In October 1210, a violent uprising took place at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Chartres, marking one of the most serious episodes in a prolonged jurisdictional conflict between the cathedral chapter and the comital administration.

The dispute centred on the legal immunity of the chapter’s dependents, serfs and workmen who were exempt from comital taxation and jurisdiction. Tensions had simmered since the late twelfth century and had been temporarily settled in 1195 in favour of the chapter. By 1207–1210, however, friction had renewed.

Early in 1210, the provost of the countess imprisoned a clerk of the choir and a serf of the archdeacon of Dreux. The dean’s ecclesiastical court fined the provost. According to ecclesiastical sources, this judgement provoked anger among the count’s officers, who were accused of inciting popular hostility.

On a Sunday afternoon in October 1210, a large crowd, including tradesmen of the town, rushed to the cathedral cloister. The dean’s residence was attacked and looted. Clergy fled into the church. The chapter declared the town under interdict ⓘ stripped the altar of the Virgin, and pronounced daily excommunications.

Royal intervention followed. King Philip Augustus ⓘ imposed a heavy fine of 3,000 Parisian livres. Named offenders were required to process publicly, stripped and carrying rods, and to undergo whipping before the altar of the Virgin Mary ⓘ. Annual liturgical penance was thereafter instituted on the anniversary of the riot.

The conflict did not end in 1210. In 1215 renewed seizures of ecclesiastical dependents occurred under Count Thibaut VI. In 1249 the provost captured and hanged one of the chapter’s serfs; the dean imposed further fines and penitential punishments. In 1252 the chapter sought to extend the excommunication of the countess beyond the diocese.

The riot of 1210 thus stands within a broader pattern of sustained jurisdictional struggle between cathedral chapter, comital authority, and the urban community of Chartres.