Stephen du Perche (died 14/17 April 1205) was a French nobleman and crusader. He was a partisan of the

Plantagenets The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in batt ...

in their conflict with the

French crown France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...

and held

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

s from them. A younger son, he governed the

County of Perche The county of Perche was a medieval county lying between Normandy and Maine. It was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. One of these, Geoffroy V, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before the assembled forc ...

on behalf of his father and brother during their absence on crusade. He himself joined the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1202 and travelled to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. Afterwards, he went to the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzanti ...

and was appointed duke of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in Asia Minor in 1204. He died in battle against the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

Early life

Born before 1173, Stephen was the second of five sons of Count Rotrou IV of Perche and his wife Matilda, daughter of Theobald, count of Blois and Chartres. He was named after his uncle,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

archbishop of Palermo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo ( la, Archidioecesis Panormitana) was founded as the Diocese of Palermo in the first century and raised to the status of archdiocese in the 11th century.Geoffrey III, joined the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

in 1189. During their absence, Stephen shared the administration of the county with the seneschal Warin of Lonray. After Geoffrey's return in 1192 or 1193, Stephen accompanied him to England. It has sometimes been thought that Stephen and Geoffrey divided the Perche between themselves, but this is based on a misreading of a document of 1202. Around 1200, Stephen gave land he possessed at Arponnel and in the forested '' gâtines'' (wasteland) between

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

and

Thiron-Gardais Thiron-Gardais () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. The Tiron Abbey is located in the commune. Population See also * Tironensian Order *Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department The following is a list of the 365 ...

to the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

Anglo-Norman service

By the early 1190s, Stephen held rights to a portion of the comital revenues of the manors at Rivray, Montlandon and Nonvilliers, the mills at La Poterie and the salt works at

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is li ...

. By 1195, he had entered the service of King

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

, who was also

Duke of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...

. He was receiving arrears of payments from the

Exchequer of Normandy The Exchequer of Normandy (''Échiquier de Normandie'') or Exchequer of Rouen (''Échiquier de Rouen'') was the fiscal and administrative court of the Duchy of Normandy until the early 16th century. Surviving records show that the Exchequer of N ...

as late as 1200. At some point prior to 1198, Stephen was granted temporary control of the lands of Fulk of Aunou in the

Hiémois Exmes is a former commune in the Orne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Gouffern en Auge.Orival. A little later in 1198, Richard granted Stephen a money fief and Stephen fought for Richard in the war with France that year. In July 1200, King

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Emp ...

, Richard's successor, appointed Stephen castellan of

Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department of western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Les Hauts-d'Anjou.County of Anjou The County of Anjou (, ; ; la, Andegavia) was a small French county that was the predecessor to the better-known Duchy of Anjou. Its capital was Angers, and its area was roughly co-extensive with the diocese of Angers. Anjou was bordered by Brit ...

. Stephen, however, had to give up the royal grant of lands he had received at Chambois, where he was reaping the profits of a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish moneylender he had brought in from the

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

. These lands were passed on to

William Marshal William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings— Henry II, his sons the "Young King" ...

. In the autumn of 1201, when King John returned to Anjou after a circuit of the

Duchy of Aquitaine The Duchy of Aquitaine ( oc, Ducat d'Aquitània, ; french: Duché d'Aquitaine, ) was a historical fiefdom in western, central, and southern areas of present-day France to the south of the river Loire, although its extent, as well as its name, fluc ...

, Stephen stood as a guarantor of the settlement reached between John and one of his most powerful Angevin vassals, Juhel III of Mayenne, who had supported John's rival for the throne,

Arthur of Brittany Arthur I ( br, Arzhur 1añ; french: link=no, Arthur 1er de Bretagne) (29 March 1187 – presumably 1203) was 4th Earl of Richmond and Duke of Brittany between 1196 and 1203. He was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, and Constan ...

, in 1199.

Fourth Crusade

In 1200, Stephen's brother Geoffrey joined the

. He spent much of the next two years preparing, but he died just before Easter 1202. Among his pious acts of preparation was the grant of a charter to

Le Mans Cathedral Le Mans Cathedral ( French: ''Cathédrale St-Julien du Mans'') is a Catholic church situated in Le Mans, France. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Julian of Le Mans, the city's first bishop, who established Christianity in the area around the b ...

promising comital protection for its property at Courgenard in the Perche. Stephen swore to respect Geoffrey's promise to Le Mans. He had committed to the crusade by January 1202, when he mortgaged his properties at

Langeais Langeais () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. On 1 January 2017, the former commune of Les Essards was merged into Langeais.

to cover his expenses. Geoffrey, on his deathbed at Le Theil, entrusted command of the Percheron contingent to Stephen. In May 1202, King John stood as surety for a loan to Stephen from the

Templars , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

and

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

. During the interval between his brother's death and his departure, Stephen seems to have governed the county of Perche again. After his departure, Geoffrey's widow Matilda took over the regency for her minor son,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

. In June, Stephen and the Percheron contingent joined the main French force massing at Chartres. He made several religious bequests before departing,For an annotated list of all Stephen's surviving acts, see Thompson 1995, pp. 203–204. including the endowment of a memorial

requiem mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

for himself to be celebrated in

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly con ...

annually on the anniversary of his death. In June, he also confirmed his sister-in-law's endowment of an annual requiem for his brother. He probably travelled in the company of his cousin Count

Louis I of Blois Louis I of Blois (1172 – 14 April 1205) was Count of Blois from 1191 to 1205. He is best known for his participation in the Fourth Crusade and later prominent role in the Battle of Adrianople Early life He was the son of Theobald V and A ...

. Stephen made the rendezvous at

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in October 1202, but he was physically incapable of leaving with the army. His ship, the ''Violet'', sank shortly after sailing and it is unclear if Stephen was injured in the wreck or if he had not been aboard because of an illness. In this way he avoided the controversial

siege of Zara The siege of Zara or siege of Zadar ( hr, Opsada Zadra; hu, Zára ostroma; 10–24 November 1202) was the first major action of the Fourth Crusade and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders. The crusaders had an agree ...

in November. In March 1203 he decided not to rejoin the main army and went to southern Italy with Rotrou of Montfort and Yves of La Jaille. From there they sailed directly to the

, possibly in the same flotilla or ship as Simon of Montfort.

Baron in Greece

Only after the

sack of Constantinople The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the c ...

did Stephen rejoin the army to help defend the conquests. He returned from the Holy Land with Renaud of Montmirail. In 1204, after the partition of the Byzantine Empire by the crusaders, the new emperor Baldwin I granted Stephen the duchy of

in Asia Minor as an imperial fief. It is not likely that much or any of this fief was under crusader control at the time. Nevertheless, Stephen distributed fiefs to his own vassals within his duchy. The grant of a large and autonomous fief, as connoted by the term "duchy", is an indication that Stephen was considered among the first rank of crusaders. The actual ruler of Philadelphia,

Theodore Mangaphas Theodore Mangaphas or Mankaphas ( gr, Θεόδωρος Μαγκαφᾶς, floruit, fl. c. 1188–1205) was a Greeks, Greek nobleman from Alaşehir, Philadelphia, who assumed the title of Byzantine emperor twice, first during the reign of Isaac II ...

, was defeated by the imperial regent

Henry of Flanders Henry (c.1178 – 11 June 1216) was Latin emperor of Constantinople from 1205 until his death in 1216. He was one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade in which the Byzantine Empire was conquered and Latin Empire formed. Life Henry was born in V ...

at the battle of Adramyttion on 19 March 1205, bringing at least part of the region briefly under crusader control. Stephen was one of twelve barons who sat on the council that advised the emperor. In Constantinople, he seems to have rejoined the following of Louis of Blois. On 3 April 1205, he was at the siege of Adrianople, which had been occupied by Tsar

Kaloyan of Bulgaria Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ioannitsa or Johannitsa ( bg, Калоян, Йоаница; 1170 – October 1207), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, who led the anti-Byzant ...

. He joined Louis and Renaud of Montmirail on a foraging expedition and, on 14 April, all three were killed while pursuing a

Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...

force. According to the

necrology An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

of Chartres, however, his requiem was celebrated on 17 April. Stephen's participation in the crusade and his brief career in Greece is narrated in

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for wr ...

's chronicle and the '' Devastatio Constantinopolitana''.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Authority control 1205 deaths Christians of the Fourth Crusade Latin Empire people Dukes of the Crusader states People killed in action 12th-century births