Renard II of Dampierre-en-Astenois

Renard II, also spelled Reynald, Raynald, Rainard or Renaud (born 1170s, died 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.

Renard took part in the Fourth Crusade, but did not join the siege of Constantinople. He was captured in the Holy Land by the emir of Aleppo, and remained in prison for thirty years until he was ransomed.

Renard was a son of Renard I (died 1190/1) and Euphemia (married by 1163). He married Helvide (or Héloïse) shortly after the death of her first husband, Henry, castellan of Vitry, in 1190. She bore the title castellana, while Renard administered the castellany on behalf of her young son Hugh. In 1191, Renard, bearing the titles count of Dampierre and castellan of Vitry, made a donation to the Templars of Vitry. He continued to administer Vitry on behalf of Hugh until the latter's early death in 1203. Helvide and Renard had two sons: Renard III and Anselm I. They were born before 1192, when they are mentioned in a document alongside Renard and his brother Henry. All four are mentioned together again in 1193 and 1196. Helvide died after ten years of marriage in 1200.

The same year as his wife died, Renard took the cross, vowing to go on the Fourth Crusade. Several documents from 1200–02 allude to this vow. He made gifts to the hospital of Châlons and to the abbeys of La Chalade and Monthiers-en-Argonne. In early 1202 he approval to the purchase by Monthiers of all the lands of the abbey of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in exchange for the right to half of it on the condition of payment of an annual census to the monks of Monthiers. This agreement never came into force, as Monthiers did not acquire lands from Saint-Martin.

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