Raoul I of Brienne (died 19 January 1344,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was the son of

John II of Brienne, Count of Eu John II of Brienne (died 11 July 1302 in Kortrijk) was the son of John I of Brienne, Count of Eu and Beatrice of Saint-Pol. He succeeded his father as Count of Eu in 1294. He married Jeanne, Countess of Guînes Guînes (; ; ) is a commune ...

and Jeanne, Countess of

Guînes Guînes (; ; ) is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. Historically, it was spelt ''Guisnes''. On 7 January 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a French pioneer in hydrogen-balloon flight, completed the first aerial crossi ...

. He succeeded his father as

Count of Eu This is a list of the counts of Eu, Seine-Maritime, Eu, a French county in the Middle Ages (Eu, Seine-Maritime, Eu is in the department of Seine-Maritime, in the extreme north of Normandy), disputed between Kingdom of France, France and Kingdom ...

in 1302, and his mother as

Count of Guînes Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

in 1332. In 1329, he was named

Constable of France The Constable of France (, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and chancellor) and the commander-in ...

, and he also held the office of Governor of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

. The Count of Eu commanded French forces during the opening stages of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, as befit his rank of Constable. However, he proved to be a poor commander and "a man of very limited talent", according to

Lord Sumption Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, (born 9 December 1948), is a British author, medieval historian, barrister and former senior judge who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, and a Non-Permanen ...

. In 1315, he married Jeanne de Mello (d. 1351), Lady of Lormes and Château-

Chinon Chinon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Indre-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginn ...

. The daughter of Dreux VI de Mello, she was the heiress to a rich Burgundian barony. They had three children: #

Raoul II of Brienne, Count of Eu Raoul II of Brienne (1315 – 19 November 1350) was the son of Raoul I of Brienne, Count of Eu and Guînes and Jeanne de Mello. He succeeded his father in 1344 as Count of Eu and Guînes, as well as in his post as Constable of France. In 1340, ...

and Guînes (d. 1350) # Jeanne (d. 1389,

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...

), Lady of Château-Chinon, married first in 1342/3

Walter VI of Brienne Walter VI of Brienne (c. 1304 – 19 September 1356) was a French nobleman and crusader. He was the count of Brienne in France, the count of Conversano and Lecce in southern Italy and claimant to the Duchy of Athens in Frankish Greece. Lif ...

, married second in 1357 Louis I d'Évreux, Count of

Étampes Étampes () is a Communes of France, commune in the functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a Subprefectures in ...

(1336–1400) # Marie, d. young He was killed in a tournament being held in honour of the marriage of

Philip, Duke of Orléans Philip of Orléans (1 July 1336 – 1 September 1375) was a Duke of Orléans, Touraine, and Count of Valois, the fifth son of King Philip VI of France and his wife Joan the Lame Joan the Lame may refer to: * Joan of Penthièvre, Duchess of Br ...

and Blanche of France, and was succeeded by his son Raoul. The costs of financing France's war against the English and maintaining a lifestyle to match his status had significantly drained his finances, and he had died bankrupt and in debt.

References

Sources

* * * * 1344 deaths Counts of Eu Counts of Guînes House of Brienne Year of birth unknown Constables of France {{France-noble-stub