Ralph, Count of Soissons
Raoul I the Good (franz: Raoul le Bon, † 1236 ) was Count of Soissons out of the house Nesle. He was the youngest of three sons of the sire Raoul II of Nesle, Viscount of Bruges, and his wife Gersende of Montaigu. Although he never possessed the ancestral castle of his family, he is often Raoul III. called Nesle.
Life
From his eldest brother, Count of Soissons Conon, who had died in 1180, he inherited the county of Soissons. The Castle of Nesle and the castle county Bruges went to the second-oldest brother, Johann I († 1197/1200 ), over. 1184 Raoul took over the castle of Noyon.
Raoul took in the aftermath of King Philip II of France on the Third Crusade, where he distinguished himself at the siege of Acre. After his return home, he ascended to Familiar closest circle of the royal court and supported the King in the fight against the Plantagenets. In 1214 he fought in the victorious battle of Bouvines. About the borders of France Raoul acquired the reputation of a Prud'homme, a consummate in his behavior and actions knight. Pope Honorius III. described him in a letter from the year 1216 as the light of a candle ( comme une lampe sur posée candelabre ).
In 1216 Raoul accompanied the Prince Louis the lion in his invasion of England. 1218 he took over as Crusaders the Albigensian Crusade part in the siege of Toulouse, where the leader of the crusade, Simon IV de Montfort, was killed. After the death of King Louis VIII in 1226 Raoul supported along with his son the regent Blanche of Castile against the rebellious barons led by Peter Mauclerc.
After his death he was buried in the Abbey of Longpont. He himself had in 1227 in the presence of the young King Louis IX The abbey church. ( Saint Louis) inaugurated.
Marriage and issue
His first wife was Adèle of Dreux († 1210 ), a daughter of Count Robert I of Dreux. Their children were:
- Gertrude († 1220/22 ), 1 ∞ with Count John of Beaumont- sur -Oise († 1222 ) (House Beaumont- sur -Oise ); 2 ∞ with Mathieu II de Montmorency († 1230), Constable of France (master list of Montmorency )
- Alienor († 1229/34 ), 1 ∞ with Count Mathieu III. of Beaumont- sur -Oise († 1208) (House Beaumont- sur -Oise ); 2 ∞ Stephen of Sancerre († 1252), Lord of Châtillon -sur -Loing, United cupbearer of France
Raoul's second wife was a unspecified known Yolande, with whom he had two sons:
- Johann († 1270/72 ), heir Raoul I.
- Raoul († 1270), Trouvère, Lord of Coeuvres
His third wife was Ada of Avesnes ( † after 1249 ), a daughter of James of Avesnes. With her he had no children.