Sources
- Painter, Sidney. "The Lords of Lusignan in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries." Speculum, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Jan., 1957), pp 27–47.
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Hugh I (est. 885-930) (fl. early tenth century), called Venator (Latin for the Hunter), was the first Lord of Lusignan. He is mentioned in the Chronicle of Saint-Maixent. It has been hypothesised that he was the huntsman, ('Le Veneur' in his native French), of either the Count of Poitou or the Bishop of Poitiers on the basis of his epithet. The fact that in later years the Lusignans held the forest from the east of their castle from the Bishop of Poitiers suggest that he held his office from that prelate. He was in turn succeeded by his son, Hugh II Carus who built the Castle of Lusignan.
Hugh I may be the inspiration of the Raymond of Poitou character in The Romans of Partenay or of Lusignen: Otherwise known as the Tale of Melusine.[ citation needed ]
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Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomeration has 130,853 inhabitants in 2016 and is the center of an urban area of 261,795 inhabitants.
The House of Lusignan was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries during the Middle Ages. It also had great influence in England and France.
Hugh VI, called the Devilish, was the Lord of Lusignan and Count of La Marche, the son and successor of Hugh V of Lusignan and Almodis de la Marche.
The Château de Lusignan, of which hardly any traces remain, was the ancestral seat of the House of Lusignan, Poitevin Marcher Lords, who distinguished themselves in the First Crusade and became the royal family of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Cyprus and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Built in the 10th century, it reached its peak four centuries later, decayed and was finally dismantled in the 18th century.
Hugh III, called Albus, was the third Lord of Lusignan, probably the son and successor of Hugh II. He confirmed the donation by one of his vassals of the church of Mezeaux to the abbey of Saint-Cyprien and himself granted the abbey the woodland and the public road between Lusignan and Poitiers. He may have been intimate with the comital court of Poitou, for the Duchess Emma, wife of William IV of Aquitaine, imposed a tax on the abbey of Saint-Maixent and gave him the proceeds. His own wife was Arsendis, and he was succeeded by his son Hugh IV Brunus, not the last of that name in the family.
Hugh IV, called Brunus, was the fourth Lord of Lusignan. He was the son of Hugh III Albus and Arsendis de Vivonne. He was a turbulent baron, who brought his family out of obscurity and on their way to prominence in European and eventually even Middle Eastern affairs.
The Saintonge War was a feudal dynastic conflict that occurred between 1242 and 1243. It opposed Capetian forces supportive of King Louis IX's brother Alphonse, Count of Poitiers and those of Hugh X of Lusignan, Raymond VII of Toulouse and Henry III of England. The latter hoped to regain the Angevin possessions lost during his father's reign. Saintonge is the region around Saintes in the centre-west of France and is the place where most of fighting occurred.
The Battle of Taillebourg, a major medieval battle fought in July 1242, was the decisive engagement of the Saintonge War. It pitted a French Capetian army under the command of King Louis IX and his younger brother Alphonse of Poitiers against forces led by King Henry III of England, his brother Richard of Cornwall and their stepfather Hugh X of Lusignan.
The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the 9th through 12th centuries. Their power base shifted from Toulouse to Poitou. In the early 10th century, they contested the dominance of northern Aquitaine and the ducal title to the whole with the House of Auvergne. In 1032, they inherited the Duchy of Gascony, thus uniting it with Aquitaine. By the end of the 11th century, they were the dominant power in the southwestern third of France. The founder of the family was Ramnulf I, who became count in 835.
William des Roches was a French knight and crusader who acted as Seneschal of Anjou, of Maine and of Touraine. After serving the Angevin kings of England, in 1202 he changed his loyalty to King Philip II of France and became a leading member of his government.
Hugh Lancelot of Lusignan or Hugues or Hughues Lancelot de Lusignan was a Frankish Cardinal, often known as the Cardinal of Cyprus.
Hugh XI de Lusignan, Hugh VI of La Marche or Hugh II of Angoulême was a 13th-century French nobleman. He succeeded his mother Isabelle of Angoulême, former queen of England, as Count of Angoulême in 1246. He likewise succeeded his father Hugh X as Count of La Marche in 1249. Hugh XI was the half-brother of King Henry III of England.
The Château de Montignac is a ruined castle in the commune of Montignac-Charente, in the Charente département of France. The castle is the property of the commune and has been listed since 1962 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
Cherveux is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.
Lussac-les-Châteaux is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
The Battle of Mirebeau was a battle in 1202 between the House of Lusignan-Breton alliance and the Kingdom of England. King John of England successfully smashed the Lusignan army by surprise.
Geoffrey de Neville was an English nobleman who served as King's Chamberlain and Seneschal of Gascony and Périgord.
Renaud II, also known as Reginald de Pontibus or Renaud de Ponz, was a French nobleman and the lord of Pons in the Saintonge region of the County of Poitou from 1191 until his death. In the Anglo-French dynastic conflict, he was a strong supporter of John, King of England. He left Poitou three times to fight infidels: the Third Crusade, the Reconquista in Spain and the Seventh Crusade. He is distinguished from his uncle, Renaud de Pons, Seneschal of Gascony, in contemporary documents by the epithets senior and junior. He is possibly the same person as the troubadour Rainaut de Pons.