Nîmes

Who holds it

Name

Raymond VI

Title

Count of Toulouse

Since

1194 (the counts since 1185)

Confidence

high

Lord in 1200

Raymond VI, since the Trencavel viscount gave up Nimes in 1185; the bishop holds his own rights; the knights of the Arenas hold the old amphitheatre as their castle.

How things stand that morning

Held by Raymond VI with a consular town government.

Charter

Consulate in place by 1198 (French Wikipedia, Histoire de Nimes).

Council

Four consuls in 1198, sitting in the Maison Carree (French Wikipedia).

Communities

Jews, who suffered persecution at the end of the twelfth century (French Wikipedia); the knights of the Arenas as a separate body.

Militia

The townsmen and the knights of the Arenas.

Walls and castle

A new enclosure built in 1194; the amphitheatre (the Arenas) as the knights' castle.

Trade and crafts

Wine, olive oil and sheep; cloth and leather (French Wikipedia).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1194 walls and 1198 consuls from French Wikipedia.

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.