John II, Count of Soissons

Who is John II, Count of Soissons?

John II, also known as Jean de Nesle and by the sobriquet le Bon et le Bègue, was the tenth Count of Soissons, succeeding his father Ralph the Good, in 1235. He was the son of his father's second wife, Yolanda. By marriage he also became Count of Chartres and Lord of Amboise. He was well-connected with the trouvères: his younger brother Raoul was one and he received the dedication of a song by Pierrekin de la Coupele. He was also a cousin by marriage of the historian Jean de Joinville. He is not to be confused with John II of Nesle, the burggrave of Bruges.

John's first marriage was to Mary, the heiress of Roger du Thour et de Chimay and his wife Agnes. John and Mary confirmed donations to the Teutonic Knights in May 1234, where he signed as "John of Soissons, knight, firstborn of the count of Soissons, lord of Thour and Chimay". She left him a son, John III, who would succeed him. John's second wife was Matilda, the daughter and eldest surviving child of Sulpice III of Amboise and Isabella, who had inherited the county of Chartres from her father, Theobald VI, Count of Blois. Matilda was the widow of Richard II, the viscount of Beaumont-sur-Sarthe.