Renaud II of Castle-Gontier

Renaud II of Castle-Gontier , lord of Castle-Gontier.

Biography

Counts d' Anjou

The alive one of his/her father Renaud Ier of Castle-Gontier, i.e. shortly after 1040, Renaud II is quoted, like his/her brother, in the charter of Saumur. As one and the other it stuck to the counts d' Anjou. Geoffroy Martel, after the conquest of the Touraine, stripped several of its principal vassal of this region, particularly Guicher, owner of a castle and a field which it confiscated and inféoda with Renaud in 1044. This one imposed its name to him, Castrum quod ejusdem nominates vocatur Castrum Renaldi . It kept it until the death of his brother in 1063, and even jointly with Castle-Gontier until in 1066, time when Guicher returned in possession of sound well. Ménage made of this last a son of Renaud himself, which is false and impossible. D' Hozier says it son of Geoffroy of Castle-Gontier and consequently nephew of Alard and Renaud, and father of a Renaud who would have given his name to Castle-Renaud, which defers us to one quite posterior time with reality.

While he was lord of Castle-Renaud, Renaud of Castle-Gontier had, as of 1044, a disagreement with the Abbaye of Vendôme about the toll which it required of the subjects of the monks passing by the St. Lawrence. Geoffroy Martel and the Agnès countess pointed out to him the laws given by them to Blésois and condemned it. Under Geoffroy Bearded the to which it was subjected in 1060 and which it was to betray in 1067, he is quoted in an acquisition of the abbey of Vendôme; it attends the judgment giving to the monks Saint Florent the guard of the castle which defended the abbey (1061); concede with Marmoutier part of water of the Cher (1063); approve like lord of Castle-Gontier the gifts of Foulque de Bouère with the same abbey; give up its claims on the wood of Blimart, which approves Geoffroy the Bearded one (April 3rd 1064), and claims its rights on the fisheries of Glandeffe.

Disagreements with Conan II of Brittany

Renaud had two disagreements with Conan II of Brittany, king de Bretagne. In the first, in 1064, it was made prisoner after the business of Blimart, was seen reduced to require the pecuniary assistance of the monks of Marmoutier to pay his ransom, and reconciled with Saint Martin's day, known as the writer of the charter, “ indicator which it was bad to be caught with his servants ”.

Towards the end of the year 1066, the Breton prince, after having conquered Pouancé and Segré, came until Castle-Gontier of which it forced the entry, but it died in its triumph, poisoned, says one, by a traitor on the order of Guillaume Bastard the.

Treason

In this same year 1066, Renaud II left Castle-Renaud to be fixed definitively at Castle-Gontier. He does not enjoy it a long time. Foulque Réchin had gained with its cause some of most powerful vassal of Geoffroy the Bearded one, his brother, had given up already by the clergy and had excommunicated. Sure of their contest, it went on Angers the Wednesday-saint April 4th 1067 and, thanks to the treason of Geoffroy de Preuilly, Renaud of Castle-Gontier, Giraud de Montreuil and the provost of Angers, named Robert, seized the person of Geoffroy and threw it in prison. The punishment of the traitors was not made wait. Foulque Réchin could not or did not want to preserve its trustworthy popular revenge. The following day Thursday-saint, a terrible riot raised the city: Renaud of Castle-Gontier, Geoffroy de Preuilly, Giraud de Montreuil, were massacred; the provost, apprehended in his turn, had soon after a similar fate.

The family

Such was the end of Renaud II. He had married a named woman Elisabeth or Isabeau that genealogies say, without proof, that of D' Hozier inter alia, of the Maison of Mathefelon. This identification is impossible, because the family is known only since 1040, and the marriage of Renaud is former since his/her children are pilot as of 1063 for the ratification of the acts of their father. Elisabeth appears several times either with her husband, or after her widowhood, for personal transactions. She had at least two wire and a girl:

Renaud, which succeeded his/her father;
Guicher, of which it is question only once;
Mélissende, that his/her father found with Castle-Gontier to make him authorize the convention which it had made with Marmoutier, the March 31st 1064 (n.st.).

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