Barthélemy de Jur

Barthélemy de Jur (misread as de Vir in the 19th century; c.1080 - 1158) was a French bishop. He was bishop of Laon from 1113 to 1151. Some documents give his name as Barthélemy de Grandson or de Joux.

The oldest son of Conon Falcon (Foulques) seigneur de Grandson, de La Sarraz, du Jura et de Lausanne, and of Aélis (Ade, Adélaïde), daughter of Hilduin, seigneur de Ramerupt et de Montdidier and his wife Adélaïde de Roucy. Before becoming bishop of Laon, he was a sub-deacon then treasurer of the church of Reims, whose archbishop Manassès II de Châtillon was his maternal great-uncle.

He contributed his own money to the rebuilding of Laon Cathedral, which had suffered heavily in the city's revolt in 1112. He became close to Norbert of Xanten, who in 1120 founded an abbey at Prémontré in the Voas forest, founding the Premonstratensian Order. With Bernard of Clairvaux, Barthélemy in 1134 backed founding Vauclair Abbey in the Vauclair forest to the south of Laon. With help from his brother Ebal (Eble), he also took part in the foundation of the Premonstratensian abbey at lac de Joux, sometimes called the abbaye du lac de Cuarnens.

In 1142 Barthélemy and his fellow bishops Pierre de Senlis and Simon de Noyon, probably misled by statements from Ralph I, Count of Vermandois, consented to bless the union between him and Petronilla of Aquitaine. Ralph had illegally repudiated his first marriage to Eleanor of Champagne, sister of Theobald II, Count of Champagne. In 1148 a council held at Reims confirmed Ralph's second marriage was invalid and excommunicated him, Petronilla and the prelates who had blessed the marriage. Barthélemy was dismissed from his bishopric in 1151 and became an ordinary monk in Foigny Abbey, where he died in 1158.

Sources

• http://www.histoireaisne.fr/memoires_numerises/chapitres/tome_46/Tome_046_page_007.pdf
• Suzanne Martinet, Montloon, reflet fidèle de la montagne et des environs de Laon de 1100 à 1300, 1972