Guigues IV of Forez

Guigues's sepulchre in the church he founded at Montbrison

Guigues IV or Guy IV[lower-alpha 1] (died 10 August[1] or 29 October[2] 1241) was the count of Forez from 1203 and the count of Nevers from 1226. He inherited Forez from his father, Guigues III, while still a child. His mother was Alix and his uncle, Renaud, archbishop of Lyon, acted as regent until he came of age in 1218.[3]

Guigues's first wife was Mahaut, daughter of Guy II of Dampierre. In 1223, Guigues granted a communal charter to the town of Montbrison. On 16 April 1224, he returned the places of Saint-Rambert, Bonson, Chambles, Saint-Cyprien and Saint-Just to the monastery of Île Barbe, declaring that they were allods held freely and that he and his predecessors had unjustly possessed them. In 1224, Guigues also founded a collegiate church of thirteen canons at Montbrison, dedicating it to the Virgin Mary. The foundation of Notre-Dame-d'Espérance was confirmed by Archbishop Renaud in October 1224. The charter of foundation mandated that the canons be in residence for at least six months of the year.[2]

In 1226, Guigues married Matilda, daughter of Peter II of Courtenay, countess of Nevers and widow of Hervé IV of Donzy. With the death of her son-in-law, Guy of Châtillon that same year, Guigues became count of Nevers.[4]

Guigues joined the Barons' Crusade in 1235, although it did not set out until 1239. He left his counties under the government of Matilda in his absence. He and his retinue—at least a chaplain, two squires and a physician—were part of the army of King Theobald I of Navarre. Although Theobald left to return home in September 1240, Guigues and Duke Hugh IV of Burgundy stayed behind to construct a fortress at Ascalon.[1] While in the Holy Land, Guigues received a relic of the True Cross from the Master of the Temple, Armand de Périgord.[5] He died at Castellaneta in Italy while returning from his crusade.[1] His body was brought back to Forez and lies in the church he had founded at Montbrison.[6]

In his will, Guigues names his two children: his successor, Guigues V, and his younger son, Renaud. He expressed the wish that Renaud would enter the church.[2] He left the relic of the cross to his eldest son.[1] He named as his executors Jean de Bernin, the archbishop of Vienne; Beatrice, the countess of Albon; the abbot of Bénissons-Dieu; and the dean of Montbrison.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ He may be numbered Guigues V if Guigues-Raymond is counted at the start of the family line. Guigues-Raymond was the son of Count Guigues II of Albon. He married Ide-Raymond, daughter of Artaud III of Forez, and fathered of Guigues I of Forez.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Elizabeth Siberry (1990), "The Crusading Counts of Nevers", Nottingham Medieval Studies 34: 64–70 (at 68).
  2. 1 2 3 4 L'art de vérifier les dates, Vol. 10, Paris, 1818, pp. 493–94.
  3. ↑ Bruno Galland (2003), "In duarum viarum capite: quelques itinéraires singuliers entre l'Église et l'État", in Dominique Barthélemy; Jean-Marie Martin, Liber largitorius: Études d'histoire médiévale offertes à Pierre Toubert par ses élèves, Geneva: Droz, pp. 503–14 (at 504).
  4. ↑ Roberta Manetti (2008), Flamencia: Romanzo occitano del XIII secolo, Modena: Mucchi Editore, pp. 28 n. 93.
  5. ↑ Jochen Schenk (2012), Templar Families: Landowning Families and the Order of the Temple in France, c. 1120–1307, Cambridge University Press, p. 204.
  6. ↑ Hubert Verneret (2002), Mahaut de Courtenay, 1188–1257: Comtesse de Nevers, Auxerre et Tonnerre, Editions de l'Armançon, p. 167.

Further reading

  • Perroy, Édouard (1967). "Notes sur une charte inédite de Guy IV, comte de Forez (1221)". Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes 125 (1): 190–200. 
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