Hervé IV of Donzy

Hervé IV de Donzy ( 1194 testifies; † January 21, 1222 or January 23, 1223 at Castle Saint- Aignan, probably poisoned ) was a gentleman of Donzy and Gien and de iure uxoris a count of Nevers. He was a younger son of Hervé III. de Donzy († 1187 ) from the house Semur and Mathilde Goet.

He took part in the Third Crusade and reached in the fall of 1189 as a member of an advance team the siege of Acre. Back home, he got into a confrontation with Peter II of Courtenay for the possession of the Castle of Gien, in which he was able to defeat his opponent in Cosne and capture. Through the mediation of King Philip Augustus in 1199, there was an understanding. Peter of Courtenay was released, had his daughter Matilda of Courtenay, since the death of her mother Agnes I. of Nevers in 1192 Countess of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre, to give Hervé wife. Hervé but only got the county to manage Nevers, Peter himself wore since the title of Count of Auxerre and Tonnerre. The marriage took place in October 1199, although the papal dispensation required for this purpose was only granted on 20 December 1213. Hervé again agreed that the king took the Castle of Gien in itself.

Philippe - Auguste's interest in Hervé de Donzy was mainly due to old commitments of the family that she tied to the British royal family, the Plantagenet. The successful mediation of the king by these new obligations seemed the Capetians opposite to recede into the background. In fact, Hervé de Donzy took a few years later in the conquest of Normandy (1203 /04) on the French side part, as well as to the subsequent campaigns in the Touraine and Poitou, and from 1209 also the Albigensian Crusade.

As Hervé later turned back to the English and 27th July 1214 thus stood at the Battle of Bouvines on the losing side, King Philippe -Auguste pulled the lands Hervés one that bordered on the English possessions in France, and at the same time sought after, to secure his family the rest by family ties. Hervé was forced on 8 September 1217 to promise the hand of his daughter and heiress Agnes and thus Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre Philippe - Auguste's grandson of the same name, which only this does not lead to marriage because the prospective husband a year already passed it. Hervé had to accept to marry Agnes only with the consent of the king thereupon.

1218 Hervé took part in the crusade of Damietta, but returned to Europe when he learned that his father had died in 1219, to take over its possessions in France itself. Two years later he married his daughter and heiress of Guy IV de Châtillon, Count of Saint- Pol. Rumor has another two years later he died by poison.

Hervé and Mathilde had two children:

• Guillaume, 1207 testifies young †
• Agnès, † 1225, Dame de Donzy; ∞ 1221 Guy IV de Châtillon, Count of Saint-Pol

He was buried in the monastery Pontigny. His widow married in 1226 in second marriage Guigues IV, Count of Forez