Couserans

Who he is

Name

Roger I (Roger of Comminges)

Title

Viscount of Couserans

Since

1176-1180 (the partition with his brother Bernard IV followed their father's death in 1176; French Wikipedia dates his rule 1180-1211)

Born

Not pinned

Family

Son of Count Bernard III of Comminges, brother of Bernard IV. Married Sibylle of Foix, daughter of Roger-Bernard I of Foix and Cecilia Trencavel, so brother-in-law of Raymond-Roger of Foix. Son Roger II (viscount 1211-1257).

Confidence

medium

French Wikipedia, 'Vicomte de Couserans': Roger I, 1180-1211, first viscount of the Comminges line, married Sibylle de Foix.

Overlord

His brother the count of Comminges for the share of the family lands, and through him the count of Toulouse (not pinned).

What it holds

• Saint-Girons and the valleys of the Salat, the Lez (Castillonais) and the Garbet (Oust, Massat, Seix)
• Pasture, iron and timber of the upper valleys

How it was acquired

Partition of the Comminges lands after 1176.

Allies and rivals

Bernard IV of Comminges, his brother; Raymond-Roger of Foix, his brother-in-law; the exiled bishops of Couserans.

How things stand that morning

Holds the valleys; the cathedral city of Saint-Lizier is held by his brother against the bishop. Across the border: Foix to the east, Comminges to the west and north, and over the mountains the Catalan county of Pallars.

Wealth

Pasture and transhumance, iron, timber; tolls on the paths into Pallars and Aran.

Military

Mountain castles (names in 1200 not pinned); valley levies.

Threats

• Being squeezed between Comminges and Foix
• The bishop's claims

Places of note

• Saint-Girons: Chief town of the viscounty.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The holder rests on a modern list; the viscounts' seats and rights in 1200 are not pinned.

On the map: The modern arrondissement of Saint-Girons stands in for the Couserans; its northern edge in the Volvestre is approximate.

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.