Thomas de Marle, seigneur de Coucy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Marle

OCCU Sire de Coucy" Out of this vicious family situation came that 'raging wolf' (in the words of another famous abbot, Suger of St. Denis), the most notorious and savage of the Coucys, Thomas de Marle, son of the repudiated Adele. Bitterly hating the father who had cast his paternity in doubt, Thomas grew up to take part in the ceaseless war originally launched against Enguerrand I by the discarded husband of Sybil. These private wars were fought by the knights with furious gusto and a single strategy, which consisted in trying to ruin the enemy by killing or maiming as many of his peasants and destroying as many crops, vineyards, tools, barns, and other possessions as possible, thereby reducing his sources of revenue. As a result, the chief victim of the belligerents was their respective peasantry.

Abbot Guibert claimed that in the 'mad war' of Enguerrand against the Lorrainer, captured men had their eyes put out and feet cut off with results that could still be seen in the district in his time. The private wars were the curse of Europe which the crusades, it has been thought, were subconsciously invented to relieve by providing a vent for aggression. When the great summons of 1095 came to take the cross and save the Holy Sepulcher on the First Crusade, both Enguerrand I and his son Thomas joined the march, carrying their feud to Jerusalem and back with mutual hate undiminished.

From an exploit during the crusade the Coucy coat-of-arms derived, although whether the protagonist was Enguerrand or Thomas is disputed. One or the other with five companions, on being surprised by a party of Moslems when out of armor, took off his scarlet cloak trimmed with vair (squirrel fur), tore it into six pieces to make banners for recognition, and thus equipped, so the story goes, fell upon the Moslems and annihilated them. In commemoration a shield was adopted bearing the device of six horizontal bands, pointed, of red on white, or in heraldic terms, 'Barry of six, vair and gules' (gules meaning red).As his mother's heir to the territories of Marle and La Fere,Thomas added them to the Coucy domain to which he succeeded in 1116.

Untamed, he pursued a career of enmity and brigandage, directed in varying combinations against Church, town, and King, 'the Devil aiding him,' according to Abbot Suger. He seized manors from convents, tortured prisoners (reportedly hanging men up by their testicles until these tore off from the weight of the body), personally cut the throats of thirty rebellious bourgeois, transformed his castles into 'a nest of dragons and a cave of thieves,' and was excommunicated by the Church, which ungrdled him -- in absentia -- of the knightly belt and ordered the anathema to be read against him every Sunday in every parish in Picardy.

King Louis VI assembled a force for war upon Thomas and succeeded in divesting him of stolen lands and castles. In the end, Thomas was not proof against that hope of salvation and fear of hell which brought the Church so many rich legacies through the centuries. He left a generous bequest to the Abbey of Nogent, founded another abbey at Premontre nearby, and died in bed in 1130. He had been married three times. Abbot Guibert thought him 'the wickedest man of his generation. 'What formed a man like Thomas de Marle was not necessarily aggressive genes or father-hatred, which can occur in any century, but a habit of violence that flourished because of a lack of any organ of effective restraint."

REGN @N4921@

DATE 24 NOV 1997

-https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/nfraamp.htm#ThomasICoucydied1130

THOMAS de Coucy, son of ENGUERRAND [I] de Boves Seigneur de Coucy & his first wife Ada de Marle [Roucy] ([1070/75]-[1130/31]). The Annales Lobienses name "Letaldus de Marla…filiam nomine Adam" as mother of "Thomam de Marla"[85]. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines names "filia…Letardi domni de Marla…Ada" as mother of "Thomam de Cocy"[86]. Guibert de Nogent names "Thomam, Ingelranni filium"[87]. "…Ingelrannus de Codiciaco…et Thomas filius eius…" witnessed the charter dated 1086 which confirmed property of the church of Reims[88]. William of Tyre records "…Thomas de Feria…" among those who joined the contingent led by Hugues Comte de Vermandois on the First Crusade in 1096[89]. Suger's Vita Ludovici records that "Thomam de Marna" was besieged by "pater eius Engerrannus de Bova" at "castrum…Mons Acutus…in pago Laudunensi"[90]. Seigneur de Coucy et de Marle, Comte d'Amiens. In 1117, Louis VI "le Gros" King of France confiscated the county of Amiens and granted it to Adelais Ctss de Vermandois[91]. Suger's Vita Ludovici also records that "Thomam de Marna" was eventually captured and died in captivity[92]. The Breve Chronicon Buciliensis records that in 1120 “Thomas dominus de Fara et de Marla” confirmed the donations to Bucilly made by “Engelrannus eius pater”[93]. The Chronique de Guillaume de Nangis records in 1128 that "Louis roi des Français fit marcher une armée contre Thomas de Marle seigneur de Coucy", who was captured by "Raoul comte de Vermandois" and handed mortally wounded to the king[94].

m firstly ([1100], repudiated) IDA de Hainaut, daughter of BAUDOUIN II Comte de Hainaut & his wife Ida de Louvain ([1085]-after [1105]). The Genealogiæ Scriptoris Fusniacensis refers to "sororem Balduini comitis Hainoensis" as wife of "Thomam de Marla"[95]. The Chronicon Hanoniense refers to a second unnamed sister of "comitis Hainoniensis" who married "Thome de Marla"[96]. The Annales Lobienses refer to "sororem Balduini comitis Hainoensis" as wife of "Thomam de Marla"[97]. The primary source which confirms her name has not been identified.

m secondly ---. This second marriage is indicated by Suger's Vita Ludovici which records that "Thomam de Marna" acquired "castrum…Mons Acutus in pago Laudunensi, occasione cuiusdam matrimonii"[98]. Tardif suggests that she was "probablement la fille de Roger de Montaigu et d’Ermengarde", adding that the couple were separated soon afterwards on the grounds of consanguinity (no primary source cited which provides the basis for the statement)[99].

m thirdly MELISENDE de Crécy, daughter of GUY Seigneur de Crécy-sur-Serre & his wife --- (-after 1147). The Annales Lobienses name "de terra Ambianensi…Milesendem" as wife of "Thomam de Marla" after he repudiated his first wife[100]. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the second wife of "Thomas de Coci" as "domna de Bovis"[101]. Tardif records Thomas’s third marriage with "Milesende de Crécy, héritière de Guy seigneur de Crécy-sur-Serre", adding that her dowry was "les deux châteaux de Crécy et de Nouvion-l’Abbesse, dépendant tous deux de l’abbaye de Saint-Jean de Laon" (no primary source cited which provides the basis for the statement)[102]. A charter dated 16 Apr 1131 records the restoration of “Erlons et manso sancti Lamberti” to Laon Saint-Vincent, subscribed by “Gerardi vicedomini, Nicholai castellani...domine Milesendis, Ingelranni filii eius...”[103].

Thomas & his first wife had two children: ...

Thomas & his third wife had four children: ... 

Thomas de Marle, sire de Coucy, se signala aux siéges de Nicée et de Jérusalem. Son fils, Enguerrand, mourut à la seconde croisade. Raoul de Coucy fut tué au siége d'Acre; un autre Raoul, à la Massoure. Enguerrand VII, sire de Coucy, dernier mâle de sa maison, fait prisonnier à Nicopolis en 1396, mourut l'année suivante en Bithynie. Armes: fascé de vair et de gueules.

Thomas de Marle, Sire de Coucy, distinguished himself at the sieges of Nicaea and Jerusalem. His son, Enguerrand, died during the second crusade. Raoul de Coucy was killed at the siege of Acre; another Raoul, at La Massoure. Enguerrand VII, Sire de Coucy, last male of his house, taken prisoner at Nicopolis in 1396, died the following year in Bithynia. Arms: face Vair and Gules. [http://www.templiers.net/personnages-croisades/index.php?page=perso...]