Thomas de Marle (1078–1130), the son of Enguerrand I and his repudiated wife, Adele de Marle, became the second of the Lords of Coucy.
He is described as a "raging wolf" (abbot Suger of St. Denis) and fought against his father, whom he hated. Nevertheless, they both participated in the first crusade. Legend has it that as they in a party of six and without armor were surprised by a band of Muslim warriors, they shredded their cloak trimmed with squirrel fur (vair) into six pieces for banners and slew the attackers. This event is commemorated in their coat-of-arms that shows "barry of six, vair and gules".
In 1116 he succeeded his father as Lord of Coucy. He was violent and lawless and caused trouble for the Church (he was excommunicated at one time), the king, and the towns. In the end, he made donations to the Church and died in bed in 1130. His rule was succeeded by his son Enguerrand II.
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Marle was described by church officials at the time as excessively brutal. Both Abbot Suger of St. Denis and Guibert of Nogent attested to this brutality noting how Marle hung prisoners up by their testicles and were thus torn off by their own body weight.[1][2][3][4] Guibert wrote:
So unheard-of in our times was his cruelty that men who are considered cruel seem more humane in killing cattle than he in killing men. For he did not merely kill them outright with the sword and for definite offenses, as is usual, but by butchery after horrible tortures. When he was compelling prisoners of any condition to ransom themselves, he hung them up by their testicles, and as these often tore off from the weight of the body, the vitals soon burst out. Sometimes he did this with his own hands. Others were suspended by their thumbs or by the male organ itself, and were weighted down with a stone placed on their shoulders. He himself walked below them, and when he could not extort from them what they did not have, he beat them madly with cudgels until they promised what satisfied him, or perished under this punishment.[5]
Ecclesiastical scholars have since disputed these descriptions on account of how the Coucys had rebelled against the archbishop whom had granted them land and subsequently attacked nearby churches. [6][7]
Thomas married as his first wife Ida of Hainaut, daughter of Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut and Ida de Louvain Thomas & his first wife had two children[8]:
He took as his wife Melisende de Crécy, daughter of Guy de Crécy. Thomas and Melisende had four children[8]:
| Preceded by Enguerrand I |
Lord of Coucy 1116–1130 |
Succeeded by Enguerrand II |