Ebles II (died May 1103), also called Eble or Ebale, was the second

Count of Roucy This article is a list of the counts of Roucy. In medieval France, Roucy was a county held by a succession of noble families. By the Late Middle Ages, it was one of seven titles that was made a peer within the provincial peerage of the greater Co ...

(1063–1103) of the

House of Montdidier The House of Montdidier was a medieval French noble house which ruled as count of Montdidier, Dammartin and Roucy. Its earliest definite member of the family was a certain Hilduin, who died before 956 and was known as ''comte de Montdidier''. Th ...

. He was the son and successor of

Hilduin IV of Montdidier Hilduin IV (d. 1063), Count of Montdidier and Lord of Ramerupt, son of Hilduin III, Count of Montdidier, member of the House of Montdidier. Hilduin was also Count of Roucy by virtue of his marriage to the daughter of Ebles I, Count of Roucy. ...

and Alice (Alix), daughter of Ebles I of Roucy. He is famous for his participation in the '' Reconquista'' (the war against Muslim Spain), as well as for being one of the unruly barons of the Île-de-France subjugated by King Louis VI while he was still a prince. His life and character are summed up by Suger in his history of the reign of Louis VI: "Ebles was a man of great military prowess—indeed he became so bold that one day he set out for Spain with an army of a size fit only for a king—his feats of arms only made him more outrageous and rapacious in pillage, rape and all over evils."

Spanish crusade of 1073

On 30 April 1073

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...

authorised a new crusade against the Muslims in Spain. (The Barbastro Crusade of a decade earlier had failed to achieve anything lasting.) In the bull, addressed to "all the princes ulers in the land of Spain", Gregory asserted Papal suzerainty over the Iberian peninsula—"we believe the kingdom of Spain to have been from antiquity the rightful property of Saint Peter"—and informed them that he had ceded this right to Ebles of Roucy. The negotiations between Ebles and the Holy See had been conducted by Gregory as

legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

before he became Pope on 22 April, and his letter makes clear there had been prior letters between Ebles and

Pope Alexander II Pope Alexander II (1010/1015 – 21 April 1073), born Anselm of Baggio, was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1061 to his death in 1073. Born in Milan, Anselm was deeply involved in the Pataria refor ...

. Ebles made a pact (''pactio'') with the Holy See whereby the lands he conquered in Spain would be held by him as a Papal fiefdom "for the honour of Saint Peter". Four fragments of bulls issued by Alexander granting the plenary indulgence for engaging in a holy war have been customarily dated to the campaign against Barbastro (1063–64) but may belong to that of Ebles. Ebles was probably a relative of Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragon, both descending from the Dukes of Aquitaine. On 25 May

Sancho Garcés IV Sancho Garcés IV ( eu, Antso IV.a Gartzez; 1039 – 4 June 1076),Sancho IV, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. nicknamed Sancho of Peñalén ( eu, Antso Peñalengoa, es, Sancho el de Peñalén) was King of Pamplona from 1054 until his death. He was ...

, the ruler of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

, and his neighbour,

Ahmad al-Muqtadir Ahmad ibn Sulayman al-Muqtadir (or just Moctadir; ar, أبو جعفر أحمد "المقتدر بالله" بن سليمان, ''Abu Ja'far Ahmad al-Muqtadir bi-Llah ibn Sulayman'') was a member of the Banu Hud family who ruled the Islamic taifa ...

, the ruler of Zaragoza, concluded an alliance by treaty against the planned crusade. For reasons unknown, the crusade never took place,Reilly (1988), 81. or at least left no record of its accomplishments, which must in any case have been meagre. According to one historian, the crusade may have been frustrated by Gerald of Ostia, Papal legate,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

and Cluniac, as part of the efforts of the Abbey of Cluny to support the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

– Castile in its rivalry with the

Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon ( an, Reino d'Aragón, ca, Regne d'Aragó, la, Regnum Aragoniae, es, Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, ...

. The Papacy under Alexander and Gregory supported the king of Aragon, and at least some of

Alfonso VI of Castile Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

's actions in 1073 can be seen as a response to the projected crusade. The appointment of Gerald, a former grand prior of Cluny, and the archdeacon Raimbald as legates in Spain may have been intended originally by Alexander II to appease Alfonso VI or his predecessor, Sancho II, by assuring them that their claims on the '' parias'' of Zaragoza (which, along with allied Navarre, felt threatened by the crusade) were not in jeopardy. Upon becoming Pope, however, Gregory removed Gerald from this position and instated Hugh Candidus, a veteran of the crusade of Barbastro and a friend of the king of Aragon. In February 1074 Gregory was busy pushing Sancho, a recognised Papal vassal since 1068, to act against the Muslims. Sancho at some point took as his second wife Felicia (Félicie), perhaps the sister of Ebles.

Feudal conflict in France

According to Suger, the "tyrannical, valiant and turbulent baron Ebles of Roucy and his son Guischard" frequently plundered the

Archdiocese of Reims The Archdiocese of Reims (traditionally spelt "Rheims" in English) ( la, Archidiœcesis Remensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese a ...

("the noble church of Reims and the churches dependant on it"), and over one hundred formal complaints against Ebles were made to the Crown during the time of Philip I (1060–1108).''Vita Ludovici'', ch. V. His son, the future Louis VI, received two or three complaints and gathered an army of seven hundred knights "from the most noble and valiant of French lords" and entered the district of Reims, where he fought Ebles "vigorously" for the next two months, resting his army only on Saturdays and Sundays. Louis made war on all the barons of the region because they were allied by family ties to Ebles, who he describes as "the great men of Lotharingia". The prince, on the advice of his counsellors, only left the region after Ebles had sworn oaths to respect the peace of the churches and given hostages. Negotiations over the possession of the castle of Neufchâtel were left off for a later date. When

Thomas de Marle Thomas of Marle, Lord of Coucy and Boves, was a medieval French nobleman. He was born in 1073 to Enguerrand I of Boves, the Lord of Coucy, and his wife Adele of Marle. After the death of his father, Thomas became the Lord of Coucy and of his fam ...

came into possession of the powerful fortress of Montaigu by marriage, Ebles joined with Enguerrand de Bova to expel him. While they were attempting to "surround him with a wattled stockade, and force him to capitulate through fear of slow starvation", Thomas escaped to the court of Prince Louis and, having bought off his advisors with gifts, convinced the prince to come to his defence.''Vita Ludovici'', ch. VII. Ebles, respecting his previous oaths, refused to make war on the prince. After Louis destroyed the blockade of Montaigu, the allies turned on him. The princely army and the army of Ebles and Enguerrand menaced each other with trumpets and spear-rattling across a river for two days before the prince impetuously charged (provoked, Suger, says, by the taunts of an enemy ''

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

'' who entered his camp). Impress by Louis's bravery, the rebels made their peace. Pope Gregory wrote to Ebles after the deposition of Archbishop

Manasses I of Reims Manasses I, known as Manasses de Gournay, was the Archbishop of Reims, and thus primate of France, from c. 1069 to his deposition on 27 December 1080. Manasses was the son of Hugh II of Gournay-en-Bray and Adelaide of Dammartin. His brother was Hu ...

in 1081 asking him to resist the latter's claims. Around 1082 Ebles donated his section of the road at

Mortcerf Mortcerf () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Moressartois''. See also *Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department The following is a list ...

to the abbey of Saint-Martin at Pontoise. Anna Komnene, in the ''

Alexiad The ''Alexiad'' ( el, Ἀλεξιάς, Alexias) is a medieval historical and biographical text written around the year 1148, by the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. It was written in a form of artificial ...

'', records the marriage of the youngest daughter of

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabri ...

to a certain Eubulus, a "very illustrious count".Elizabeth A. Dawes, ed.
''The Alexiad''
(Routledge, 1928), 33. This daughter was Sybilla, the wife of Ebles of Roucy.

Spanish crusade of 1073

Feudal conflict in France

Notes

References

Further reading