Enguerrand I, Lord of Coucy

Enguerrand I (ca. 1042 – 1116) was the Lord of Coucy from 1086 ^[1] to 1116.

Enguerrand was a man of many scandals. With the help of the Bishop of Laon he divorced his first wife, Adèle de Marle, for adultery. When he married his next wife, Sibyl of Château-Porcien , she was still married to Godfrey of Namur, the Lord of Lorraine ^[1] who was absent and in a war. Enguerrand and Sybil's first husband became bitter enemies and continued to fight a private war.

Adèle's son Thomas de Marle hated his father and joined the enemies against his father. Nevertheless, when in 1095 the first crusade started, both he and his son joined in the adventure. Thomas succeeded Enguerrand upon his death.

Family

Enguerrand was the son of Drogo, Lord of Boves.

Enguerrand married Adèle (Ada) de Marle, the divorced wife of Aubry, Viscount of Coucy, daughter of Letard de Roucy, Lord of Marle. Enguerrand and Ada had two children:

• Thomas de Marle (1073-1130/31). Lord of Coucy and Marle, Count of Amiens. ^{[2] [3] [4]}
• Beatrix de Boves (-1144). Married Adam Châtelain d´Amiens. ^[5]
• Robert de Coucy.

Enguerrand is said to have kidnapped Sibyl of Château-Porcien, the wife of Godfrey of Namur. ^[6] He later married her and they had a daughter. ^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Guibert (Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy), Paul J. Archambault, A monk's confession: the memoirs of Guibert of Nogent, Penn State Press, 1996
2. ^ Genealogiæ Scriptoris Fusniacensis 8, MGH SS XIII, p. 253.
3. ^ Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium 1119, MGH SS XXIII, p. 824.
4. ^ Annales Lobienses 8, MGH SS XIII, p. 253.
5. ^ Noulens (1888), p. 24, citing Malbrancq, J. (1654) De Morinis et morinorum rebus, Tome II, p. 489
6. ^ Bourgin, G. (ed.) (1907) Guibert de Nogent, Histoire de sa vie (1053-1124) (Paris) ("Guibert de Nogent"), Liber III, III and X, pp. 135 and 181.

• Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), p. 7f