Jehan de Louvois gives his name and title as it appears in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

documents as ''dominus Johannes de Lovois'', in French ''Monsigneur J. de Lovoies'' or ''vyconte de Lovoies''. In 1270, he called himself ''Jehan, dit Bernard de Louvois''. ( 1252–1270) was a French nobleman and

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French (''langue d'oïl'') form of the ''langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet- ...

from the

County of Champagne The County of Champagne ( la, Comitatus Campaniensis; fro, Conté de Champaigne), or County of Champagne and Brie, was a historic territory and feudal principality in France descended from the early medieval kingdom of Austrasia. The county bec ...

Life

Jehan was born perhaps as early as the 1210s. His family were vassals of the

House of Châtillon The House of Châtillon was a notable French family, with origins in the 9th century. The name comes from that of Châtillon-sur-Marne in Champagne, where members of the family were tenants in a castle belonging to the Counts of Champagne. Gauch ...

for a part of Louvois. His grandfather, Vauthier, and father, Oudart, were co-ruling their part of Louvois in 1225, when they renounced their half of the viscountcy of

Mailly Mailly () is a picturesque commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.Mailly is located in the Brionnais's south. Separated by Caille, the town is spread over three hills, Bourg, Chavan ...

in exchange for the right to build a

banal Banal may refer to: * Something that is common in a boring way, to the point of being cliché * Of or pertaining to the ban (medieval) or banalité * Banal nationalism * ''Banal'' (film), a 2019 Filipino horror film People * A. J. Banal (born ...

oven. Nonetheless, Jehan continued to be known by the vicecomital title, perhaps because it had become attached to their fief in Louvois by then. He had a younger brother named Robert, attested in 1254.Holger Petersen Dyggve (1941), "Personnages historiques figurant dans la poésie lyrique française des XII^e et XIII^e siècles", ''Neuphilologische Mitteilungen'' 42(4): 153–183, at 171–179 (biography) and 179–183 (song). Jehan succeeded his father sometime between 1225 and 1252. He is recorded as a vassal of Count

Theobald IV of Champagne Theobald I (french: Thibaut, es, Teobaldo; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous ...

between 1249 and 1252. (1929), "Review of ''Mélanges de linguistique et de littérature offerts'' by Alfred Jeanroy", ''Neuphilologische Mitteilungen'' 30(1): 57–64, at 62. He held as fiefs of the count the fortress and village of

Dugny Dugny () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. About a third of Le Bourget airport lies on the territory of the commune of Dugny, including its main terminal and the '' Musée de l'A ...

and the forests of La Neuville-en-Chaillois, Saint-Basle and Vauremont. He also appears in a list of vassals of Count Theobald V (1256–1270). Jehan married a daughter of Stephen, lord of

Mareuil-sur-Ay Mareuil-sur-Ay (, literally ''Mareuil on Ay'') is a former commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Since January 2016, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is part of the administrative commune Aÿ-Champagne. Its population was 1,113 in 2019. The ...

, as attested in a document from the reign of Theobald V. In 1270, he made a donation to the , where he was to be buried, for perpetual masses for his soul. He was by then an old man. The next known lord of Louvois, Bernard (fl. 1286–1295), was possibly his son.

Poetry

Only one surviving song, ''Chanz ne me vient de verdure'', is attributed to Jehan de Louvois. (1980

850 ''For codepage, see CP850.'' __NOTOC__ Year 850 ( DCCCL) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February 1 – King Ramiro I dies in his palac ...

''Les chansonniers de Champagne aux XII^e et XIII^e siècles''
(Slatkine Reprints), pp. xlii–xliii. It is preserved in four

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

s, but in three of these (''

sigla Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...

'' I, O and U) it is anonymous. Jehan is named as its author only in the

Chansonnier du Roi The ''Manuscrit du Roi'' or ''Chansonnier du Roi'' ("King's Manuscript" or "King's Songbook" in English) is a prominent songbook compiled towards the middle of the thirteenth century, probably between 1255 and 1260 and a major testimony of Europea ...

, where he is also depicted as a charging knight in a decorated

initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...

. The first stanza is: :''Chanz ne me vient de verdure'' :''Ne por yver ne remaint;'' :''Chanter puis je par froidure,'' :''Se la saison m'i ataint.'' :''Mais ce ne soude ne fraint,'' :''Qu'a cler jor m'est nuis oscure'' :''Puis que joie me soufraint;'' :''Moi ne chaut queus vans me maint''

References

{{reflist Trouvères 13th-century French nobility