Count of Provence

Who he is

Name

Alfonso II (Alfons, Alphonse II)

Title

Count of Provence

Since

25 April 1196 (death of his father); named count in 1185

Born

about 1180

Family

Second son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile; brother of Peter II of Aragon; husband of Garsenda of Sabran, heiress of Forcalquier.

Confidence

high

fr.wikipedia: became count at about 15 in 1196 under the tutelage of his uncle Sancho, count of Roussillon. Whether the tutelage still runs on 1 January 1200 is not pinned; at about 20 he acts in his own name in the war of 1199.

Overlord

The emperor, as king of Arles (the German throne is disputed)

What it holds

• Aix-en-Provence: the comital palace, the town and its countryside, the count's court and archives
• Tarascon: castle, town and Rhone crossing opposite Beaucaire
• Arles: the count's share of lordship, beside the archbishop, the consuls and the Porcellet
• Nice: lordship over the consular commune since the submission of 1176
• Central Provence: comital castra such as Brignoles and Draguignan (the full list for 1200 is not pinned)
• Homage of Castellane (1189) and of other barons; claims of overlordship over the Baux and the viscounts of Marseille

How it was acquired

Inherited through the house of Barcelona, which gained Provence by the marriage of Ramon Berenguer III and Douce of Provence (1112) and divided the old Provence with Toulouse in 1125 along the Durance. The Baux claim was beaten in the Baussenque wars (1144-1162). Alfonso II of Aragon gave the county to this son in 1185 and confirmed it by his will made at Perpignan in 1194.

Allies and rivals

Ally: his brother Peter II of Aragon. Rivals: William IV of Forcalquier, who has spent 1199 at war with him; Hugh III of Les Baux, William of Les Baux prince of Orange and Roncelin of Marseille, all in the 1199 coalition; Raymond VI of Toulouse, at peace with Provence since 1195 but named in that coalition by fr.wikipedia.

How things stand that morning

Alfonso holds Aix, which the coalition ravaged around but failed to take in 1199. Whether a truce was made that winter is not pinned; the sources speak of war resuming in 1202, which implies a lull. Nice, Grasse, Marseille and Avignon govern themselves through consuls and owe him little in practice.

Wealth

Tolls on the Rhone at Tarascon and on the roads, the comital dues (albergue, cavalcade, quest), justice, the Aix market, the yearly render owed by Nice since 1176, and rights in Arles. Coinage arrangements in 1200 not pinned.

Military

The castles of Aix and Tarascon and comital castra; the cavalcade owed by his vassals; Catalan and Aragonese help from his brother. Aix held against the coalition in 1199.

Threats

• William IV of Forcalquier and any ally he finds (the Dauphin in 1202)
• The Baux and Orange, and the autonomy of Marseille
• A Toulouse that holds Beaucaire across the Rhone and the Venaissin to the north
• A disputed German throne, which leaves the imperial overlord useless

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. 1200, season not pinnedThe coalition of 1199 (William IV of Forcalquier with Hugh III of Les Baux, William of Les Baux prince of Orange, Roncelin of Marseille and, by one account, Raymond VI of Toulouse) may take the field again after its failure before Aix. The next fighting on record is in 1202, when William IV allies with the Dauphin and Alfonso takes Sisteron; Peter II of Aragon then imposes a truce at Aigues-Mortes in 1203.Depends on: William IV's continued refusal to let the 1193 settlement run its course, and the barons' grievances against the count Stopped by: A settlement brokered by Peter II of Aragon or the Church, or William IV's death (he dies in 1209)
2. about 15 January 1200The legate Peter Capuano proclaims the interdict on Philip Augustus's lands from Vienne. Provence is imperial ground and is not touched, but the legate is in the Rhone valley.Depends on: The legate's plan Stopped by: Philip submitting first

Places of note

• Comital palace of Aix: The count's residence and court
• Castle of Tarascon: Comital castle and Rhone crossing
• Nice: Consular commune under the count's lordship since 1176

Where the sources disagree

• fr.wikipedia's page on Alfonso II reads as if Alfonso led the 1199 coalition; read with the page on William IV it is the coalition of William IV against Alfonso. Followed here.

Evidence: The count, his marriage and his wars are well attested; the list of comital castra on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

On the map: Only the best-known comital places are drawn. The count also held many scattered rights and castra not pinned for 1200; the county's ground as a whole is fixed by anchors.

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.