Hugh III (French: ''Hugues'') was count of Saint-Pol from 1130 until his death in 1141. He was responsible for massacres and therefore

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

Biography

Hugh was the son of Hugh II and Elissende of Ponthieu. He waged a vigorous war against the Collet family, whom he forced to take refuge in the abbey of Saint-Riquier. After besieging the fortress, he stormed it on 28 August 1131 and put it to fire and the sword, killing men, women, and children, including the clergy. The survivors, including the abbot, took refuge in

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

. The abbot raised a complaint at the

Council of Reims Reims, located in the north-east of modern France, hosted several councils or synods in the Roman Catholic Church. These councils did not universally represent the church and are not counted among the official ecumenical councils. Early synodal cou ...

(1131), which excommunicated Hugh in 1132. The ban was confirmed by

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II (; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as Pope was controversial, and the first eight years o ...

. His further atrocities against the clergy brought the intervention of King Louis VI, at which point he submitted to penance. He obtained the absolution of

in 1137 by financing the foundation of three abbeys: Cercamp, Klaarkamp, and Ourscamp. In 1140, he joined with the

Count of Hainaut The Count of Hainaut (; ; ) was the ruler of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries (including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany). In English-la ...

against

Thierry, Count of Flanders Theoderic (, , ; – 17 January 1168), commonly known as Thierry of Alsace, was the fifteenth count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. With a record of four campaigns in the Levant and Africa (including participation in the Second Crusade, the faile ...

, but was defeated. Hugh and Beatrix had: * Enguerrand * Hugh, died without issue in 1150 * Anselm Beatrix, the mother of these children, is buried at Cercamp. Hugh remarried to Marguerite of Clermont. They had: * Ralph, died 4 April 1142, buried in Cercamp * Guy, married Matilda of Doullens * Angélique or Angéline, wife of Anselm of Housdain * Elise, wife of Robert V, Lord of Béthune, * Beatrix, wife of Robert, son of

Ralph I, Lord of Coucy Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ra ...

References

Sources

* * *

Maurus Dantine Maurus Dantine (1688–1746) was a Belgian Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint-Maur and chronologist. Biography He was born at Gonrieux near Namur on 1 April 1688. Like many of the members of his congregation he was one of the so-called Ap ...

Charles Clémencet Charles Clémencet (17035 August 1778) was a French Benedictine historian. He was born in Painblanc, in present-day Côte-d'Or, and was one of the authors who helped complete the great chronological work (the usual short form of a long title). H ...

, Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais, Ursin Durand, François Clément, ''L'art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques tc..''. 1750 and subsequent editions * G Er Sauvage, ''Histoire de Saint-Pol'' * François César Louandre, ''Histoire ancienne et moderne d'Abbeville et de son arrondissement'' A. Boulanger, 183
(online version)
* Ernest Warlop: ''Campus Avenae: het wapen van de graven van Saint-Pol''. In: Carlos Wyffels u. a. (eds.): ''Gedenkboek Michiel Mispelon. Familia et Patria'', Kortemark-Handzame 1982, pp. 587–599 * Jean-François Nieus: ''Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France. Saint-Pol, 1000–1300''. De Boeck, Brussels 2005 (Bibliothèque du Moyen Âge 23) {{ISBN, 280414772X (also: Louvain-la-Neuve, university dissertation, 2001: ''Le comté de Saint-Pol des origines à la fin du XIIIe siècle'') 1141 deaths Counts of Saint-Pol