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transemacabreIn my ongoing study of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, I face the difficulty of making heads and tails of Anseau de Cayeux -- well, namely, how many Anseau de Cayeuxes there were, because there was definitely more than just one. This is my attempt to summarize what I have found and put these Anseaus in their proper places, both in historical context and in their family trees.
Anseau de Cayeux the Crusader, whom I will call Anseau de Cayeux I, was a grown adult when he embarked on the Fourth Crusade and took part in the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. He was a younger brother of Guillaume de Cayeux, lord of Boulaincourt, a veteran of the Third Crusade, and was signing charters with his brother in 1195, so not born after 1180 or thereabouts. Anseau's career is well-attested by Villehardouin, Robert de Clari, and Henri de Valenciennes; Villehardouin tells us
that in 1205, Henry of Flanders, then regent for his captured brother the emperor Baldwin I, left Anseau in charge of the city of Bizye, with 60 knights.
Akropolites describes a raid of Theodoros of Epiros on some Latin towns, during which Anseau de Cayeux was badly wounded in the neck but saved thanks to the skill of Greek doctors, although his neck was rendered immobile and his voice forevermore harsh. From context, this incident seems to have taken place c. 1225. It seems Anseau I retired from active duty after this incident, as another Anseau de Cayeux, whom I call Anseau II, appears to come to prominence.
The Continuator of William of Tyre records the marriage of Anseau de Cayeux to the daughter of a Kuman chief, likely soon after the Kumans began arriving in the Latin Empire as they fled the Mongol invasion in 1237. The Continuator adds that Anseau, the "son of a valiant man", served as regent for the Empire during the period (1236-1239) that the emperor Baldwin II was abroad trying to drum up support from the kings of Europe. I believe this is Anseau II, and that he is the now-adult son of Anseau I; the reference to his father being a "valiant man" seems odd, given that Anseau I's paternal relations are very obscure and nowhere else remarked upon, while Anseau I himself was a prominent baron and well-known to the Latin chroniclers.
The Kuman wife must've died or been repudiated at some point, as Anseau de Cayeux is next married to Eudokia Laskarina, daughter of Theodoros Laskaris of Nikaia and at one point the betrothed of the Latin emperor Robert de Courtenay. Anseau had left his wife in the city of Tzirallon (now Çorlu), believing that Ioannes Vatatzes of Nikaia wouldn't be so ungallant as to beseige his own sister-in-law (he was mistaken). This is dated to 1247. Ephraim tells us that Eudokia married Aseldecao Italo dynastæ, which is interesting as the first Anseau de Cayeux was clearly French. Either Ephraim is mistaken or possibly the Anseau who married Eudokia had some Italian relations. It is tempting to theorize that Anseau II might've had an Italian mother; Anseau I could've made a marriage to an Italian woman between 1202-3, when the Crusaders were in Venice. If so, Anseau II could've been born about 1204 or so.
In 1253, Anseau married again, this time to Maria Angelina, a granddaughter of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaakios II Angelos. Happily, Pope Innocent IV was kind enough in his dispensation to clearly name Anseau and his wife and her parents as Anselmum de Keu ac Mariam atam Matildis dominæ de Posaga, natæ comitissæ Viennensis...Maria, nate quondam Calojohanni... imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo. (ie. Maria, daughter of Kaloioannis Angelos, lord of Srem, by his wife Mathilde von Vianden, a cousin of the emperor Baldwin II).
An Anseau de Cayeux entered the service of Charles I of Sicily, but he was the son of the aforementioned Anseau de Cayeux by his marriage to Maria Angelina; Anslaus de Kayeu fieus et hoirs Ansiel de Kayeu appears in a church document along with Marie me dame et me mère in 1276. it seems Anseau II and Maria Angelina also had a daughter, as in 1269 their daughter Eve was betrothed to Dreux de Beaumont (see Geanakoplos, "Greco-Latin Relations on the Eve of the Byzantine Restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia -- 1259", 1954). The name Eve was quite unusual in this time period, much more so than Anseau! (Once again, one wonders if she could've been named for a paternal [Italian?] grandmother.) In 1280, Charles of Anjou granted travel documents to Maria, wife of Anseau de Cayeux, so she may travel with her son from Apulia to Serbia to visit "her sister the queen of Serbia" (Helena Angelina, wife of Uroš I of Serbia). In 1281, Maria Angelina appears as the widow (relictam) of Anseau II in another document issued by Charles of Anjou, so it seems Anseau II died sometime between her trip to Serbia and her return the following year.
Anseau III seems to have returned to France, where he and his wife Marie donated land to the abbey of Valoires in 1283.
Anseau de Cayeux the Crusader, whom I will call Anseau de Cayeux I, was a grown adult when he embarked on the Fourth Crusade and took part in the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. He was a younger brother of Guillaume de Cayeux, lord of Boulaincourt, a veteran of the Third Crusade, and was signing charters with his brother in 1195, so not born after 1180 or thereabouts. Anseau's career is well-attested by Villehardouin, Robert de Clari, and Henri de Valenciennes; Villehardouin tells us
that in 1205, Henry of Flanders, then regent for his captured brother the emperor Baldwin I, left Anseau in charge of the city of Bizye, with 60 knights.
Akropolites describes a raid of Theodoros of Epiros on some Latin towns, during which Anseau de Cayeux was badly wounded in the neck but saved thanks to the skill of Greek doctors, although his neck was rendered immobile and his voice forevermore harsh. From context, this incident seems to have taken place c. 1225. It seems Anseau I retired from active duty after this incident, as another Anseau de Cayeux, whom I call Anseau II, appears to come to prominence.
The Continuator of William of Tyre records the marriage of Anseau de Cayeux to the daughter of a Kuman chief, likely soon after the Kumans began arriving in the Latin Empire as they fled the Mongol invasion in 1237. The Continuator adds that Anseau, the "son of a valiant man", served as regent for the Empire during the period (1236-1239) that the emperor Baldwin II was abroad trying to drum up support from the kings of Europe. I believe this is Anseau II, and that he is the now-adult son of Anseau I; the reference to his father being a "valiant man" seems odd, given that Anseau I's paternal relations are very obscure and nowhere else remarked upon, while Anseau I himself was a prominent baron and well-known to the Latin chroniclers.
The Kuman wife must've died or been repudiated at some point, as Anseau de Cayeux is next married to Eudokia Laskarina, daughter of Theodoros Laskaris of Nikaia and at one point the betrothed of the Latin emperor Robert de Courtenay. Anseau had left his wife in the city of Tzirallon (now Çorlu), believing that Ioannes Vatatzes of Nikaia wouldn't be so ungallant as to beseige his own sister-in-law (he was mistaken). This is dated to 1247. Ephraim tells us that Eudokia married Aseldecao Italo dynastæ, which is interesting as the first Anseau de Cayeux was clearly French. Either Ephraim is mistaken or possibly the Anseau who married Eudokia had some Italian relations. It is tempting to theorize that Anseau II might've had an Italian mother; Anseau I could've made a marriage to an Italian woman between 1202-3, when the Crusaders were in Venice. If so, Anseau II could've been born about 1204 or so.
In 1253, Anseau married again, this time to Maria Angelina, a granddaughter of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaakios II Angelos. Happily, Pope Innocent IV was kind enough in his dispensation to clearly name Anseau and his wife and her parents as Anselmum de Keu ac Mariam atam Matildis dominæ de Posaga, natæ comitissæ Viennensis...Maria, nate quondam Calojohanni... imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo. (ie. Maria, daughter of Kaloioannis Angelos, lord of Srem, by his wife Mathilde von Vianden, a cousin of the emperor Baldwin II).
An Anseau de Cayeux entered the service of Charles I of Sicily, but he was the son of the aforementioned Anseau de Cayeux by his marriage to Maria Angelina; Anslaus de Kayeu fieus et hoirs Ansiel de Kayeu appears in a church document along with Marie me dame et me mère in 1276. it seems Anseau II and Maria Angelina also had a daughter, as in 1269 their daughter Eve was betrothed to Dreux de Beaumont (see Geanakoplos, "Greco-Latin Relations on the Eve of the Byzantine Restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia -- 1259", 1954). The name Eve was quite unusual in this time period, much more so than Anseau! (Once again, one wonders if she could've been named for a paternal [Italian?] grandmother.) In 1280, Charles of Anjou granted travel documents to Maria, wife of Anseau de Cayeux, so she may travel with her son from Apulia to Serbia to visit "her sister the queen of Serbia" (Helena Angelina, wife of Uroš I of Serbia). In 1281, Maria Angelina appears as the widow (relictam) of Anseau II in another document issued by Charles of Anjou, so it seems Anseau II died sometime between her trip to Serbia and her return the following year.
Anseau III seems to have returned to France, where he and his wife Marie donated land to the abbey of Valoires in 1283.
