Duby, Georges. The Knight, the Lady and the Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval
France, trans. Barbara Bray. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
Ganshof, François. “Le statut de la femme dans la monarchie franque.” Recueils de la Société Jean
Bodin 12(1962):5–58.
Gaudemet, Jean. “Le legs du droit romain en matière matrimoniale.” In Il matrimonio nella società
altomedievale. Spoleto: Presso la Sede del Centro, 1977, pp. 139–89.
Herlihy, David. Medieval Households. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.
Hilaire, Jean. Le régime des biens entre époux dans la région de Montpellier du début du XIIIe
siècle à la fin du XVIe siècle. Montpellier: Causse, Graille et Castelnau, 1957.
Shahar, Shulamith. The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages. London: Methuen,
1983.
Wemple, Suzanne. Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
DREUX
. The Roman city of Durocasses, Dreux (Eure-et-Loir) evolved into a countship by the
10th century. Strategically located between the royal domain, the duchy of Normandy,
and the county of Chartres, it was seized by King Robert II ca. 1015 and remained part of
the royal domain until the late 12th century. Fortified before 1100, Dreux had a royal
mint under Henry I (r. 1031–60) and communal rights, without justice, which were
confirmed in a charter of 1180.
The county of Dreux passed to a younger son of Louis VI, Robert (d. 1188), whose
descendants held it until the late 14th century. The most notable of these were Philippe,
bishop of Beauvais (d. 1217), a bellicose prelate who participated in the Third Crusade
with his brother Robert II (d. 1218), and in the Albigensian Crusade and the campaign of
Bouvines; Henri, archbishop of Reims (d. 1240), who dared to excommunicate St. Louis;
and Pierre Mauclerc (d. 1250), husband of Alix de Thouars, heiress of Brittany. Pierre
was renowned for his opposition to the regency of Blanche of Castile, for consolidating
his wife’s duchy in the interests of their son, for participating in the crusade of Thibaut de
Champagne (1239–40), and for donating the magnificent south rose window to the
cathedral of Chartres.
The comital line continued until after 1355, when it was disputed by three sisters—
Jeanne, Péronelle, and Marguerite. The last two sold their claims to King Charles V in
1377 and 1378, respectively. In 1407, Charles VI granted Dreux to his brother, Louis of
Orléans. When the latter’s grandson became king in 1498, it returned to the royal domain.
Saint-Pierre is the only medieval church in Dreux to survive the French Revolution.
Of the buildings started under Count Robert, only a few sections of wall survive, the rest
having been rebuilt in the 13th century. The north transept, four aisle bays, and four
ambulatory columns, as well as the buttress piers on the nave, were incorporated in the
rebuilding following the damage from the siege of Dreux by Henry IV of England in
1424. Most of the rebuilding was finished by 1498, although the façade was completed
only in 1524. The south tower was not finished in time for the dedication in 1540 and so
has remained incomplete.
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