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, ...

, 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 member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

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 The Diocese of Toul was a Roman Catholic diocese seated at Toul in present-day France. It existed from 365 until 1802. From 1048 until 1552 (''de jure'' until 1648), it was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire. History The diocese was erect ...

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), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

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 Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

by their uncle

William White Hands William of the White Hands (; 1135–1202), also called William White Hands, was a French cardinal. William was born in Brosse, Île-de-France, France. He was a son of Theobald the Great, Count of Blois and Count of Champagne, and Matilda of ...

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Archbishop of Reims The Archdiocese of Reims or Rheims (; French language, French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by Sixtus of Reims, the diocese w ...

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

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

. 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 compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

. On arriving in what remained of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

, he took part in the siege of Acre. He was joined there in summer 1190 by his uncles

Theobald V of Blois Theobald V of Blois (1130 – 20 January 1191), also known as Theobald the Good (), was Count of Blois from 1151 to 1191. Biography Theobald was son of Theobald II of Champagne and Matilda of Carinthia. Although he was the second son, Theobald i ...

and

Stephen I of Sancerre Stephen I (1133–1190), Count of Sancerre (1151–1190), inherited Sancerre on his father's death. His elder brothers Henry Ι and Theobald V received Champagne and Blois. His holdings were the smallest among the brothers (although William, the ...

, and his cousin

Henry II of Champagne Henry II of Champagne or Henry I of Jerusalem (29 July 1166 – 10 September 1197) was the count of Champagne from 1181 and the king of Jerusalem ''jure uxoris'' from his marriage to Queen Isabella I in 1192 until his death in 1197. Early li ...

. On 4 October 1190, he was seriously wounded in battle against the forces of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

, 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