Comminges

Who he is

Name

Bernard IV

Title

Count of Comminges

Since

1176, on the death of his father Bernard III Dodo (Dodon de Samatan) in May 1176

Born

Not pinned (of age by 1176)

Family

Son of Bernard III and a daughter of Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse, so first cousin of Raymond VI. Brother of Roger, viscount of Couserans. Married (1) 1180 Beatrix, heiress of Bigorre and Marsan, put away in 1192; (2) 1195 Comtors, daughter of Arnaud-Guillaume, viscount of La Barthe, later put away for kinship; (3) 1197 Marie of Montpellier, daughter of William VIII and Eudoxia Comnena, who leaves him in 1201. Children: Petronilla of Bigorre (about 1184, by Beatrix), Bernard (V) (born 1196, by Comtors), Mathilde and another Petronilla (by Marie, birth dates not pinned).

Confidence

high

French Wikipedia (Bernard IV de Comminges): count 1176-1225; seized Bigorre and separated from Beatrix in 1192; married Comtors 1195 and Marie of Montpellier 1197; seized Saint-Lizier between 1180 and 1195 and drove out three successive bishops of Couserans; customs granted to Saint-Gaudens (1202) and Muret (1203). Iberia map research: he becomes Peter II's vassal for the Val d'Aran only in 1201.

Overlord

The count of Toulouse, his cousin Raymond VI, in practice; the county lies in the Gascon province of Auch and the duke of Aquitaine's claim is nominal. He becomes the king of Aragon's vassal for the Val d'Aran in 1201 (not yet).

What it holds

• Upper Comminges round Saint-Bertrand (the bishop's city) with the valleys of the upper Garonne (Saint-Beat, the Luchon valley)
• Saint-Gaudens and the Nebouzan
• The Saves with Samatan, the old comital seat, and Lombez
• Muret on the Garonne above Toulouse
• Saint-Lizier, the cathedral city of Couserans, seized from its bishops between 1180 and 1195
• A claim on the Val d'Aran (settled with Aragon in 1201)

How it was acquired

Inherited in 1176; the Couserans went to his brother Roger in the partition.

Allies and rivals

Raymond VI of Toulouse, cousin and lord. Raymond-Roger of Foix. William VIII of Montpellier, his father-in-law. Gaston VI of Bearn, his son-in-law, who holds Bigorre, which Bernard lost in 1192. The bishops of Comminges and Couserans. The La Barthe viscounts, kin of his second wife.

How things stand that morning

Holds his county in full. He seized Saint-Lizier from the bishops of Couserans between 1180 and 1195; that he still holds it on 1 January 1200 is likely but not pinned. Bigamy and the dispossession of the Couserans bishops make him vulnerable to Rome and to the legates now in Languedoc. Across his borders: the Toulousain of Raymond VI and the lords of L'Isle-Jourdain to the north and east, Foix (Raymond-Roger) to the east, Couserans (his brother) to the south-east, the Four Valleys and Bigorre (Gaston VI, under Aragon) to the west, Astarac to the north-west, and over the passes the Val d'Aran and Aragonese Ribagorza.

Wealth

Tolls on the Garonne and the Spanish roads through the upper Garonne valley; pasture and timber; the markets of Saint-Gaudens, Samatan and Muret.

Military

Castles of Muret, Samatan, Saint-Gaudens and the mountain castles; mountain levies; a record of seizing what he wants.

Threats

• Church censure for his marriages and for Saint-Lizier
• Aragon, which took Bigorre from him in 1192
• Marie of Montpellier's departure and the claims of her daughters

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. 1201 (after the year)Marie of Montpellier leaves him; Bernard takes back Comtors and becomes Peter II's vassal in exchange for the Val d'Aran.Depends on: Marie's will and Peter II's interest in Montpellier. Stopped by: A reconciliation, or a papal ruling on the marriages.
2. 1202 and 1203 (after the year)He grants written customs to Saint-Gaudens (1202) and to Muret (1203).Depends on: Peace in the county. Stopped by: War.

Places of note

• Muret: Comital castle-town on the Garonne above Toulouse.
• Samatan: Old comital seat in the Saves.
• Saint-Lizier: Cathedral city of Couserans, seized from its bishops.
• Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges: Bishop's city.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes give no names for the Gascon sees and leave the province of Auch under 'the duke of Aquitaine and the Pyrenean counts'. The count of Comminges in 1199 looks to Toulouse, not to the duke; he does homage to Aragon only from 1201 (for the Val d'Aran).

Evidence: Marriages and dates are well attested; the extent of the county in 1200 is drawn from the later county and the Saves edge is approximate.

On the map: The county's shape follows the later county of Comminges and the pays of Nebouzan and Saves; the Barousse and Magnoac are left to the La Barthe viscounts.

Primary sources for Toulouse

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.

• Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. Read online
• 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.
• Documents of the French Royal Treasury of Charters, vol. 1 (755 to 1223) (755 to 1223; the archive was organised from the 1190s). The treaties and bonds the French crown kept in its own archive, printed in date order. Read online
• 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.