In a dispute over the
château de Gien with Peter of Courtenay, Hervé came to a settlement in 1199, having defeated and captured his overlord Peter at
Cosne-sur-Loire.[3] After Peter's death in 1219, he became Count of Auxerre and Tonnerre also;[4] with
Philip II, Marquis of Namur and
Robert de Courtenay contesting Auxerre. He acquired
Liernais also, in 1210.
Hervé and his countess were active in developing the
Nivernais, his lands around
Donzy adjoining the Nivernais and
Burgundy. In 1209 they founded a
Carthusian abbey at
Bellary [
fr].[5] He reconstructed the
château Musard,
Billy-sur-Oisy, around 1212–5. The priory at Beaulieu was founded in 1214.[6]
^There are several places in France called
Beaulieu, and it is uncertain which this one was. The
County of Nevers roughly corresponds to the modern department of
Nièvre, and this Beaulieu may have been
Beaulieu, Nièvre. Alternatively, Beaulieu may have been the name of the priory itself; for example, French Wikipedia lists several
Abbayes de Beaulieu, most of which are not associated with a settlement of that name.