Renard II of Dampierre-en-Astenois

Renard II, also spelled Reynald, Raynald, Rainard or Renaud[a] (1170s – 1234), was the count or lord of Dampierre-le-Château in the Astenois.

His lordship lay partly within the Holy Roman Empire, but he was also a direct vassal of the Count of Champagne in the Kingdom of France.

The second edition of the Feoda Campanie,[c] written around this time contains a note beside his name that reads "who is overseas" (qui est ultra mare).

As a result, Renard departed from the main crusader force near Piacenza in Italy in the summer of 1202 and did not go on to Venice or take part in the sack of Constantinople.

Instead, he and a small group of crusaders[d] went south to Apulia and there took ship to Acre, the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, to fulfill their vows to go to the Holy Land.

[1][2]Simon IV de Montfort and Abbot Adam of Perseigne abandoned the crusade at Zara, crossed to Italy, and joined Renard and the others who were leaving for the Holy Land, probably at Brindisi.

Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, writing a few decades later, claims that on his deathbed Theobald had asked Renard to fulfill his vow by going to the Holy Land as his substitute and offered him a large amount of silver for his expenses.

[5] Unable to fulfill his and his lord's vow to fight the infidel, he entered the service of Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch.

On 2 March,[g] he founded a Hospitaller commandery at Autrecourt (Hautecour, now in Épense) by giving the order a house he owned there.

He also brought suit against the monastery in the court of Philip II, bishop of Châlons, claiming 1500 livres in lost revenue over thirty years.

After the monks countersued over damages Renard committed in the woods of Tilloy, both sides settled and agreed to drop their suits.

[7] In March 1234, Renard made a gift to the leprosarium of Saint-Jacques de Châlons while he was ill and on the verge of death (laborans in extremis).