Trencavel viscounties

Who rules

Name

Raymond Roger Trencavel (Raimon Rogier Trencavel)

Title

Viscount of Beziers, Carcassonne, Albi and Razes

Since

1194, on the death of his father Roger II (French Wikipedia on Bertrand de Saissac says 1195)

Born

1185; about 14 on 1 January 1200

Family

Son of Roger II Trencavel and Adelaide (Azalais) of Toulouse (born about 1158, daughter of Raymond V, married 1171): so the nephew of Raymond VI. His father's sister Cecilia was the mother of Raymond Roger of Foix, his cousin. His mother is alive on 1 January 1200 and at his side in Carcassonne.

Confidence

high

French Wikipedia (Raimond-Roger Trencavel; Roger II Trencavel; Bertrand de Saissac; Adelaide de Toulouse). By the Adelaide article, Bertrand de Saissac kept the boy away from his mother during the regency; when he came of age at fourteen (so about 1199) she joined him at Carcassonne and shared in his government until her death in 1200.

Overlord

The count of Toulouse for Beziers, Albi and Ambialet; the king of Aragon, as count of Barcelona, for Carcassonne and Razes (French Wikipedia: 'fiefs tenus du comte de Toulouse' and 'fiefs tenus du comte de Barcelone qui etait dans le meme temps roi d'Aragon').

What the realm holds

• Carcassonne: the Cite with the viscount's castle and the cathedral of Saint-Nazaire, and the bourgs below
• The Carcasses, Cabardes and Minervois, with vassal castles (Cabaret, Saissac, Minerve)
• Beziers and the Biterrois, with the bridges over the Orb on the Via Domitia
• Albi (shared with the bishop, who is lord of the Cite) with Ambialet, Lombers and the upper Albigeois; Castres and the Castrais
• The Razes: Limoux, Alet, and overlordship of the Termenes
• Castles and vassals in the Lauragais: Montreal, Fanjeaux, Laurac, Bram, beside the count of Toulouse's

How it was acquired

The Trencavel took Carcassonne and Razes in 1067-1068 and held Beziers and Albi since the eleventh century. The Nimes and Agde branch gave up Nimes to Toulouse in 1185 and Agde to its bishop in 1187.

Military

The strongest castle network of the south: the Cite of Carcassonne, Beziers, and the vassal castles of Cabaret, Termes, Minerve, Saissac and Montreal, all of which hold out for months against the crusade of 1209-1211. The viscount's own knights and the service of the castle lords; town militias at Beziers and Carcassonne. No numbers are given by the sources read.

Threats

• A boy viscount and an unruly regent
• Rome, over the Cathars his vassals protect
• Being squeezed between Toulouse and Aragon
• Montpellier and Narbonne as rival neighbours on the coast

Consort

None. He marries Agnes of Montpellier, daughter of William VIII, in 1203 (not yet).

Heirs

No child. His only son, Raymond II Trencavel, is born of the later Montpellier marriage. The house has no adult male beside him.

Regent in 1200

The regency of Bertrand de Saissac, named by Roger II as guardian and regent, has probably ended: the viscount came of age at fourteen (about 1199), and Bertrand stays on as his counsellor. During the regency Bertrand kept the boy away from his mother. Bertrand is a Cathar believer: in 1197, when the chapter of Alet elected Bernard de Saint-Ferreol abbot, he took the abbey by force, killing some monks, had the dead abbot Pons Amiel exhumed and seated in his chair, had a candidate friendlier to the Cathars elected before the corpse, and paid Archbishop Berengar of Narbonne to confirm him.

Treaties in 1200

• Homage to Aragon for Carcassonne and Razes, renewed by Roger II (date not pinned in the sources read).
• Homage to Toulouse for Beziers and Albi; the marriage of 1171 to Adelaide of Toulouse was meant to bind the houses, though in 1181 Raymond V and the legate Henry of Albano took Lavaur, Adelaide's dowry, and forced Cathars there to abjure.

Church in 1200

The bishops of Carcassonne, Beziers and Albi are weak or compromised (campaign notes); the Cathars keep their own bishops at Carcassonne and Albi beside them (campaign notes). The Alet affair of 1197 shows the regent's contempt for the Church. The archbishop of Narbonne, Berengar, takes money to confirm such elections. The Cistercian legates of 1198-1199 are at work in the province.

Court in 1200

Carcassonne, where the young viscount governs with his mother Adelaide of Toulouse at his side (French Wikipedia, Adelaide de Toulouse).

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.

In 1200

1. 1200, month not pinnedDeath of the viscount's mother, Adelaide of Toulouse, Raymond VI's sister, who has shared in his government since he came of age. It removes the closest tie between Carcassonne and Toulouse.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Play changing her circumstances.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1203Marriage to Agnes of Montpellier, daughter of William VIII.Depends on: The Montpellier alliance. Stopped by: Another match pressed by Toulouse or Aragon.

Where the sources disagree

• Roger II's death and the start of the regency: 1194 (French Wikipedia, Roger II Trencavel; Raimond-Roger Trencavel, orphaned at 9) against 1195 (French Wikipedia, Bertrand de Saissac). Followed 1194.

Evidence: The overlordships, the regency, the Alet affair and the mother's return are attested in French Wikipedia; the exact year of the majority, the end of the regency and the viscount's officers are not pinned.

On the map: Drawn from the viscount's own record, his vassals and anchors.

Primary sources for this realm

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.