

. There, they "took the cross", and elected Theobald their leader, but he died the next year and was replaced by Boniface of Montferrat

Boniface of Montferrat

Boniface of Montferrat was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade...

.

Theobald married Blanche of Navarre

Blanca of Navarre (daughter of Sancho VI)

Blanche of Navarre was Countess-consort of Champagne, then Regent of Champagne, and finally also regent of her native kingdom of Navarre.-Family:...

 on July 1, 1199 at Chartres

Chartres

Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...

, and was succeeded by his posthumous son by Blanche of Navarre, Theobald IV. As her dower

Dower

Dower or morning gift was a provision accorded by law to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband...

, Countess Blanche received his 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. On May 24, 1201, she was to rule as regent for the following 21 years, during which the succession was contested by Theobald's nieces, Alice

Alice of Champagne

Alice of Champagne was the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and her third husband Henry II, Count of Champagne. Alice and her sister Philippa spent part of their life fighting for their father's homeland of Champagne, over another branch of their family...

 and Philippa

Philippa of Champagne

Philippa of Champagne, Lady of Ramerupt and of Venizy was the third daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Henry II, Count of Champagne. She was the wife of Erard de Brienne-Ramerupt who encouraged her in 1216 to claim the county of Champagne which belonged to her cousin Theobald IV, who...

.

He was buried beside his father at the Church of Saint Stephen, built at Troyes by the latter. On his tomb the inscriptions are:

Intent upon making amends for the injuries of the Cross and the land of the Crucified
He paved a way with expenses, an army, a fleet.
Seeking the terrestrial city, he finds the one celestial;
While he is obtaining his goal far away, he finds it at home.