La Barthe (Four Valleys)

Who he is

Name

Arnaud-Guillaume of La Barthe (attested 1195; still holding on 1 January 1200 not pinned)

Title

Viscount of La Barthe (of Aure)

Since

Not pinned

Born

Not pinned

Family

Father of Comtors, married in 1195 to Count Bernard IV of Comminges and later put away. Sancho of La Barthe will marry Bernard IV's daughter Mathilde in 1212.

Confidence

low

French Wikipedia ('Bernard IV de Comminges') names Comtors as daughter of Arnaud-Guillaume, viscount of La Barthe; FMG has a chapter on the viscounts of La Barthe that we could not read.

Overlord

Not pinned. Allied by marriage to Comminges; Bigorre and the duke also had claims over the valleys.

What it holds

• Aure (Arreau, Vielle-Aure)
• The Neste round La Barthe-de-Neste
• The Barousse (Mauleon-Barousse)
• The Magnoac (Castelnau-Magnoac)

How it was acquired

Inherited.

Allies and rivals

Bernard IV of Comminges, son-in-law (if the 1195 marriage still stands) and ally; Bigorre to the west.

How things stand that morning

Held by the La Barthe viscounts; the name of the viscount on the day is not pinned.

Wealth

Pasture, transhumance, timber; tolls on the paths to Aragon (the Bielsa road).

Military

Valley castles; mountain levies.

Threats

• Bernard IV's marital politics
• Bigorre's claims

Places of note

• La Barthe-de-Neste: Seat of the viscounts.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One dated marriage (1195); the overlordship in 1199 is not pinned and the realm is chosen by the Comminges alliance.

On the map: Drawn from the later Four Valleys; the realm colour follows the Comminges alliance and is a judgment.

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.