Laurac and Montréal

Who he is

Name

Blanche of Laurac, widow of Sicard of Laurac, and her son Aimery of Montreal

Title

Lords of Laurac and Montreal

Since

Not pinned

Born

Not pinned

Family

Blanche is a Cathar believer who later keeps a house of perfect women at Laurac; her daughters include Guiraude, later lady of Lavaur. Aimery is hanged at Lavaur in 1211.

Confidence

low

General knowledge of the Cathar lords of the Lauragais; the date Aimery came into his lordship is not pinned.

Overlord

The viscount of Carcassonne for Montreal; Laurac, the old head of the Lauragais, sits on the line between Trencavel and Toulouse fiefs (not pinned).

What it holds

• Montreal
• Laurac

How things stand that morning

Held; who exercised the lordship on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Family known from crusade sources; 1200 holding not pinned.

On the map: Two castles only; their dependent villages are not pinned.

Primary sources for Trencavel

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.