Henri (Champagne) de Champagne (abt. 1127 - 1181)

Born about Dec 1127 in Champagne, France [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Marie (Capet) de France — married 1164 in France

Descendants

Died 17 Mar 1181 at about age 53 in Troyes, Champagne, France

Biography

Henry I "le Libéral" de Blois, Comte de Champagne-Brie, was born about December, 1127 and died 17 MAR 1181.

Henry was count of Champagne from 1152 to 1181. He was the eldest son of Count Thibaut II of Champagne (Thibaut IV of Blois).

Henry took part in the Second Crusade under the leadership of Louis VII of France. He carried a letter of recommendation from Bernard of Clairvaux addressed to Alexius I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor; he is listed among the notables present at the assembly held by Baldwin III of Jerusalem at Acre on 24 June 1148.

On his father's death, Henry chose to take Champagne, leaving the family's older holdings (including Blois, Chartres, Sancerre, and Chateaudun) to his younger brothers. At the time this may have been surprising, for the other territories were richer and better developed. Henry must have foreseen the economic possibilities of Champagne, and it is during his rule that the county achieved its high place as one of the richest and strongest of the French principalities.

In 1164, Henry married Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Children

1. Scholastique of Champagne (died 1219), married William IV of Macon
2. Henry II (1166–1197)
3. Marie of Champagne (died 1204), married Baldwin I of Constantinople
4. Theobald (1179–1201)

In 1179 Henry went to Jerusalem again with a party of French knights including his relatives Peter of Courtenay (brother of Louis VII) and Philip of Dreux, bishop of Beauvais. Henry returned towards Europe by the land route across Asia Minor, and was captured and held to ransom by Kilij Arslan II, Seljuk sultan of Rüm. The ransom was paid by the Byzantine Emperor and Henry was released, but died soon afterwards.

He was succeeded by their eldest son Henry. After Henry became king of Jerusalem, the younger son Theobald became count.

Sources

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry, Vol. I, p. 392.

• Genealogics.

• The Peerage.

• Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. Hosted online by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG), accessed 2021. [1]