Ancestral Trails 2016 » Erard de BRIENNE (± 1170-1246)

Personal data Erard de BRIENNE 

• He was born about 1170 in Ramerupt, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France.
• He died in the year 1246.
• A child of André de BRIENNE and Alix de VENIZY

Household of Erard de BRIENNE

He is married to Philippa de CHAMPAGNE.

They got married on August 15, 1214.

Child(ren):

1. Marguerite de BRIENNE  

Notes about Erard de BRIENNE

Érard de Brienne (c. 1170 † 1246) was a French nobleman. He was lord of Ramerupt and of Venizy, and also a pretender to the county of Champagne as an instigator of the Champagne War of Succession. He was a son of André of Brienne and of Alix of Vénizy.

He was born in Ramerupt, Aube, Champagne, France.

A social-climber from a minor branch of the Brienne family, Erard actually held no lands in Brienne and had little just cause to appropriate the name "of Brienne" for himself. His grandfather Erard II of Brienne had indeed ruled as count of Brienne. Andre, the fourth son of Erard II, was the father of Erard of Brienne-Ramerupt. Erard was actually lord of Ramerupt, which wasn't very impressive compared to the holdings of the more senior branches of the Brienne family. Within his own letters, Erard thus tried to enhance his prestige by consistently referring to himself as "Erard of Brienne" and not even mentioning Ramerupt. The name "Erard of Brienne-Ramerupt" is retroactively applied by historians for the sake of clarity.

While Andre was the fourth son of Count Erard of Brienne, his second son - and thus Erard of Brienne-Ramerupt's uncle - was the famous crusader knight John of Brienne (1170-1237), who in 1210 wed the heiress Maria of Jerusalem to become the nominal King of Jerusalem by marriage (albeit, the crusaders had lost control of the city of Jerusalem itself by this point). Perhaps seeking to emulate the success of his uncle, who found great prestige traveling to the east and marrying a powerful heiress, thus in June 1213 he left Champagne for the Latin East with the stated intention of marrying Philippa of Champagne, the younger half-sister of Maria of Jerusalem. He returned to Champagne with his new bride in January 1216. Armed clashes soon broke out, and the War of Succession of Champagne began.

Despite losing the War on the whole Erard did quite well for himself. He had started out as a grasper from a minor branch of the Brienne family, clinging to a name he didn't technically have the right to use because it enhanced his social prestige. The massive payoff that Blanche gave Erard in the peace agreement that ended the war, however, propelled him to a place alongside the highest level of regional barons. Erard used his newfound wealth to buy up lands surrounding his own, so that he was able to cobble together his own larger barony. By 1227, he even bought up the other half-share of Ramerupt - he had only owned a half-share of his own castle up to this point - uniting it under his sole possession.

Erard did not intervene against Theobald IV during the difficult invasion of other northern barons of France in 1229, because anticipating that Erard might try to challenge him again, Theobald IV bought him off with a 200 livre fief, and in return had to swear to surrender his castles of Ramerupt and Venizy until the invasion was over.

Erard died at roughly the age of sixty in 1243. All that he had striven to achieve for himself and his children, however, evaporated within only a few years. Both of his sons died on the Seventh Crusade in 1250, and his wife Philippa died that same year. Erard had six daughters, one of whom had predeceased him without issue and another who became a nun. Ramerupt was subsequently divided into quarters between the remaining four daughters, whose husbands absorbed the lands into their own separate lordships.

Erard married Philippa of Champagne, they had the following children:

Henri de Brienne (killed in battle at Mansurah 8 February 1250), Seigneur of Ramerupt and de Vénisy, married Marguerite de Salins by whom he had two sons.
Erard de Brienne (killed in battle, February 1250), married Mathilde by whom he had one daughter.
Marie de Brienne (1215[10]- c.1251), married firstly Gaucher, Sire de Nanteuil-la Fosse, by whom she had three children; she married secondly Hughes II, Sire de Conflans, by whom she had one son.
Marguerite de Brienne (died 1275), married Dirk Van Beveren, Burggraf of Dixmuiden, by whom she had issue. She became a nun after her husband's death.
Heloise de Brienne
Isabeau de Brienne (died 1274/1277), married firstly Henri V, Count of Grandpré, by whom she had three children; she married secondly Jean de Picquigny, by whom she had one daughter. Isabeau was the ancestress of Louis I, Count of Flanders.
Jeanne de Brienne, Dame de Séans-en-Othe, married before 1250 Mathieu III, Sire de Montmorency, by whom she had five children.
Sibylle de Brienne, Abbess of Ramerupt
Alix de Brienne
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erard_of_Brienne-Ramerupt

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Timeline Erard de BRIENNE

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