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- BIOGRAPHY
Eudes was born about 1123, the son of Elisabeth de Bourgogne, dame de Champlitte, daughter of Etienne I 'Tete-Hardi' de Bourgogne, comte de Mâcon, who had been married since 1110 to the powerful Hugues I, comte de Troyes. Two years after Eudes' birth he and his mother were abandoned by Hugues, who denied his paternity of Eudes and accused his wife of adultery. The great county of Champagne therefore came in 1125 to Hugues' nephew Thibaut IV-II, comte de Blois et Chartres. Eudes was able to take only the legacy of his mother, the castle of Champlitte in the Franche-Comté, that was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Eudes apparently attempted to assert his claim to Champagne against the count of Blois, and King Louis VII of France justified his war against him in Eudes' name. However the king of France could not prevail over the count of Blois-Champagne and made his peace with him in 1143, and Eudes had to drop his claim.
Eudes had several children with his wife Sibille de La Ferté-sur-l'Aube, including Guillaume I and Eudes II 'le Champinois', two of the Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade, who would both have progeny.
From 1170 Eudes is recorded as vicomte de Dijon, that he had inherited from an uncle of his wife Sibille. Eudes died after 1187.
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