THE IMPORTANCE OF MEULAN

Waleran accepted the necessity of allegiance to Geoffrey of Anjou in 1141. A few years more saw the whole duchy of Normandy likewise accept Angevin lordship – an outcome due in no small part to Waleran's abandonment of Stephen. The separation of Normandy and England that followed the Angevin conquest altered radically the political structure of Northern France, and as far as Waleran was concerned the new alignment was potentially much to his advantage. Duke Geoffrey and King Louis confronted each other in the Vexin and along the Seine valley, and as a result Waleran's French county of Meulan assumed a more pressing importance.

After 1141 Waleran, perforce, ceased to be an Anglo-Norman magnate, and became a Franco-Norman one. Before 1141 Meulan was to Waleran a source of dignity and wealth; after 1141 it was Waleran's main bargaining counter. It is at this point, therefore, that we must analyse what made Meulan as important as it undoubtedly was in the politics of Northern France in the 1140s and 1150s. Meulan's significance was not merely military. Meulan by itself could not guarantee to its possessor and his allies the control of the border region east of the Epte: Meulan was only one of four fortresses which guarded the bridgingpoints of the Seine in the Norman marches.