The siege of the castle at
Saint-Suzanne took place in a four-year period from 1083 to 1086, when the forces of
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
attempted to quell a rebellion led by
Hubert de Beaumont-au-Maine and his liege lords against the rule of William. This was the only castle in Normandy that William did not succeed in taking.
[Henry William Carless Davis (1911). " William I., King of England". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 28. (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press. pp. 659–661.]
Hubert was moved to action by the cause of
Fulk IV, Count of Anjou
Fulk IV (; 1043 – 14 April 1109), better known as Fulk le Réchin (), was the count of Anjou, count of County of Anjou, Anjou from around 1068 until his death. He was noted to be "a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderi ...
, and
Hugh V, Count of Maine. He was supported by Robert of Nevers, Baron of Craon, son of
Renauld I, Count of Nevers, and uncle of Hubert's wife Ermengarde de Nevers.
During the siege, William built a huge military camp known as Beugy on the outskirts of the town, taking advantage of Roman earthworks. William's garrison was under the command of
Alan Rufus from 1083 to 1085.
William, Count of Évreux, participated in the siege and was taken captive in 1085. It is not clear under what terms he was released, but somewhat later he forfeited significant holdings.
Richer d'Aigle, son-in-law of
Richard le Goz, Viscount of Avranches, died in the siege, mortally wounded by an arrow to the eye, and was buried at the
monastery of Saint-Sulpice.
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...
records that in January 1086,
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, wanting to avenge Richer's death, unsuccessfully attacked the castle. He was accompanied by Richer's brother Gilbert l'Aigle and Baudry II de Guitry. Robert de Vieux-Pont was also killed in the siege but it is unclear which side he supported.
With the siege faltering as the castle turned out to be exceptionally well-defended, Alan Rufus eventually turned over command to another Breton who was later killed. With many knights killed or captured, William eventually came to terms with the rebels, with Hubert being restored to favor.
Sources
* Dunbabin, Jean, ''France in the Making, 843–1180, Second Edition'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005
* Forester, Thomas (Translator), ''Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy'', Henry G. Bohn, London, 1854
* Jessee, W. Scott,
Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, ca. 1025–1098', Catholic University Press of America, 2000
* Keats-Rohan, K, ''Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents'', 1066–1166, Boydell Press, Suffolk, 1999
References
William the Conqueror
Anglo-Normans
Duchy of Normandy
1080s conflicts
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