As well as being a centre of commerce and trade, the Court of Champagne was a focus for artistic expression. Thibaud IV, Count of Champagne from 1222 to 1253, was without doubt the best embodiment of this. Thibaud IV was a knight, poet, singer, musician, conqueror and explorer all rolled-into-one.Thibaud entered the Royal French court at a very young age. There, he met the ‘Trouvères’ (epic poets from Northern France). These ‘troubadours’ had been invited to the court by Blanche de Castille, the Queen of France.. Blanche de Castille was his cousin and the future mother of Saint-Louis. She was only 13 years older than Thibaud, and it was rumoured that he was secretly in love with her. This courtly love inspired the young knight to express his feelings in poems and song.

At court, the increasing gossip of Thibaud’s affection for his Queen eventually left him with no choice but to go on a crusade to demonstrate his loyalty to his feudal ruler. Already crowned King of Navarre in 1234, he left for the Holy Land in 1239. He brought back two treasures from this crusade. From a stop-over in Cyprus, he brought back some vines which had produced wine which he had greatly enjoyed. It is said that he planted these ancestors of our Chardonnay grape on his land in Epernay and Sézanne. From Damascus, he brought back a variety of red rose called Damascena, which was originally grown in the Jordan Valley. The provincial gardeners knew how to graft it onto the Gallica rose, which was common in Europe at the time. All the roses which now grow in Europe come from this crossing of species.

The histories of the Counts of Champagne and the Taittinger Champagne House have been entwined ever since the Champagne House’s signature brand was created. The ‘Comtes de Champagne’ have given their name to the most prestigious vintage the Champagne House offers (with the authorisation of Count Guillaume, the last descendant of the ‘Comtes de Champagne’). Indeed, the Counts of Champagne’s former residence, which was the main location for receptions during the time of Thibaud IV, has belonged to the Taittinger Champagne House since 1932. Taittinger has restored it over the decades and returned it to its former glory. Given this long-standing relationship, it is fitting that, over 800 years after the death of Thibaud, it was Claude Taittinger (the author of a book about the ‘Poet Count’) who edited a disc of his rediscovered compositions.