Theobald was the younger son of Henry I of Champagne and Marie, a daughter of Louis VII of France. He succeeded as count of Champagne in 1197 upon the death of his older brother Henry II.
In 1198, Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade. There was little enthusiasm for the crusade at first, but in 1199 various nobles of France gathered at Theobald's court for a tournament, including the preacher Fulk of Neuilly. There, they "took the cross," and elected Theobald their leader, but he died the next year and was replaced by Boniface of Montferrat.
Theobald married Blanche of Navarre, and was succeeded by his posthumous son by Blanche, Theobald IV. She was to rule as regent for the following 21 years, during which the succession was contested by Theobald's nieces.
CHAMPAGNE, an ancient province of the kingdom of France, bounded N. by Liege and Luxemburg; E. by Lorraine; S. by Burgundy; and W. by Picardy and Isle de France.
Formed at random by the acquisitions of the counts of the houses of Vermandois and Blois, Champagne reckoned among its dependencies, from 1152 to 1234, the countship of Blois and Chartres, of which Touraine was a fief, the countship of Sancerre, and various scattered fiefs in the Bourbonnais and in Burgundy.
In 1197TheobaldIII., younger son of Henry I., became count, and was succeeded in 1201 by Theobald IV., "le Chansonnier" (the singer), who was the son of TheobaldIII.
Theobald I (French: Thibaud or Thibault, Spanish: Teobaldo) (May 30, 1201 – 1253), called the Troubadour, the Chansonnier, and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1235.
He was the son of TheobaldIII of Champagne and Blanca of Navarre, the youngest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre.
Further, Theobald's right to the succession was challenged by Henry's daughter Philippa and her husband, Erard I of Brienne, Count of Ramerupt and one of the more powerful nobles of Champagne.
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