Family:
Bibliography
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Richardson, Douglas, ASC entry for Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-. Posting to soc.genealogy.medieval (email list GEN-MEDIEVAL) on 8/4/2005. Subject: Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-. Available at https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/Da6JCiymRdg/m/_Z095As9c30J. Author address: royalancestry at msn dot com. Information from this source tagged as [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM 8/4/2005-200517].
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Schwennicke, Detlev, ed., Europaische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der europaischen Staaten, New Series. II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Hauser der Ubrigen Staaten Europas. Marburg: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984. Information from this source tagged as [Ref: ES II #[0-9]*].
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Stewart, Peter, Parents of Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-, revised. Posting to soc.genealogy.medieval (email list GEN-MEDIEVAL) on 8/7/2005. Subject: Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-. Available at https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/Da6JCiymRdg/m/QL9bw7tJ2YoJ. Author address: p_m_stewart at msn dot com. Information from this source tagged as [Ref: Peter Stewart SGM 8/7/2005-022731].
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Johnson, Will, Laud Chronicle on Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-. Posting to soc.genealogy.medieval (email list GEN-MEDIEVAL) on 8/5/2005. Subject: Henry of Poitou, Abbot of Peterborough 1127-. Available at https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/Da6JCiymRdg/m/fwU9twTOWDkJ. Author address: WJhonson at aol dot com. Information from this source tagged as [Ref: Will Johnson SGM 8/5/2005-165631].
- parents:
- [Ref: ES II #76]
Research Notes:
Bishop of Soissons [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM 8/4/2005-200517]
Monk, and later prior, of Clugny [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM 8/4/2005-200517]
Prior of Sevigny [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM 8/4/2005-200517]
Abbot of St John's, Petersborough [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM
8/4/2005-200517]
online version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the following website:
http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/1124-27.html
The online transcript indicates that Henry of Poitou was kinsman to both
King Henry I of England and to Guillaume, Count of Poitou:
Year: 1127
"He [Henry of Poitou] was in his clerical state Bishop of Soissons;
afterwards monk of Clugny; and then prior in the same monastery. Afterwards he
became prior of Sevigny; and then, because he was a relation of the King of
England, and of the Earl of Poitou, the earl gave him the abbacy of St. John's
minster of Angeli." [Ref: Douglas Richardson SGM 8/4/2005-200517]
Laud Chronicle for 1123:
"... At the same time came a certain legate from Rome, who was called Henry.
He was abbott of the abbey of St Jean d'Angely, and came about the payment of
Peter's pence. He told the king that it was unlawful that one of the secular
clergy should be set over monks; moreover they had already canonically chosen
an archbishop in their chapter; but the king would not revoke his decision
because of the love he bore the bishop of Salisbury. Soon thereafter the
archbishop went to Canterbury, and was there admitted, although it was against
their will...." [Ref: Will Johnson SGM 8/5/2005-165631]
Laud Chronicle for 1127:
"... In this same year he [King Henry] gave the abbacy of Peterborough to an
abbot named Henry of Poitou, who already held the abbacy of St Jean d'Angely.
The archbishop and all the bishops said this was uncanonical, and that he
could not have charge of two abbacies; but the same Henry gave the king to
understand that he had left his abbacy on account of the great strife in that
county, and that he had done so on the advice and with the permission of the
pope of Rome and that abbot of Cluny, and also because he was the legate sent
from Rome to collect Peter's pence. Et quia numquam quietus esse uoluit,
adquisiuit legacionem colligendorum denariorum Rome in Anglia, ut per hoc
abbaciam adquireret. This was true enough, but the reason was rather that he
wished to have charge of both abbacies --- which, in fact, he did succeed in
doing as long as it was God's will. As a secular clerk he had been bishop of
Soissons; afterwards he became a monk of Cluny, and later became prior in the
same monastery, and then prior of Savigny-le-Vieux. Thereafter, since he was
a relation of the King of England and of the count of Poitou, the count gave
him the abbacy of St Jean d'Angely. Afterwards by great intrigue he manaaged
to get possession of the archbishopric of Besancon, but only for three days,
for it was only fitting that he should forfeit what he had come by
uncanonically. Thereupon he got possession of the bishopric of Saintes, which
was five miles from his abbacy, and held it for almost a week, but the abbot
of Cluny got him out, just as he had done before from Besancon. Then it
occurred to him that if he could get firmly rooted in England, he could get
all his own way, so be besought the king, and said to him that he was a
broken-down old man, who could not endure the great injustices and
disturbances which were prevalent in their land; and begged to be given the
abbacy of Peterborough through his agency and that of all his friends whom he
mentioned by name. And the king granted it to him because he was his kinsman,
and because he had been the chief witness to swear oath and testify when the
marriage of the son of the Duke of Normandy and the daughter of the Count of
Anjou was dissolved on the grounds of consanguinity. Thus despicably was the
abbacy bestowed between Christmas and Candlemas in London; and so he
accompanied the king to Winchester, and from there he came to Peterborough,
where he took up his abode just as drones do in a hive. Everything bees
gather, drones devour and carry off, and so too did he. Everything that he
could take, from within the monastery or outside it, from ecclesiatics and
laymen, he sent overseas. He did nothing for the monastery's welface and left
nothing of value untouched. Let no one be surprised at the truth of what we
are about to relate, for it was general knowledge throughout the whole country
that immediately after his arrival -- it was the Sunday [i.e. 6 February 1127,
Lent began on 16 February] when they sing Exurge Quare o[bdormis], D[omine] ?
-- many men both saw and heard a great number of huntsmen hunting. The
huntsmen were black, huge, and hideous, and rode on black horses and on black
he-goats, and their hounds were jet black, with eyes like saucers, and
horrible. This was seen in the very deer park of the town of Peterborough,
and in all the woods that stretch from that same town to Stamford, and in the
night the monks heard them sounding and winding their horns. Reliable
witnesses who kept watch in the night declared that there might well have been
as many as twenty or thirty of them winding their horns as near as they could
tell. This was seen and heard from the time of his arrival all through Lent
and right up to Easter. Such was his entrance: of his exit we cannot yet say.
Let it be as God ordains!" [Ref: Will Johnson SGM 8/5/2005-165631]
Laud Chronicle for 1128:
"... In this same year the fore-mentioned abbot Henry went back to his own
monastery in Poitou, by premission of the king. He gave the king to
understand that he would entirely relinquish that monastery and leave that
country to dwell with him there in England in the monastery of Peterborough,
but it was far from being so. He acted thus because he wished, by means of
his great cunning, to stay there for perhaps twelve months of more, and then
return. God Almightly have pity on that unhappy foundation!
[Ref: Will Johnson SGM 8/5/2005-165631]
Laud Chronicle for 1130:
"...This same year abbot Henry of Angely came to Peterborough after Easter,
and said he had entirely relinquished the monastery [of Angely]. After him,
with the king's permission, the abbot of Cluny, named Peter, came to this
country, and he was welcomed with great ceremony everywhere wherever he went.
He came to Peterborough, and there abbot Henry promised him that he would
secure the monastery of Peterborough for him, so that it would be subject to
Cluny. However there is a proverb which says 'Hedge abides that fields
divides.' May God Almightly frustrate evil counsels! Shortly afterwards the
abbot of Cluny went back to his own country.
...In this same year, before Easter, abbot Henry went oversea to Normandy
from Peterborough, and there spoke with the king. He told him that the abbot
of Cluny had ordered him to report and hand over the abbey of Angely; after he
had done that he said he would return to England if the king gave permission.
So he went to his own monastery [of Angely], and remained there right up to
midsummer day; but the day following St John's day [i.e. 25 June], the monks
chose and abbot from their own number, and brought him into church in solemn
procession; they sang the Te Deum, and rang the bells, and placed him in the
abbot's seat, and proferred him the unqualified obedience which monks owe to
their abbot; and the duke [of Aquitaine] and all the leading men and the monks
drove Henry, the other abbot, out of the monastery. The necessity to do this
was forced upon them, for in five and twenty years they had not enjoyed one
single happy day. Here all his boasted ingenuity failed him: now he had good
cause to creep into his capacious bag of tricks, and explore it in every
corner, to see if by chance there might be at least one shifty dodge left
there by which he could yet again deceive Christ and all Christian folk. Then
he went into the monastery at Cluny, where he was held so that he was unable
to go either east or west. The abbot of Cluny said that they had lost the
monastery of St Jean d'Angely through him, and because of his utter stupidity.
Then he knew no better way out of his predicament than to promise them, upon
oaths sworn on holy relics, that he would secure for them the monastery of
Peterborough, if he might reach England; and would install a prior from Cluny
there, as well as a sacristan, a treasurer, and a keeper of the wardrobe, to
ensure that they got complete control of both the internal and external
affairs of the monastery. Thus he went into France [Cluny being in Burgundy]
and there above all the year. May Christ provide for the wretched monks of
Peterborough and for that unhappy foundation ! Now they stand in need of the
help of Christ and of all Christian people." [Ref: Will Johnson SGM
8/5/2005-165631]
According to Alfred Richard, the attribution of Henri de Poitou, a prior of
Cluny who became the wayward abbot of Saint-Jean d'Angely and Peterborough, as
a third son of William the Troubadour was an error of Jean Besly in _Histoire
des comtes de Poictou et ducs de Guyenne_ (Paris, 1647), p. 127.
Richard showed that this man must have been a good deal older than William's
children born after 1094, citing first a charter of Cluny dated 1100 witnessed
by "domno Heynrico priore", and the list in _Gallia christiana_ showing only
one prior at the abbey in the 12th century named Henry. Richard suggested that
the origin of Besly's mistake was a passage in William of Tyre about a
purported brother of Raimond of Antioch - in book 14, chapter 20:
"Interseritur etiam pactis quod si domini Raimundi frater Henricus nomine in
partes descenderet Antiochenas, dominus patriarcha fideliter elaboraret
quomodo puelle matrem, domini Boamundi viduam, cum duabus urbibus maritimis et
earum finibus haberet uxorem" (It was also added to the stipulations that if
the lord Raimond's brother named Henry should come down to Antioch, the lord
patriarch would sincerely try to bring about that he would have as wife the
girl's mother, lord Bohemund's widow, along with two port cities and their
countryside). The widow in question was Raimond's prospective mother-in-law
Alix of Rethel, daughter of King Balduin II - the supposed brother Henry is
unidentified, but these events took place in the mid-1130s and the partiarch
was hardly referring to a discredited abbot in France who had died some years
before then (in January 1131).
Of William the Troubadour's four daughters apart from Agnes, nothing is
known for certain. However, Alienor of Aquitaine apparently referred to
another Agnes - known as "de Barbezieux", abbess of Notre-Dame at Saintes - as
her "aunt", and Richard thought this might have been one of them. He doesn't
give a reference, and without some firmer evidence it seems implausible to me.
I can't find any evidence to link Henri "de Poitou" as a nephew of William
the Troubadour's mother Audiardis of Burgundy, as Richard claimed. The name
was certainly current in her family, but none of her half-siblings settled in
Poitou and if a nephew had followed her there he would more probably have
become known as "Henry the Burgundian" anyway. [Ref: Peter Stewart SGM
8/7/2005-022731]
Pedigree of Henry Of Poitou, Abbot Of Peterborough
/-----
Ranulf I Count Of Poitou
/-----
Ranulf II Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| \-----
Bilchilda Of Maine
/-----
Ebles Mancer Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | /-----
Louis II The Stammerer King Of France
| \-----
Irmgard
| \-----
Adelaide
/-----
William I Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| \-----
Emliane
/-----
William II Fierabras Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | /-----
Ketil
| | /-----
Hrolfr (Rollo) Duke Of Normandy
| \-----
Gerloc Of Normandy
| | /-----
Berenger Count Of Bayeux
| \-----
Poppa
| | /-----
Gurivant Count Of Rennes
| \-----
(Unk Dau)
| \-----
(Unk Dau) Heiress Of Brittany
/-----
William III Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | /-----
Eudes Count Of Chartres
| | /-----
Theobald Viscount Of Troyes
| | | | /-----
Thibaud Count Of Chartres
| | | \-----
(Unk Dau)
| | /-----
Theobald I Le Tricheur Count Of Blois
| | | | /-----
Stephen Count Of Bourges
| | | | /-----
Hugh Count Of Bourges
| | | \-----
Richilde Of Bourges
| | | | /-----
Charles II The Bald King Of Franks, Emperor
| | | \-----
Rothaut
| | | \-----
Richaut Of Metz
| \-----
Emma Of Blois
| | /-----
Pepin Count Of Senlis, Peronne, & St. Quentin
| | /-----
Herbert I Count Of Vermandois
| | | \-----
(Unk Dau) Of Vermandois
| | /-----
Herbert II Count Of Vermandois
| | | | /-----
Guerra I Count Of Morvois
| | | \-----
Beatrice Of Morvois
| | | \-----
Eve Of Roussillon
| \-----
Luitgarde De Vermandois
| | /-----
Rupert IV The Strong Count Of Tours
| | /-----
Robert I King Of France
| | | \-----
Aelis Of Tours And Alsace
| \-----
Hildebrante/Liegarde/Adela
| \-----
Aelis
/-----
William VI Geoffrey Count Of Poitou
| | /-----
Anchier Count Of Orcheret, Margrave Of Ivrea
| | /-----
Adalbert The Rich Margrave Of Ivrea
| | /-----
Berengar II King Of Italy
| | | | /-----
Berengar I King Of Italy
| | | \-----
Gisele Of Friuli
| | | \-----
Bertila Of Spoleto
| | /-----
Adalbert Marquess Of Ivrea
| | | | /-----
Theobald Count Of Aries
| | | | /-----
Boso Count Of Aries
| | | | | \-----
Bertha Of Lorraine
| | | \-----
Willa Of Aries
| | | | /-----
Rudolph I King Of Upper Burgundy
| | | \-----
Willa Of Tuscany
| | | \-----
Wille
| | /-----
Otto William Count Of Burgundy, Nevers, And Dijon
| | | | /-----
Robert Vicomte Of Dijon, Count Of Auton
| | | | /-----
Lambert Count Of Chalons, Viconte Of Dijon
| | | | | \-----
Engeltrude
| | | \-----
Gerberga
| \-----
Agnes Of Burgundy
| | /-----
Rogenvald
| | /-----
Renaud Count Of Rheims And Roucy
| \-----
Ermentrude Of Roucy
| | /-----
Giselbert Count Of Darnau
| | /-----
Regnier I Count Of Hainaut
| | | \-----
Ermengarde Of Lorraine
| | /-----
Giselbert Duke Of Lorraine
| | | \-----
Alberade Of Mons
| \-----
Alberade Of Lorraine
| | /-----
Otto The Illustrious Duke Of Saxony
| | /-----
Henry I The Fowler King Of The Saxons
| | | \-----
Hedwige/Hadui/Haduich
| \-----
Gerberga Of Saxony
| | /-----
Dietrich Count in Westfalen
| \-----
Mechtilde Of Westfalen
| \-----
Ragenhilda
/-----
William VII Count Of Poitou, IX Duke Of Aquitain
| | /-----
Rupert IV The Strong Count Of Tours
| | /-----
Robert I King Of France
| | | \-----
Aelis Of Tours And Alsace
| | /-----
Hugh Magnus Duke Of The Franks, Count Of Paris
| | | | /-----
Herbert I Count Of Vermandois
| | | \-----
Beatrix Of Vermandois
| | | \-----
Beatrice Of Morvois
| | /-----
Hugh Capet King Of France
| | | | /-----
Otto The Illustrious Duke Of Saxony
| | | | /-----
Henry I The Fowler King Of The Saxons
| | | | | \-----
Hedwige/Hadui/Haduich
| | | \-----
Hedwig Of Saxony
| | | | /-----
Dietrich Count in Westfalen
| | | \-----
Mechtilde Of Westfalen
| | | \-----
Ragenhilda
| | /-----
Robert II The Pious King Of France
| | | | /-----
Ranulf II Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | | | /-----
Ebles Mancer Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | | | | \-----
Irmgard
| | | | /-----
William I Count Of Poitou, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | | | | \-----
Emliane
| | | \-----
Adelaide Of Poitou
| | | | /-----
Ketil
| | | | /-----
Hrolfr (Rollo) Duke Of Normandy
| | | \-----
Gerloc Of Normandy
| | | | /-----
Berenger Count Of Bayeux
| | | \-----
Poppa
| | | \-----
(Unk Dau)
| | /-----
Robert The Old Duke Of Burgundy
| | | | /-----
Rotbaudo Seigneur De Angelcas
| | | | /-----
Boso II Count Of Provence
| | | | | | /-----
William Le Pieux, Duke Of Aquitaine
| | | | | \-----
(Unk Dau) Of Aquitaine
| | | | | \-----
Ingelburga
| | | | /-----
William I Count Of Aries And Provence
| | | | | | /-----
Louis The Blind King Of Provence, Italy, Emperor
| | | | | | /-----
Charles Constantine Count Of Vienna
| | | | | | | \-----
Anna
| | | | | \-----
Constance
| | | | | | /-----
Warner Vicomte Of Sens And Troyes
| | | | | \-----
Teutberg
| | | | | \-----
Teutberge
| | | \-----
Constance Of Provence
| | | | /-----
Ingelger Count Of Anjou
| | | | /-----
Fulk Le Roux Count Of Anjou
| | | | | \-----
Adela Of The Gatinais
| | | | /-----
Fulk II The Good Count Of Anjou
| | | | | | /-----
Werner Seigneur De Locher Villandry And La Stai
| | | | | \-----
Roscilla
| | | | | \-----
Forcanda
| | | \-----
Adelaide (Blanch) Of Anjou
| | | | /-----
Gausfred
| | | | /-----
Gausfred Count Of Nevers
| | | \-----
Gerberga Of Nevers
| | | | /-----
Hector Noble Of Arverne
| | | \-----
Aba
| | | \-----
Aba Abbess Of Sauxillanges
| \-----
Hildegarde Of Burgundy
| | /-----
Ingelger Count Of Anjou
| | /-----
Fulk Le Roux Count Of Anjou
| | | \-----
Adela Of The Gatinais
| | /-----
Fulk II The Good Count Of Anjou
| | | | /-----
Werner Seigneur De Locher Villandry And La Stai
| | | \-----
Roscilla
| | | \-----
Forcanda
| | /-----
Geoffrey I Grisgonelle Count Of Anjou
| | | | /-----
Gausfred
| | | | /-----
Gausfred Count Of Nevers
| | | \-----
Gerberga Of Nevers
| | | | /-----
Hector Noble Of Arverne
| | | \-----
Aba
| | | \-----
Aba Abbess Of Sauxillanges
| | /-----
Fulk III The Black Count Of Anjou
| | | | /-----
Herbert I Count Of Vermandois
| | | | /-----
Herbert II Count Of Vermandois
| | | | | \-----
Beatrice Of Morvois
| | | | /-----
Robert Count Of Troyes
| | | | | | /-----
Robert I King Of France
| | | | | \-----
Hildebrante/Liegarde/Adela
| | | | | \-----
Aelis
| | | \-----
Adele Of Troyes
| | | | /-----
Manasses I Count Of Vergy, Duxin, And Chalons
| | | | /-----
Giselbert Duke Of Burgandy
| | | | | \-----
Ermengarde
| | | \-----
Adelaide Of Burgundy
| | | \-----
Ermengarde Of Burgandy
| \-----
Ermengarde Of Anjou
| \-----
Hildegarde Of Metz
Henry Of Poitou, Abbot Of Peterborough
| /-----
Archembaud Borel Sire De Isle-Bouchard
| /-----
Barthelemy Sire De Isle Bouchard
| | | /-----
Bouchard II Sire De Isle And Riviere
| | | /-----
Hugues Sire De Isle-Bouchard
| | | | \-----
Hermengarde De Villaines
| | \-----
Agnes
\-----
Dangerose
\-----
Gerberga
Descendants of Henry Of Poitou, Abbot Of Peterborough