Henri de Vermandois, Seigneur de Chaumont-En-Vexin

Ben M. Angel notes: The location of the final battle of Henri de Vermandois, Seigneur de Chaumont-en-Vexin, is apparently unrecorded. His life story was apparently overshadowed by the story of his nemesis, Thomas de Marle, Seigneur de Coucy.

Thomas' drama begins with the difficulties between his parents. Enguerrand I de Coucy repudiated "the adulterous" Ade de Marle, Thomas' mother, in favor of Sybil de Porcien, wife of Godfried, Comte de Namur. Naturally, this turned his son against him in the process.

Despite this, Enguerrand and Thomas went on the First Crusade together. Thomas fought with great enthusiasm, covering himself with glory (he was one of the first to fight his way into Jerusalem), but he returned disappointed by the lack of riches that his participation earned him. In anger, he struck at his father's lands upon their return home.

Father and son reconciled when they found a common enemy in Louis VI Le Gros, future King of France. In 1113, Louis had gave Amiens liberty from father and son, and so the two slighted lords laid siege to the city for the next two years. During this time, Thomas developed a reputation for extreme cruelty as he punished the peasantry (in ways that would make the Marquis de Sade perhaps blush, or perhaps be inspired) in the nearby countryside for the actions of the Prince of France.

On 6 December 1114, Louis VI convened a Synod in Beauvais that removed Thomas de Marle as a knight and excommunicated him. After the following April, Louis VI reinforced Amiens and attacked Enguerrand and Thomas' in a devastating campaign. With little other choice, Thomas agreed after his father's death to pay Louis for a truce.

Meanwhile, Louis gave over Amiens to Adela de Vermandois, mother of Henri de Vermandois. This brought Henri into the fight, as Thomas eventually sought vengeance by siding with opponents of Louis VI - Charles "Le Bon" Comte de Flandres, Baudouin Comte de Hainaut, and Hugues Comte de St-Pol - and attacking Amiens.

Sometime in the fighting, which picked up in 1130, Henri faced his nemesis at long last and was killed. His death, along with the confiscation of a large amount of goods by a merchant carrying a letter of protection issued by Louis VI, became the "casus belli" for a new campaign against Thomas.

Eventually, Thomas was mortally injured by Raoul, Henri's brother, outside his home castle of Coucy, and the still-enraged Raoul delivered the renegade lord, mortal injury and all, to Louis VI, who imprisoned him for the short remainder of his life. His death finally restored order to the region, and firmly established French sovereignty over Amiens.

The main source for Thomas' story comes from the writings of Suger Abbot of St-Denis. The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy also provides online some of the few remaining reliable sources for the life of Henri (and of Thomas).

As a final note, the name "Henri, Lord of Chaumont" originated from an LDS Ancestry File; although LDS genealogical research was clearly ambitious in scope, the results were frequently plagued with errors. As a result, it is highly recommended to verify data presented in an Ancestry File from more reliable sources.

From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy page on Northern France:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN%20FRANCE.htm#HenriVermando...

HENRI de Vermandois, son of HUGUES [I] Comte de Vermandois [Capet] & his wife Adelais Ctss de Vermandois (-killed in battle 1130).
The Genealogiæ Scriptoris Fusniacensis names (in order) "Radulfum comitem Veromandie et Henricum de Chauni et Simonem episcopum Noviomensem" as the sons of "Hugonem Magnum [et] Adelaide comitissa Veromandensium"[1391].
Named with his brother Raoul by Orderic Vitalis, who specifies that their father "Hugo magnus Crispeii comes" left his lands to them before departing on the First Crusade[1392]. Seigneur de Chaumont-en-Vexin 1096. "Adela…Viromandorum comitissa, filius…meus Radulphus" renounced their claim to certain serfs in favour of the abbey of Compiègne Saint-Corneille, with the consent of "filiorum meorum Radulphi, Henrici, Symonis", by charter dated 1114[1393].
He was killed fighting Thomas de Marle during the war against Charles I " le Bon" Count of Flanders[1394].

m ---. The name of Henri's wife is not known. 1140.

Henri & his wife had two children:

1. Hugues I de Chaumont (d. before 1170, succeeds his father in 1130 as Seigneur de Chaumont)
2. Gautier de Chaumont (d. after 1150)

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From the Wikipedia page of his father, Hugh I Count of Vermandois: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_I,_Count_of_Vermandois

Henry (1091-1130), Lord of Chaumont en Vexin