Enguerrand I ( 1042 – 1116) was the
Lord of Coucy from 1086
until his death in 1116.
Bishop Rorico of Amiens established canons at the
Abbey of Saint-Acheul in 1085. The foundation charter records donations to Saint-Acheul by Count Enguerran of Boves and his vidame Eustache. It was issued in the first year of Enguerrand's rule, and praises his restoration of law and order.
Enguerrand was a man of many scandals. With the help of the
Bishop of Laon
The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon was ...
he divorced his first wife, Adèle de Marle, for adultery. When he married his next wife, Sibyl of
Château-Porcien
Château-Porcien () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Ardennes department
The following is a list of the 447 communes of the Ardennes department of France
France, o ...
, she was still married to
Godfrey I, Count of Namur and
Lord of Lorraine,
who was absent in a war. Enguerrand and Sybil's first husband became bitter enemies and continued to fight a private war.
Adèle's son
Thomas de Marle hated his father and joined the enemies against him. Nevertheless, when in 1095 the
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...
began, both he and his son joined in the crusade as part of the army of
Emicho. Thomas succeeded Enguerrand upon his death, and became a notoriously disreputable lord in his own right.
Family
Enguerrand was the son of Drogo, Lord of
Boves.
Enguerrand married Adèle (Ada) de Marle, the divorced wife of Aubry, Viscount of Coucy, and daughter of Letard de Roucy, Lord of
Marle. Letard was, in turn, the son of
Gilbert, Count of Reims and Roucy. Enguerrand and Ada had three children:
*
Thomas de Marle (1073–1130/31). Lord of Coucy and Marle, Count of Amiens
* Beatrix de Boves (?−1144). Married Adam Châtelain d'Amiens
* Robert de Coucy
Enguerrand is said to have kidnapped Sibyl of Château-Porcien, the wife of Godfrey I, Count of Namur.
[Bourgin, G. (ed.) (1907) Guibert de Nogent, Histoire de sa vie (1053–1124) (Paris) ("Guibert de Nogent"), Liber III, III and X, pp. 135 and 181.] With the kidnapped Sibyl pregnant with Enguerrand's child, he later married her and they had a daughter, Agnès de Coucy.
[Guibert (Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy), Paul J. Archambault, A monk's confession: the memoirs of Guibert of Nogent, Penn State Press, 1996]
References
Sources
*
{{S-end
1040s births
1116 deaths
People from Aisne
Christians of the First Crusade
Year of birth uncertain
Lords of Coucy