Renaud II de Pons

Renaud II (c. 1170 – 11 June 1252), also known as Reginald de Pontibus or Renaud de Ponz, was a French nobleman and the lord of Pons in the Saintonge region of the County of Poitou from 1191 until his death. In the Anglo-French dynastic conflict, he was a strong supporter of John, King of England. He left Poitou three times to fight infidels: the Third Crusade, the Reconquista in Spain and the Seventh Crusade. He is distinguished from his uncle, Renaud de Pons, Seneschal of Gascony, in contemporary documents by the epithets senior (the elder) and junior (the younger). He is possibly the same person as the troubadour Rainaut de Pons. Life Renaud was the eldest son of Geoffroy III de Pons and Agnès de Matha. He succeeded his father as lord of Pons in 1191. In the same year he left to join the Third Crusade, confirming his father's donation to the almonry of Chansac before he left. He was probably at least twenty years old at the time. Returning from the crusade, Renaud married Marguerite, lady of Montignac, the only child and heiress of Taleyrand, lord of Montignac. She was thus a niece of Count Elias V of Périgord. Her mother was probably Maeuz, the lady celebrated by the troubadour Bertran de Born. In 1202, John, King of England, entrusted the castle of Cognac and its dependencies to Renaud II de Pons, Pons de Mirebeau and Robert de Torneham, then seneschal of Poitou. Renaud and Pons were uterine brothers. This was territory that rightfully belonged to the Count of Angoulême but had been controlled by his suzerain, the Count of Poiou since the 1180s.