| The posthumous son of Thibaut III of Champagne and of Blanche de Navarre, the daughter of Sancho VI, Thibaut IV was born on 30 May 1201. Little is known about his childhood, except that he resided for a period of five years at the court of Philip II Augustus, King of France, to whom he swore vassalage in 1214. The monarch tutored him in the art of war, of vital importance for the survival of any feudal lord during the Middle Ages.
In 1220 Thibaut married Gertrude of Lorraine, the daughter of the Count of Metz, whom he repudiated two years later, marrying again in 1223. This time his bride was Agnès de Beaujeu, a cousin of Louis VIII of France whose reign commenced that very year.
Together with the French monarch, the count participated in the siege of La Rochelle in 1224 and in that of Avignon in 1226, suddenly withdrawing his support to return to Champagne. On 8 November the king died of dysentery leading to accusations that Thibaut had poisoned him because he was in love with his wife, Blanche de Castille. |
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