Hi Jacqueline
I'm probably not going to speak to Professer Barber for a while, unless I go and read the books he suggested to me. I'm really not that active in this kind of research anymore.
However I did get a reply from Champagne Nobility expert Theodore Evergates. Here is a little bit of what he wrote:
"The earliest reference to a village at Payns (just north of Troyes in
Champagne) is from 820 (Pedennagium), cited in Alphonse Roserot,
"Dictionnaire historique de la Champagne meridionale," 3:1094. I am not
aware of another mention until the twelfth century."
"There are two local references to Hugh of Payns before 1125: in 1100 he
was present with a number of other barons of the count of Troyes and
listed as "Hugo de Paeanz" ("Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Montieramey," ed.
Charles Lalore, 24), and in 1113 he was listed as "dominus de Peanz" [lord
of Payns] (Archives Departementales de l'Aube [at Troyes], 6 H 38). For
those of us working in the history of this region, those references (and their
contexts with other local lords) are quite strong markers of local
origin. Hugh was probably from a middling knight or lesser baronial
family, perhaps related to Bernard of Clairvaux. It is not unusual that
Hugh is cited only twice: he was probably in the east most of the time,
and he probably had limited means and thus was not a benefactor of
monasteries (and so does not appear in their records)."
"It is true that there is a mention of a "Hugo de Paganus," but I take
that to be a scribe's transcription of an unfamiliar name. Payns was a
very small settlement (perhaps not even a village) on the Seine River and
probably not familiar to most monastic scribes who were writing these
documents in Latin (from hearing the name in spoken French)."
Regarless of these findings, the Professor did mention that he is interested in hearing about what you discover in your research. He also suggested contacting Simonetta Cerrini, a researcher on the early Templars.
A book huh, I hope I can get my copy signed
