Hugh III (French: ''Hugues'') was count of Saint-Pol from 1130 until his death in 1141. He was responsible for massacres and therefore

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

Biography

The son of Hugh II and Elissende of Ponthieu, Hugh waged a vigorous war against the Collet family, whom he forced to take refuge in the abbey of

Saint-Riquier Saint-Riquier () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated northeast of Abbeville, on the D925 and D32 crossroads. Abbey Saint-Riquier (originally ''Centula'' or ''Centulum'' ...

. After besieging the fortress, he stormed it on 28 August 1131 and put it to fire and the sword, killing men, women, and children, including the clergy. The survivors, including the abbot, took refuge in

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

. The abbot raised a complaint at the

Council of Reims Reims, located in the north-east of modern France, hosted several councils or synods in the Roman Catholic Church. These councils did not universally represent the church and are not counted among the official ecumenical councils. Early synodal c ...

(1131), which excommunicated Hugh in 1132. The ban was confirmed by Pope Innocent II. His further atrocities against the clergy brought the intervention of

King Louis VI Louis VI (late 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (french: link=no, le Gros) or the Fighter (french: link=no, le Batailleur), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member ...

, at which point he submitted to penance. He obtained the absolution of Pope Innocent II in 1137 by financing the foundation of three abbeys: Cercamp, Klaarkamp, and Ourscamp. In 1140, he joined with the

Count of Hainaut The Count of Hainaut (; ; ) was the ruler of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries (including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany). In English-la ...

against

Thierry, Count of Flanders Theoderic ( nl, Diederik, french: Thierry, german: Dietrich; – 17 January 1168), commonly known as Thierry of Alsace, was the fifteenth count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. With a record of four campaigns in the Levant and Africa (including p ...

, but was defeated. With his wife, Beatrix of Rollancourt, he had five sons and three daughters: * Enguerrand * Hugh, died without issue in 1150 * Anselm * Ralph, died 4 April 1142, buried in Cercamp * Guy, married Matilda of Doullens * Angélique or Angéline, wife of Anselm of Housdain * Adelaide, wife of Robert V, Lord of Béthune, with whom she had 8 children including Jean de Béthune,

Bishop of Cambrai The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Help ...

* Beatrix, wife of Robert, fourth son of Ralph I, Lord of Coucy Beatrix, the mother of these children, is buried at Cercamp.

Sources

* Maurus Dantine, Charles Clémencet,

Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais (1773 – 1842) was a French genealogist and littérateur. Biography Early life Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais was born on 6 April 1773 in Langres, France. Career During the French Revolution, he served as an Ass ...

, Ursin Durand, François Clément, ''L'art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques tc..''. 1750 and subsequent editions * G Er Sauvage, ''Histoire de Saint-Pol'' * François César Louandre, ''Histoire ancienne et moderne d'Abbeville et de son arrondissement'' A. Boulanger, 183
(online version)
* Ernest Warlop: ''Campus Avenae: het wapen van de graven van Saint-Pol''. In: Carlos Wyffels u. a. (eds.): ''Gedenkboek Michiel Mispelon. Familia et Patria'', Kortemark-Handzame 1982, pp. 587–599 * Jean-François Nieus: ''Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France. Saint-Pol, 1000–1300''. De Boeck, Brussels 2005 (Bibliothèque du Moyen Âge 23) {{ISBN, 280414772X (also: Louvain-la-Neuve, university dissertation, 2001: ''Le comté de Saint-Pol des origines à la fin du XIIIe siècle'') 1141 deaths Counts of Saint-Pol