Henry I of Troyes, count of Champagne

Henry I of Troyes, count of Champagne

Henry the Liberal, Henricus Trecensis

Count of Champagne

Troyes

1179

Count Henry I of Troyes, often referred to as Henry the Liberal of Champagne, was born in Vitry in the year 1127. As the eldest legitimate son of Count Theobald of Champagne-Blois, Henry was a member of one of the most powerful families of his age, and it was during his reign (r. 1152–1181) that the county of Champagne emerged as one of the most affluent territories of Latin Christendom.

As a young man, Henry participated in the Second Crusade (1147–49), where he played a leading role. His participation helped repair his family's relations with the French crown. After a long and fruitful reign as Count, Henry made the decision to return to the Holy Land in the year 1179, at the age of 52. Leaving Countess Marie to administer Champagne, he departed with a considerable number of men and was absent for a period of two years. Perhaps exhausted by this independent crusading expedition, the count of Champagne died shortly after his return home in 1181.

Ertaud the Chamberlain, William Marshal, Theobaldus de Fimis/Teobaldus de Fimis, Master Philip, Peter of Langres, Count Henry of Grandpré, Geoffrey (brother of Henry of Grandpré), Robert of Milly, Milo of Pevinno, William of Saint Maur, Master Hugh, Nicholas the chaplain, Petro Bristaudo, Peter of Courtney, Bishop Philip of Beauvais

Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville, ‘Etudes sur les documents antérieurs à l’année 1285 conservés dans les archives des quatre petits hôpitaux de la ville de Troyes’, Mémoires de la société d'agriculture de l’Aube, sér. 2, 8 (1857), pp. 109-110=RRR 1025

Evergates, Theodore. Henry the Liberal: Count of Champagne, 1127–1181 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), 150–63.