1015-1016: Sens and Dijon, Locking the Approaches

In the middle of Robert II’s reign, Capetian expansion does not depend only on “ducal” victories. It also plays out through key cities and the comital office: who commands a city, who holds the county, and under whose authority.

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🏛️ 1015: Sens, a Strategic Archiepiscopal City

At Sens, control of the city sets Count Fromond II and then his son Rainard against Archbishop Leotheric, a supporter of the king. The construction of a powerful defensive tower by the count symbolises an autonomy that has become threatening. Isolated, the archbishop calls on Robert.

The royal intervention has several aims:

• Sens is a major archiepiscopal seat of the kingdom;
• the city is a necessary passage toward Burgundy;
• controlling the county of Sens makes it easier to cut through the possessions of Odo II of Blois.

The count is excommunicated, and Robert seizes Sens on 22 April 1015. Rainard proposes a compromise: he keeps the comital office, but at his death the county will return to the Crown. Robert gains the essential point: the city enters his orbit.

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🏰 1016: Dijon, Completing the Burgundian Conquest

Once Sens is secure, Robert wants to finish the Burgundian affair. The final lock is Dijon, held by the bishop of Langres, Bruno of Roucy, an enemy of the king. The Dijon tradition mentions a mediation by Odilo of Cluny that avoids a direct assault.

The situation changes when Bruno dies at the end of January 1016: royal troops enter Dijon shortly after. Robert places Lambert of Vignory on the see of Langres, and he cedes Dijon and its county to the king. After a long combination of campaigns and agreements, Burgundy is finally secured.

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🧠 Key Takeaways

• Sens (1015): control of an archiepiscopal city and a strategic corridor.
• Dijon (1016): the last Burgundian piece falls through an ecclesiastical shift.