Viscounts of Marseille

Who he is

Name

Roncelin, viscount, with his co-heirs

Title

Viscount of Marseille

Since

1193

Born

not pinned

Family

Son of the viscount Hugh Geoffrey; brother of Viscount Barral (d. 1192) and of Geoffrey, bishop of Beziers. A monk of Saint-Victor whom the townsmen took out of the abbey in 1193 to make him viscount. His co-heirs include his niece Barrala and her husband Hugh III of Les Baux; another share passed to Mabile, later wife of Giraud Adhemar of Monteil, styled viscount by 1213.

Confidence

medium

fr.wikipedia Roncelin de Marseille; Medieval Lands (Giraud Adhemar and Mabile, charter of 14 October 1213).

Overlord

The count of Provence, in principle

What it holds

• The lower town of Marseille (the viscounts' town) and its port dues, shared with co-heirs
• Viscomtal rights and castles in the country east of Marseille (not pinned castle by castle)

How it was acquired

Hereditary viscounts since the tenth century; Roncelin by the townsmen's choice in 1193.

Allies and rivals

Allies in 1199: William IV of Forcalquier and the coalition. Rivals: Alfonso II; within the family, Hugh III of Les Baux and Barrala; in the city, the bishop (upper town) and the consuls.

How things stand that morning

Roncelin holds the viscounty with the townsmen's support, an apostate monk in arms against the count. The consulate already governs much of the lower town in practice.

Wealth

Port dues, market rights and justice in the lower town; Marseille's Levant trade, with privileges at Acre, makes these rights valuable.

Military

Depends on the townsmen and their galleys; the viscounts' own force is small.

Threats

• Excommunication and papal pressure
• The commune buying out viscomtal rights (purchases begin in 1211)
• The Baux claim

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)

Places of note

• Marseille, lower town: The viscounts' town and port

Where the sources disagree

• fr.wikipedia's Roncelin page calls him abbot of Saint-Victor 1193-1215 and viscount 1193-1209, which is confused; he was a monk, and the dates are not reliable.

Evidence: Shares and holders on 1 January 1200 are not pinned; the viscomtal family's later sales to the commune are better documented than its state in 1200.

On the map: Not drawn as land: the viscounts' lower town is drawn with the town record of Marseille.

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.