Hugh was the third son of Count
Theobald III of Blois and Countess
Adele of Valois, bearing the title count of
Bar-sur-Aube. His older brother Count
Odo died in 1093, leaving him master of
Troyes, where he centred his court, Bar-sur-Aube and
Vitry-le-François. In this way the three contiguous countships that formed the core of an emerging
Champagne His first recorded act, a monastic gift in 1094, became the oldest document of the comital archive. written in 1125, as Hugh went off for a third time to fight in the Holy Land, joining the
Knights Templar, leaving his pregnant wife, and disinheriting his son Odo – according to later sources, Hugh believed himself impotent and never acknowledged his son. Instead, he transferred his titles to his nephew, who became
Theobald II of Champagne. Odo's two sons,
Odo II of Champlitte and
William of Champlitte were important figures in the
Fourth Crusade. Hugh married first
Constance, daughter of King
Philip I of France and
Bertha of Holland. Their only child, a son called Manasses, died young. He married second Isabella, daughter of
Stephen I, Count of Burgundy and niece of
Pope Callixtus II and they had issue: •
Eudes/Odo I, married to Sibylle de La Ferte-sur-L'Aube and had two sons: •
Odo II of Champlitte died 1204, one of the leaders of the IV Crusade. •
William I 1160s - 1209, prince of Achaea and founder of the Principality. When Hugh became a Knight Templar himself in 1125, the Order comprised few more than a dozen knights, and the first Grand Master of the Templars was a vassal of his,
Hugues de Payens, who had been with him at Jerusalem in 1114. While in the kingdom of Jerusalem, Hugh appeared with the king, Baldwin II, in two documents, but there is no trace of him after 1130. Hugh was also the generous patron of the abbeys of
Montieramey Abbey and of
Molesme, making grants from his castle of Isle-Aumont, south of Troyes. In a surviving letter to him from
Ivo of Chartres (Letter CCCXLV), the Bishop of Chartres reminds him of his obligations of marriage, perhaps to deter him from making vows of continence. ==References==