Tournament of Chauvency

Last updated June 05, 2023

The Tournament of Chauvency was held in 1285 to bring together the greatest knights of France and Germany for six days of jousting and other activities, a social event of primary importance at the end of the thirteenth century. Dedicated to Henry IV, Count of Salm, the tournament was organized by Louis V, Count of Chiny, and held in the small village of Chauvency-le-Château, near Montmédy.

The tournament was documented in the poem le Tournoi de Chauvency by the thirteenth century trouvère Jacques Bretel. The miniatures of the Oxford manuscript show knights struggling during the jousting and other activities of the tournament.

Nearly 500 knights and other royalty and their wives participated in the tournament. Most notable are:

Rudolf I, King of Germany
Ottokar II, King of Bohemia (see below)
Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine
John I, Duke of Brabant ^{[ citation needed ]}
Jean de Faucogney, viscount of Vesoul
Theobald II, Count of Bar
Henry III, Count of Bar, son of the previous
John of Bar, brother of the previous
Louis V, Count of Chiny
Jeanne de Bar, wife of the previous
Gerard de Looz, Seigneur de Chauvency le-Château, brother of Louis V
Henry V the Blond, Count of Luxembourg
Margaret of Bar, wife of the previous
Henry VI the Condemned, Count of Luxembourg
Béatrice d'Avesnes, wife of Henry VI of Luxembourg
Waleran I, Lord of Ligny
Thomas of Blankenberg, step-son of Louis V (son of Jeanne of Bar and her first husband Frederick de Blâmont)
Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders
Philip of Chieti, youngest child of Guy
John I, Count of Hainaut
John II, Count of Holland, son of John I
Florent of Hainaut
Renaud I, Count of Dammartin.

Note that Ottokar II was killed on 26 August 1278 at the Battle on the Marchfeld (by the troops of Rudolf) as so was clearly not at the tournament as reported by Bretel.

A fanciful description of the tournament activities can be found in the book The Reign of Chivalry by British historian Richard Barber.^[1]

According to Laret-Kayser,^[2] Louis V used to tournament to promote his family's illustrious history, from being descended from Charlemagne to his ancestor Arnold I, Count of Chiny, sending his sons to fight in the First Crusade.

Sources

Bretel, Jacques, Le Tournoi de Chauvency, 1285 (manuscripts: Mons MS 330-215 and Oxford MS Douce 308)
Henriot-Walzer, Dominique, Dictionnaire du Tournoi de Chauvency, 1285
Oxford, Bodleian, manuscrit MS Douce 308 (15 miniatures, visibles sur Oxford University Librairies Collections Spéciales LUNA) cf supra.
Barber, Richard W., The Reign of Chivalry, Boydell Press, Suffolk, 2005, pages 27–30 (available on Google Books)
Laret-Kayser, Arlette, Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300, Bruxelles (éditions du Crédit Communal, Collection Histoire, série in-8°, n° 72), 1986

Related Research Articles

Chiny is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium.

Jacques Bretel or Jacques Bretex was a French language trouvère, best known for having written le Tournoi de Chauvency.

The counts of Chiny were part of the nobility of Lotharingia that ruled from the 9th to the 14th century in what is now part of Belgium.

Otto I(Eudes) (died 987), Count of Chiny, perhaps son of Adalbert I the Pious, Count of Vermandois, and Gerberge of Lorraine. Although he probably did not use the title, Otto is regarded as the first Count of Chiny.

Louis I, Count of Chiny (987–1025) and Count of Verdun (1024–1025), son of Otto I, Count of Chiny, and an unknown mother.

Louis II, Count of Chiny, son of Louis I, Count of Chiny and Verdun, and Adélaïde de Saint Varme. He left very few traces in history and nothing is known about his reign.

Arnold I, Count of Chiny, son of Louis II, Count of Chiny, and his wife Sophie. He succeeded his father as count before 1066.

Otto II, Count of Chiny, son of Arnold I, Count of Chiny, and Adélaïs.

Albert (Albert I) (before 1131 – 29 September 1162), Count of Chiny, son of Otto II, Count of Chiny, and Adélaïs of Namur. He succeeded his father before 1131 and spent most of his time in Chiny, not taking part in the various conflicts which shook the region.

Louis III, Count of Chiny, son of Albert, Count of Chiny, and his spouse Agnes of Bar.

Louis IV the Young, count of Chiny from 1189 to 1226, son of Louis III, count of Chiny, and Sophie. Louis was the last of the first dynasty of counts of Chiny. Having no son, he prepared his eldest daughter Jeanne as his successor. Louis marked his reign by issuing the first postage stamp in the county.

Joan was the Countess of Chiny. Joan was the daughter of Louis IV, Count of Chiny, and Matilda of Avesnes, and became ruler of the county upon her father’s death on 7 October 1226. She married Arnold IV, Count of Loon, son of Gerard III, Count of Rieneck, and Kunigunde von Zimmern, in 1228, whereupon he assumed the role of Count of Chiny.

John I (Jean) (d. 1278 or 1279), Count of Looz and Count of Chiny, eldest son of Arnold IV, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Jeanne, Countess of Chiny. He succeeded his father in 1272 or 1273, as the Count of Looz and Chiny. Virtually nothing is known about his reign.

Louis V (1235–1299), Count of Chiny from 1268–1299, the youngest son of Arnold IV, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Jeanne, Countess of Chiny. He became Count of Chiny in 1268 when his parents entrusted him with the county before their death.

Louis IV, Count of Looz (1323-1336) and Count of Chiny (1313-1336), son of Arnold V, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Marguerite Vianden.

Diederik of Heinsberg, Count of Loon and Count of Chiny (1336-1361), was the son of Godfrey II, Lord of Heinsberg, and Matilda.

Godfrey de Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1361–1362), son of John of Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck.

Arnold VI de Rumigny, Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1362–1364), son of William of Oreye, Lord of Rumigny, and Jeanne de Looz, daughter of Arnold V, Count of Loon and Chiny, and, Marguerite Vianden, Lady of Perwez and Grimbergen.

In the 10th through 13th centuries, the Lords of Esch were the holders of the castle of Esch-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes region of Lower Lorraine, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army, one of several Frankish forces deployed during the First Crusade, was among the first to arrive in Constantinople. The army was unique in that it included among its warriors the first three kings of Jerusalem, although Godfrey preferred the title Defender of the Holy Sepulchre, Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Christ. This article focuses on the members of the army rather that its exploits which are described in detail in Godfrey’s biography as well as numerous sources listed below.

References

↑ Barber, Richard W. The Reign of Chivalry. pp. 27–30.
↑ Laret-Kayser, Arlette. Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300.

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[1] Barber, Richard W. The Reign of Chivalry. pp. 27–30.

[2] Laret-Kayser, Arlette. Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300.

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