Bernard I "le Gros" de Brancion

• Preferred Name: Bernard I "le Gros" de Brancion^[1]
  
• Gender: M
  
• Notified+his+Rights:+Village+of+Montiniacus.: 1031 in Burgundy, France with note: Description: Bernardus nicknamed Grossus" notified his rights "in the village…Montiniacus" by charter/contract dated 1031 expire 1060
  
• Death: 10 JUL 1070 in Sutri, Roma, Italie at LATI: N2.2439 LONG: E2.219
  
• Donated+Land+returned: BEF 1072 in Saint Vincent de Macon, Burgundy,France at LATI: N7.42 LONG: E0.68 with note: Description: "Bernardus surname Grossus" returned "villa Ciciacum" by Saint-Vincent-de-Mâcon by charter dated to [1063/72] which records that it was regranted in fief to "himself Bernardo and his two sons…Gausceranno and Bernardo"
  
• Donated+to+the+Church: 1055 in Saint Vincent de Macon, Burgundy, France at LATI: N7.42 LONG: E0.68 with note: Description: "Bernardus named Grossus" donated property to Mâcon Saint-Vincent by charter/contract dated 1055 Bibliotheca Sebusiana, Centuria II, VII, p. 195.
  
• Birth: 1030 in France
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Seigneur d'Uxelles , Chevalie
  
• Charter/Contract+with+Abbey+of+Cluny+dated+1049+expire+1109: AFT 1169 in Burgundy, France with note: Description: A charter dated to [1049/1109] records donations by "Bernardus Grossus" to Cluny for the burial of Joceranno after his death, with the consent of "Landricus Grossus and Bernardus his sons"
  
• FSID: 9CH4-542
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  The family of Brancion (also known as Gros family) counted several mighty lords and brave strapping lads! We know them since the 10th c.
  
  They were Crusaders, bishops (like Liébaud III at the end of the 10th c., bishop of Mâcon) or priors in Cluny abbey like Josserand and his brother Bertrand in the 12th c.
  
  ADDED FROM ANOTHER SOURCE: "For centuries there have been conflicts between the seigneurs of Brancion and the monks of Cluny. These monks, despite the great power of the Benedictines, were not always resistant to the seigneurs of Brancion, who constantly attack the possessions of the abbey."
  
  https://www.lamandier.nl/brancion/
  
  Bernard on his donkey
  Bernard I de Brancion, for his part, made pretty naughty things… he had remorse weighing on his soul! So he went to a pilgrimage in Rome. He died as he came back in Burgundy.
  
  Before that, he quarrelled with Cluny abbey: he was very naughty, so the pope gave him an anathema (a religious disapproval). Upset, Bernard begged abbot of Cluny to remove this blame.
  
  But the abbot couldn’t do it, he had to go to Rome for that. So Bernard died during this trip…
  
  Few years later, the abbot, who was strolling in the Burgundian forest, suddenly came across Bernard, riding on a donkey!
  
  His ghost said he made naughty things, but he wanted abbot of Cluny’s forgiveness to rest in peace…
  
  Josserand in Crusade
  Josserand IV went to the Crusade with his son and king of France saint Louis, in 1248. He died on the Holy Land, during the siege of Mansourah…
  
  Josserand was a mighty lord, rich, powerful, “one of the best knight in the army”, said chronicler Joinville. We can see his recumbent figure in the small church of Brancion…
  
  He and his son spent a fortune to go to Crusades, so this last one had to sell the castle to duke of Burgundy Hugues IV in 1259…
  
  A Parisian place for Brancion!
  Hey! Did you know in the 19th century, we still have a descendant of the Brancion family? A man called Rattier de Brancion, a colonel killed during battle of Sevastopol…
  
  A place in Paris (15th arrondissement), porte de Brancion, was named after him!
  
  === Castle Brancion ===
  For three hundred years, the castle was the possession of the family of this name. "Gros" is the nickname given by these lords. Their motto is "at the height of the fray" and their weapons are "azure with three facets waved with gold".
  
  The history of these lords is a long series of battles and looting that creates some difficulties with the abbey of Cluny; on several occasions, the monks and burghers of Cluny complained of these abuses to the bishop and the count of Chalon and it resulted in a ride of Louis VII and an arbitration of Philip Augustus; one of these lords goes to Rome to ask for his forgiveness, others leave for the Holy Land.
  
  In thetwelfth century3, the lordships of Brancion and Uxelles are united and make up a homogeneous whole controlled by the two main castles that are Brancion and Uxelles, completed by those of Boutavant and Nanton.
  
  In 1259, to pay off his father's debts, Henry III Gros de Brancion sold his lordships of Uxelles and Brancion to Duke Hugh IV of Burgundy.
  
  For two hundred and eighteen years, Brancion was the capital of a châtellenienote 1 ducal with permanent garrison; the castle appears as one of the clez of the paiz. The dukes reinforced and increased the comfort of the castle, in particular by building the house of "Beaujeu". Jean de Charette, squire, is at the end of the fourteenth century (1390) the lord5.

• m. BEF 1069

1. Landry II "The Big" Gros de Brancion, b. 1060 in Brancion, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France    

1. Title: Chateau Brancion History
   Publication: Name: https://www.lamandier.nl/brancion/;