Hugues IV, Viscount of Châteaudun

Hugues IV (died 1180), Viscount of Châteaudun, son of Geoffrey III, Viscount of Châteaudun, and Helvise, Dame of Mondoubleau, daughter of Ilbert “Payen” de Mondoubleau. He became Lord of Mondoubleau upon his mother’s death, based on her inheritance, and acquired the lordship of Saint-Calais by marriage.

Hugues’ father, in a conflict with his uncle Urso, Seigneur de Fréteval, was captured and imprisoned. He was rescued by Hugues with the help of Geoffroy III, Count of Vendôme.

Hugues took his first trip to the Holy Land with his father in 1140. In 1059, Hugues’ second trip to the Holy Land was accompanied by encroachments of his land by his third cousin Rotrou IV, Count of Perche. In response, Hugues captured the land of Villemans, to the detriment of the church and priory of the Holy Sepulchre of Châteaudun. Yves, Abbot of Saint-Denis Nogent-le-Rotrou, supported Rotrou is this dispute. The affair ended in 1166 through a judgement of Theobald V, Count of Blois and his brother William of the White Hands, then Bishop of Chartres.

He founded the Commanderie d’Arville of the Knights Templar in 1135 on land donated earlier by his father. The Commanderie remains a unique monument and one of the best preserved Commanderie in France. In 1118, nine French knights led by Hugues de Payens created a religious militia which was to become the Order of the Temple. The members of the Order were monks and soldiers and obeyed the rules elaborated by a council gathered at Troyes Cathedral in France in January 1128.

The Templars settled in Arville around 1130 on an estate of 2500 acres, given for their disposal by Hugues’ father Geoffrey (referred to as Lord of Mondoubleau in local historical records). The Commanderie became a farming center, a recruitment center, a place of worship, and a training base for the knights waiting for their departure to the Holy Land. The Templars lived here until their arrest, accused of heresy by Philip IV of France in 1307.

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