Robert of Milly

Robert of Milly or Miliaco (died in 1238 or later) was the chamberlain of the County of Champagne from 1167 until his retirement in 1222. He was a Knight Templar and a patron of the order.

In 1190, Robert joined the Third Crusade. In preparation he donated ten arpents of land and a family of serfs at Trilbardou to the Templars of Moisy and in exchange he was taken into the order as a confrater (lay brother), his mother was to be commemorated at Moisy and his sister Amelia and her husband, Manasses, were to receive spiritual benefits from the Templars.^[1] This donation was made on the condition that he die without heirs, yet by 1203 he had two daughters. He must have renewed the gift, for the Templars eventually built a house at Trilbardou. He also leased some meadows at Orgeval to the Templars of Coulommiers for an annual rent of ten measures of grain, a fact confirmed by Count Theobald III of Champagne in a charter 1198. He also leased the mills of Montceaux to the Templars, sparking a dispute with the monks of Montier-la-Celle, which was not settled until 1216. In 1227, for forty sous, he exempted the Templars from rent for the grange at Champfleury, near Montceaux.^[2]

In 1203, Robert gave six pounds in annual tolls to the Oratory of the Paraclete. The donation was earmarked for the benefit of his daughters, who were inmates there, for the duration of their lives.^[3] In 1205, he was with the court of the child count, Theobald IV.^[4] In 1213, as a veteran of the Crusade, he was questioned concerning the legality of the marriage of Isabella I of Jerusalem to Count Henry II of Champagne, since she had previously been married to Lord Humphrey IV of Toron—who was still alive—and widowed by Margrave Conrad of Montferrat.^[4] In 1238 Robert was still living.^[4]

Notes

1. Schenk, p. 215.
2. Schenk, pp. 233–34.
3. Hill 1999, p. 118.
4. Schenk, p. 233 n. 133.

Sources

• Hill, Erica (1999). "Lineage Interests and Nonreproductive Strategies". Human Nature. 10 (2): 109–34. doi:10.1007/s12110-999-1011-z.
• Schenk, Jochen (2012). Templar Families: Landowning Families and the Order of the Temple in France, c. 1120–1307. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.