Henry I of Bar (1158–1191) was

Count of Bar The County of Bar, later Duchy of Bar, was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire encompassing the '' pays de Barrois'' and centred on the city of Bar-le-Duc. It was held by the House of Montbéliard from the 11th century. Part of the county, t ...

, lord of Mousson and Amance from 1170 to 1190. He was the son of Renaut II of Bar and Agnes of Champagne. He was still under-age at the time of his father's death, and his mother acted as regent for him from 1170 to 1173. Since some of his ancestors had been Counts of Verdun, Agnes of Champagne reclaimed the county of Verdun from its

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

in 1172, but he resisted. She responded by laying waste the diocese of Verdun. Both mother and son were excommunicated and forced to submit in 1177. In 1178, the Bishop of Toul began to construct a fortress at Liverdun, with the authorisation of the Duke of Upper Lorraine, Simon II. Overwhelmed by the size of the task, he entrusted it to Henry, who made use of it. This did not compromise his good relations with the Duke, although the latter could have felt threatened by the fortresses of Liverdun, Amance and Mousson. Through his mother, Henry was a first cousin of

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

and was present at his coronation on 1 November 1179 at

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...

by their uncle William White Hands,

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, t ...

Archbishop 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 ...

. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, Henry 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 ...

. He set out in the middle of 1189, before Kings Philip and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

. On arriving in what remained of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...

, he took part in the siege of Acre. He was joined there in summer 1190 by his uncles Theobald V of Blois and Stephen I of Sancerre, and his cousin Henry II of Champagne. On 4 October 1190, he was seriously wounded in battle against the forces of

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...

, and died from these injuries in 1191.Ambroise, ''The History of the Holy War: Ambroise's Estoire de la Guerre Sainte'', Vol. 1, transl. Marianne Ailes, (The Boydell Press, 2003), 74 note 227.

References

House of Montbelliard Counts of Bar Christians of the Third Crusade 1158 births 1190 deaths {{France-hist-stub