VEXIN

. The Gallo-Roman pagus Veliocassinus, located strategically on the north bank of the Seine between the Oise and the Andelle, incorporated the towns of Mantesla-Jolie, Meulan, and Pontoise along with the fortress of Gisors. The countship, established by the reign of Hugh Capet (r. 987-96), may have grown out of the advocacy of the lands of the royal abbey of Saint-Denis, which dominated the region. Its banner, the oriflamme, supposedly that of Charlemagne, became the standard of the French kings in the 12th century in their capacity as counts and vassals of the abbey. At some time, however (traditionally in 911), the pagus was divided at the Epte into eastern and western parts (French and Norman Vexin, respectively), and it became a vital strategic march for both the dukes of Normandy and the kings of France.

The original line of counts was drawn into close ties with England as early as the 1030s, when Count Dreux married a sister of Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-66), and Henry I of France (r. 1031-60) was to cede the French Vexin to Duke Robert of Normandy in return for aid in securing his throne. Philip I (r. 1060-1108) wrested it back from Count Simon between 1076 and 1077 to bestow it upon his son the future Louis VI (r. 1108-37), who even occupied the Norman Vexin until his defeat at Bremule (1119).

Henry II of England (r. 1154-89) did homage for the Norman Vexin, and the French Vexin was made the dowry of two daughters of Louis VII (r. 1137-80), married and betrothed successively to two of Henry’s sons. The latter marriage, to Richard I the Lionhearted (r. 1189-99) never having taken place, Philip II Augustus (r. 1180-1223) waged war against him from 1195 to 1199, losing most of the French Vexin in the process. But after Richard’s death, the annexation of Normandy in 1204, confirmed by the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, rendered moot the question of the frontier. Philip II was to grant communal charters to several towns in the Vexin, which quickly became integrated into the royal domain.

R. Thomas McDonald

[See also: NORMANDY; ROYAL DOMAIN]

Barroux, Robert. “L’abbe Suger et la vassalite du Vexin en 1124.” Moyen age 64(1958):1-26. Grierson, Philippe. “L’origine des comtes d’Amiens, Valois et Vexin.” Moyen age, 3rd ser.,

2(1939):81-125.