Arles

Who holds it

Name

Imbert d'Eyguieres

Title

Archbishop of Arles

Since

1191 (consecrated by Celestine III in Rome, November 1191)

Confidence

high

Born about 1130, so about 70; of a noble family of the Arles country (the Eyguieres), with brothers Pons and Pierre. Canon of Saint-Trophime from 1159, sacristan from 1173, elected archbishop in 1191. As lord he received homage from Uc (Hugh) des Baux in 1191 and from Guilhem Porcelet in January 1192, and in 1192 gave the keeping of his castles of Salon and Saint-Chamas to Rostaing de Fos. He kept on good terms with the Baux, doubling the fiefs they held of him (Barbegal, port rights at Saint-Gilles).

Celestine III let him judge cases without appeal to Rome (1194). He quarrelled with his own chapter over discipline (1194, 1198), arbitrated between the Temple and the Hospital (1198) and watched wills so that property would not pass to heretics (from 1191). He consecrated Sainte-Marthe at Tarascon on 1 June 1197. Later course: he lets John of Matha found a Trinitarian house at Arles (about 1200), makes peace with the podesta of Genoa (March 1201 or 1202), lays interdicts on Porcelet churches and unites the two consulates of the Cite and the Bourg (1202), and dies on 3 July 1202.

What it holds

• Arles: lordship of the Cite (the old walled town round Saint-Trophime) and first place among the city's co-lords; homage of the Baux (1191) and the Porcelets (1192)
• Salon and its castle (later called the Emperi), invested to the archbishop by Conrad III in 1144; his favourite residence
• Saint-Chamas castle (given with Salon into the keeping of Rostaing de Fos in 1192)
• Fiefs held of him by the Baux, among them Barbegal and port rights at Saint-Gilles
• Overlordship of Beaucaire and the Terre d'Argence across the Rhone, held in fief by the count of Toulouse [not verified in a source this session; recorded because the archbishop invests Simon de Montfort with them in 1215]

How it was acquired

The see's lordship in the city grew from royal and imperial grants of the Burgundian and Salian period; Conrad III invested the archbishop with Salon in 1144. Frederick Barbarossa was crowned king of Arles in the cathedral in 1178.

How things stand that morning

Imbert holds the Cite and his castles and keeps the Baux and Porcelets in homage; the consulates of the Cite and the Bourg are rivals; the count of Provence is present but not dominant in the city.

Wealth

The Rhone port and the tolls on river and road at the head of the delta; fiefs and dues from the Baux; the pastures of the Crau; Salon's market. The archbishop's share of the salt of the Rhone lagoons is not pinned.

Threats

• Faction between the Cite and the Bourg and between the Porcelets and the archbishop
• Heresy in the country round about, which the legates blame on slack bishops
• Quarrels with his own chapter

Advocates and rivals

Count Alfonso II of Provence (house of Barcelona) and his officers; the consuls of the Cite and of the Bourg (separate consulates until 1202); the Porcelets (lords in the Bourg); the Baux (Hugh des Baux), the archbishop's vassals; his own chapter of Saint-Trophime; Genoa at sea.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. About 1200 (not pinned)Imbert lets John of Matha found a house of Trinitarians at Arles.Depends on: The Trinitarians' expansion, approved by Innocent III in December 1198. Stopped by: Little; a refusal by the archbishop.

Places of note

• Saint-Trophime: Cathedral, where Barbarossa was crowned in 1178
• Castle of Salon (the Emperi): Archbishop's residence and castle since 1144
• Saint-Chamas: Archbishop's castle on the Etang de Berre

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Imbert's acts are well documented in the fr.wikipedia article built on the Arles cartularies; the exact division of the city between the archbishop, the count, the consuls and the great families is not pinned.

On the map: Arles is drawn as a small disc because the modern commune covers most of the Camargue, which was not the archbishop's. The Argence across the Rhone (Beaucaire, Fourques), held in fief by Toulouse, is not drawn.

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.