Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          1165 Anjou
Death:          1222 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne,_Dame_de_Chateaudun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_des_Roches
William des Roches (or Guillaume des Roches) (1165–1222), seneschal of Anjou, was 
a knight in the service of the Angevin kings of England, and King Philip II of France 
after 1202. Guillaume was born somewhere in Anjou, most likely at Longué-Jumelles.
Early life and career[edit]

William des Roches early in his life had been a mesnie knight of King Henry II of 
England. During the rebellion of 1189, Richard of Poitou (later Richard I of England) 
and King Philip II of France attacked the ageing king of England in the city of his 
birth, Le Mans. Guillaume had participated in the defense of Le Mans in the company 
of such knights as William Marshal and Gerard Talbot and was with King Henry when 
he was forced to flee the city. According to "The History of William the Marshal", des 
Roches rode in the vanguard of the retreating royal force. He wheeled around with 
William Marshal and engaged Count Richard's vanguard where he successfully 
charged and knocked Philip de Colombiers off of his horse.

After the death of King Henry, Guillaume enrolled in the royal mesnie of Richard, now 
King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and Count of Anjou. William was a 
trusted confidant of King Richard, and during the Third Crusade he was involved in 
the conquest of Sicily, the Siege of Acre, the Battle of Arsuf, and the Battle of Jaffa. 
In 1192, he was sent with Pierre de Preaux and Gerard de Fournival as part of a 
deputation to obtain safe conducts for the crusading host to enter Jerusalem and its 
environs. William remained a steadfast adherent to Richard in his wars with King Philip 
of France from 1194–1199 and it may have been at this time that he was arranged to 
be married to Marguerite, the daughter and heiress of Robert de Sablé.

Angevin Civil War[edit]

At the death of Richard at Chalus in April 1199, the Angevin kingship faced a serious 
succession dispute between Prince John of England, brother of King Richard, and 
Arthur of Brittany, Richard's nephew. The leaders of England, Normandy, and Poitou 
sided with John, while the barons of Anjou and Brittany chose Arthur according to 
their customs of succession. William, then at Le Mans, threw in his support for Arthur 
along with a very powerful group of Manceaux and Angevin barons, including Juhel II 
of Mayenne and his mother Isabella of Meulan. Des Roches became Arthur's 
seneschal of Anjou and was entrusted with the defense of Le Mans. The city of Tours 
was surrendered to Arthur and Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine and queen-mother of 
England. In addition, she was Arthur's grandmother. She sent a force under Viscount 
Aimery VII of Thouars, John's newly appointed seneschal of Anjou (replacing Robert of 
Turnham), Hugh IX of Lusignan, and his brother Ralph of Exoudun, count of Eu. 
Eleanor's force was successful in entering the suburbs of Tours, but was driven back 
by King Philip II of France who had himself chosen Arthur as Richard's rightful 
successor.

In May 1199, King Philip of France met with William des Roches at Le Mans and 
together they attacked the border fortress of Ballon, the fortress was surrendered by 
Geoffrey de Brûlon, the castellan, but not before being demolished. A quarrel ensued 
between King Philip and William over the lordship of the site. William was adamant 
that Ballon belonged rightfully to Duke Arthur, while King Philip wished to retain it as 
his own.

In June 1199, King John of England launched a massive attack into Northern Maine 
from Argentan. On 13 September he was successful in repulsing King Philip from the 
fortress of Lavardin which protected the route from Le Mans to Tours. Arthur's 
supporters were forced to come to terms with John, and William met with the English 
king at Bourg-le-Roi, a fortress of the pro-John viscounts of Beaumont-en-Maine on or 
about 18 September. John convinced William that Arthur of Brittany was being used 
solely as tool of Capetian strategy and managed to convince him to switch sides. With 
this, John promised him the seneschalship of Anjou. During the night, John's 
incumbent seneschal, Viscount Aimery, took Arthur and Constance and fled the court. 
They fled first to Angers, then to the court of King Philip. King John officially 
designated William seneschal of Anjou in December 1199 and entered Angers 
triumphantly on 24 June 1200.

During the summer of 1201, William married Marguerite de Sablé. With this marriage 
came a vast landholding that included Sablé, La Suze, Briollay, Maiet, Loupelandé, 
Genneteil, Precigné, and the Norman manor of Agon (which was held of the lord of 
Mayenne). William had become overnight one of the greatest barons of Anjou and 
Maine and relative-in-law to the most exclusive houses of the region.

Coinciding with a renewed French attack on upper Normandy, Arthur along with many 
prominent knights of France and Poitou attempted to capture Eleanor of Aquitaine as 
she traveled from Anjou to her chief seat at Poitiers. Taking refuge in the castle of 
Mirebeau on the road just north of Poitiers, she came under siege. William agreed to 
help John with the relief of the castle as long as any prisoners captured were treated 
within common custom. He led a large contingent of Angevin knights along with 
Aimery of Thouars (now returned to favor with John by the diplomacy of Eleanor of 
Aquitaine) in John's company, and they arrived outside the castle on the night of 31 
July 1202. The Battle of Mirebeau, fought the following day, was a decisive victory for 
King John in which Duke Arthur of Brittany was captured. Many of the prisoners 
captured were important Poitevins and Bretons that were grossly mistreated, including 
royal relatives like the viscount Hugh of Châtellerault and André de Chauvigny, they 
were starved to death. Arthur himself disappeared in John's Norman prisons and many, 
including the French king, came to the conclusion that Arthur was in fact murdered by 
his uncle, King John.

William immediately left John's service (between 17 and 25 August) and departed to 
the court of Juhel de Mayenne. John sent soldiers to secure Angers and Tours and 
revoked William's seneschalship. King John then split the office and gave the 
seneschalship of Anjou to Brice the Chamberlain, a mercenary in his pay. The 
seneschalship of Tours was given to another mercenary captain, Martin Algais. Des 
Roches launched an attack on Angers and captured the city on 30 October 1202. 
Simultaneously, Sulpice III d'Amboise captured the town, but not the citadel at Tours. 
In January 1203, John mustered an army at Argentan for the reconquest of his Loire 
provinces. John took up court in Alençon and then Le Mans while his army was 
mustering. While in Le Mans he learned of the treachery of the count of Sees who had 
usurped authority in the town of Alençon ( a town that belonged to his grandfather, 
Count William Talvas, up to 1166). Along with Count Robert of Sees rebelled Viscount 
Ralph of Beaumont. With two great barons of northern Maine now in the French camp, 
John's chances of retaining even Maine were reduced significantly. John, avoiding 
fortresses belonging to rebels, slowly made his way back to his army at Argentan. 
Alençon was offered to King Philip of France by the rebellious count in return for 
Philip's recognition of his comital authority over the area and possession of the 
family's castle at La Roche-Mabile.

While the barons of northern Maine kept John busy, William and a league of barons 
from the region including Maurice III of Craon, Thibaud V of Blaison, Bernard III of La 
Ferte, and Juhel II of Mayenne traveled to Paris and offered their homage and fealty 
to King Philip of France. With this, King Philip launched his forces into Anjou to attack 
strongholds that still held out for John. Saumur was captured in April 1203 and 
Beaufort-en-Vallée and Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe fell soon thereafter. William, and his 
forces launched an attack on Le Mans and captured the city by about 17 May. One of 
John's final acts of 1203 was to bring Alençon under siege in August, he was 
unsuccessful in capturing the castle, and with many of his Norman castles under siege 
or already captured (including Vaudreuil), he must have known that the end of 
Angevin rule north of the Loire was upon him.

King Philip triumphant[edit]

William's family had originated from the lesser aristocracy, knights from Chateau-du-
Loir, a castle that was granted as a dowry property of King Richard's widow, 
Berengaria of Navarre. Guillaume arranged for the exchange of his lordship of Le 
Mans (split with the bishop and the hereditary Manceaux seneschals, the 'Mauchien' 
family) for Berengaria's castle which he then became lord of. The exchange was 
ratified by King Philip.

King Philip had conquered Normandy (receiving the surrender of Peter de Preaux at 
Rouen in April 1204. Philip had then marched through Anjou and entered Poitiers after 
the death of Duchess Eleanor on 1 April. It was in Poitiers that Philip officially granted 
the hereditary seneschalship on to William. By a later charter (1206) William received 
custody of Angers, Loudun, Saumur, Brissac, Beaufort, and "all the land of Anjou" at 
the King's pleasure. The lasting settlement arranged in 1208 had King Philip retain 
authority in Touraine with the castles of Chinon, Bourgueil, Loudun, Saumur, and 
Langeais. William was granted custody of all of Anjou and Maine including the 
fortresses of Bauge and Chateauneuf-sur-Sarthe. In addition, William was granted the 
"third penny" of justice in Anjou and one mark of silver per fifty livres of demesnial 
revenue. He was also permitted to assign baillis to assist him, Hamelin de Roorta 
being the most prominent. Coincidentally, Aimery of Thouars was conferred the 
seneschalship of Poitou by King Philip to similar terms with exception to the added 
revenue. King John's senechal of Poitou for 1205 had been Savaric of Mauleon, who 
was limited to the Aunis coastline and later in the year the castle of Niort.

Des Roches and Dreux of Mello, constable of France conducted the attack in 
Touraine culminating with capture of John's last Angevin fortresses, Chinon and 
Loches. Hubert de Burgh, John's castellan of both locations was forced to surrender 
in June 1205.

In 1206, John restabilized his rule in Poitou, Guienne, and Gascony, driving Castilian 
forces from Bourg, Bayonne, and Dax. Leading barons of Poitou preferred the 
absentee rule of King John to the more autocratic rule of King Philip; the Thouars, 
Mauleon, Lusignan, Parthenay, and Sugeres families all allied with King John. William 
set out with a force of knights to defend the Roman road connecting Tours and 
Poitiers. Other than a brief occupation of Angers, John was unsuccessful in making 
further progress north of the Loire. John departed after signing a two-year truce with 
King Philip that recognized the status quo. As soon as the truce was up in 1208, 
William and Dreux de Mello (based at Loches) collected some 300 knights and 
launched numerous attacks on Thouars holdings in Poitou.

Albigensian Crusade and later life[edit]

William took the cross in 1209 and left Anjou to crusade in the Toulousain and 
Languedoc with the Eudes III of Burgundy against the Cathar heretics. He was active 
at the siege of Béziers in July and Carcassonne in August. He wouldn't again 
participate in the Albigensian Crusade until 1219 at the Siege of Marmande under 
Prince Louis (later Louis VIII of France, the eldest son and heir of King Philip II of 
France.

King John again attacked Anjou from the south during the Bouvines Campaign of 
1214. John was repulsed from Nantes but was able to enter Angers on 17 June. John 
moved out of the city to reduce the local forts, two succumbed quickly, but the 
garrison of the new fort at La Roche-aux-Moines, located just south of Angers, held 
out. An army of 800 knights under the command of the seneschal, Prince Louis, 
Amauri I de Craon, and Henri Clement, marshal of France collected at Chinon. John 
was deserted by his Thouars and Lusignan allies upon hearing of the collection of so 
great a force. On 2 July 1214, William and Prince Louis were victorious at the Battle 
of La Roche-aux-Moines and forced John to retreat clear to La Rochelle.

The seneschal died in 1222 and his eldest daughter, Jeanne brought the Sable barony 
and the hereditary seneschalship to her husband, Amauri de Craon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_de_Sabl%C3%A9

Parents
DES ROCHES Badouin ()
DE CHATELLERAULT Alix ()

Siblings
DES ROCHES William (1165 - 1222)

Marriage To DE SABLE Marguerite (ABT 1179 - AFT Jun 1238)
    m. 1191 

Notes

Parents
DE SABLE Robert (ABT 1120 - 23 Sep 1193)
DE MAYENNE Clemence (ABT 1160 - BEF 1209)

Children by DE SABLE Marguerite ABT 1179 - AFT Jun 1238
DES ROCHES Jeanne (ABT 1195 - 28 Sep 1238)
DES ROCHES Clemence (ABT 1205 - AFT Sep 1259)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017