Arles

Who holds it

Name

The archbishop, with the consuls of the 'republic' and the count's share

Title

Lord of the town

Confidence

medium

Lord in 1200

The archbishop (Imbert d'Eyguieres, since 1191) holds the old city and is the chief lord, beside a self-governing consulate; the count keeps a share of rights but the counts moved their residence to Aix around 1180. The Porcellet are the leading lay family; the Baux hold interests and Trinquetaille across the river was theirs until 1162.

How things stand that morning

Self-governing under its archbishop; outside the 1199 coalition on record.

Charter

Consulate founded in 1131; statutes of about 1160-1200 survive (one article regulates the embarkation of pilgrims). Historians speak of a 'republic of Arles' from 1180 to 1251; podestats only from about 1220.

Council

Consuls drawn from the knights and burgesses of the quarters (Cite, Vieux Bourg, Bourg-Neuf, Marche).

Communities

About 200 Jewish heads of household (Benjamin of Tudela, 1165), with a hand in the luxury and vermilion trade and in managing affairs for the archbishop, the count and the Baux. Templars by the Bourg-Neuf gate; Hospitallers at Trinquetaille.

Militia

A town fleet: it sailed to Majorca in 1114 and with the Pisans against Pope Alexander III in 1165.

Walls and castle

Roman walls round the Cite; a new wall round the Vieux Bourg, Bourg-Neuf and Marche practically finished by 1190.

Trade and crafts

The lesde (market toll), Rhone tolls and salt; pilgrim and Italian shipping, though Saint-Gilles took the great international trade. The first windmill recorded in France is in an Arles charter of 1170.

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.