Aix

Who holds it

Name

Gui de Fos

Title

Archbishop of Aix

Since

1186

Confidence

high

Archbishop 1186-1212 (en.wikipedia list), followed by Bermond Cornut. His name points to the Fos family, a great Provencal house (a Rostaing de Fos kept the archbishop of Arles's castles in 1192); his own parentage is not pinned.

What it holds

• Aix: lordship of the Bourg Saint-Sauveur, the cathedral quarter, one of the three separate towns of Aix
• Who held the Ville des Tours in 1200 is not pinned

How it was acquired

The episcopal quarter grew round the cathedral of Saint-Sauveur (begun about 1070) on an ancient site; the details of the archbishop's rights are not pinned in the sources checked.

How things stand that morning

The archbishop holds his bourg; the count, resident in Aix, dominates the place. The three towns are only merged in the thirteenth century.

Wealth

Rents, market dues and justice of the bourg; the see's estates.

Threats

• Absorption by the count's town as Aix grows into a capital

Advocates and rivals

Count Alfonso II of Provence, whose town and court are next door; the chapter of Saint-Sauveur.

Places of note

• Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur: Centre of the archbishop's bourg

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The tripartite town is well described by the city of Aix's heritage service; the archbishop's precise rights in 1200 are not.

On the map: Drawn as a 1 km disc on the cathedral quarter; the rest of Aix was the count's or others'.

Primary sources for Provence

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Deeds of the Counts of Barcelona, Anonymous (monks of Santa Maria de Ripoll) (first version 1162 to 1184; continued in the later 13th century; final version 1303 to 1314). The house chronicle of the counts of Barcelona.
• The Great Book of Fiefs, Various; compiled by Ramon de Caldes for Alfonso II of Aragon (compiled 1192 to 1194). The register of the count-king's feudal rights, finished a few years before 1200 and in use at Peter II's court: some 900 charters of homage, convention, oath, sale and marriage arranged by county and lineage, covering Catalonia, Roussillon, Cerdanya, Pallars, Urgell, the Carcassonne and Beziers lands of the Trencavels, Provence and Aragon.