Raimund Berenguer IV (Count of Provence)

In February 1209, when he was only nine years old, his father died in Palermo , where he accompanied his sister Constance as the bride of Emperor Frederick II . In order to avoid unrest, his uncle, the king of Aragon Pedro II , urgently entered Provence, declaring himself his guardian. He took homage from the largest feudal lords and retired, taking with him the young Raimund Berenguer, whose tutors will be the master of the province of Aragon of the Order of the Temple, Guillaume de Monredon, and a prominent theologian Raimund of Penaforte , later canonized. Regent of Provence, he left his uncle Sancho , brother of his father Alfonso II .

Meanwhile, unrest began in Forcalquier County. Both Guillaume de Sabran, a relative of the Count of Forcalquier Guillaume IV , father of Garsenda, and sister of Guillaume IV, Alice, proclaimed themselves as counts. In 1213 , when Pedro II of Aragon died in the battle of Muret , Sancho became the regent of Aragon, appointing his son Nuno Sanchez , Count Roussillon , to be the regent of Provence. Friction arose between him and Garsenda, but the local nobility supported the countess mother, and in 1216 Raimund Berenguer returned to Provence, where a regency council headed by his mother was created.

In the Albiguian War , which was then in the South of France, Raimund Berenguer IV took the side of the Pope and the King against the Albigensians, the Count of Toulouse, and their supporters. This had not so much religious as political reasons: under conditions of internal instability, the graph needed strong allies. The Provencal cities of Avignon , Arles and Tarascon supported the count of Toulouse, thereby opposing their own lord. In 1215, Nice was deposited from the county of Provence, passing to the subordination of the Genoese Republic . Marseille sought more and more independence, which the Provencal counts controlled only conditionally: the inhabitants of the upper city constantly rebelled against their bishops, the inhabitants of the lower bought out the rights of their viscounts, the city self-government was gradually introduced, and besides, the city now and then tended to agree with the Count of Toulouse, undermining power Count Provence.

In 1219, Raimund Berenger began to rule independently. The first step to strengthening the power for him was a successful marriage in the same year to Beatrice , daughter of Count Thomas I of Savoy , thanks to which he entered into an alliance with the influential county of Savoy .

To settle a conflict with the relatives of the mother of the Sabran clan, he resorted to the arbitration of Bermond Le Cornu, the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence, and some other seniors; as a result, the cities of Forcalquier and Sisteron were awarded to him, as well as the lands between them.

In 1222, Garsenda de Sabrán, finding that his son’s authority had strengthened sufficiently, handed him the county of Forcalquier and went to the monastery of Selle. So the titles of the Counts of Provence and Forcalquier re-united in one hands for the first time after 1110, when Adelaide Provence assigned the county of Forcalquier.

In 1226 Raimund Berenguer IV joined the rebellious Avignon with the crusaders of King Louis VIII . However, it brought him little benefit: the name of the Pope is the legate , Cardinal Romain of the Holy Angel, demanded the demolition of the city walls and towers and imposed a huge tribute on the city, from which only the Holy See gained, but not the Count of Provence.

The count launched a struggle against the cities of Provence, which became almost independent and ruled by the consuls. In 1226 his rule was recognized by the consuls of Tarascon , in 1227 by Graça . In 1229, under the influence of his chief adviser, Roma de Villeneuve , later the seneschal and the constable of Provence, he made a military campaign against Nice , subjugated it and built a new fortress there to keep the city in obedience.

In 1231, he founded the city of Barcelonnetta , "little Barcelona", in memory of his Aragon ancestors.

He patronized the troubadours and even wrote several songs himself. At his court there were troubadours Sordel , Folket Marseille , Bertrand d' Alamanon , Peyre Bremon Ricas Novas , Guillaume de Montagnagol .

The monks of Zlatoostrovsky and from Saint Caesaria wrote that the good prince was alive this time, there would never be anyone who complained more about Provencal piits, and the Provencalians never imagined themselves happier and never were less forced to pay tribute that we call collecting denarii, bribe or loans ^[1] .

However, it was not so easy to subdue all the cities. Marcel , in 1229, rebelled again against the bishop, called for the help of Count Raimund VII of Toulouse , recognizing him as viscount of Marseilles. Marseille supported and Tarascon in 1231. Later, the two graphs concluded a truce, but in 1237 Raimund VII again came to the aid of the Marseille, stubbornly not recognizing the suzerainty of the Count of Provence. And in 1239, Raimund Berenger entered into conflict with Emperor Frederick II , from whom he held some lands, supporting his opponent, Pope Innocent IV and expelling the viceroy appointed by Frederick, Beroard de Loretta, for which the emperor declared imperial disgrace to him in December and transferred the lands dependent on him, the county of Forcalquier and Sisteron, to the count of Toulouse. In the summer of 1240, Raimund VII invaded Provence, destroyed the Camargue and laid siege to Arles , in which he was helped by the Marseille, but the siege was delayed, and in September Raimund, under the threat of intervention by Louis IX , already Raymund Berenger's son-in-law, was forced to withdraw it.

The situation remained difficult in Arles , where the local archbishop, usually a supporter of the Count of Provence, periodically fought with the patrician who supported the count of Toulouse and the emperor; as in many other cities of Provence, at that time local government was introduced there, headed by a subtest , on the model of the communal cities of Northern Italy.

The first of the daughters, Raymund Berenger IV, managed to marry the eldest, Margaret : in 1234, at the age of 13, she married Louis IX, King of France. This marriage was beneficial both to the king, who strengthened his position in southern France, and to the Count of Provence, who acquired a powerful ally in the fight against Toulouse and recalcitrant cities. Since the bride and groom were in the fourth degree of kinship (both were distant descendants of the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer III ), the marriage required special permission from Pope Gregory IX , which he willingly gave in the hope of helping the king to pacify Provence.

Two years later, in 1236, the second daughter, Eleanor, married the English king Henry III . The third daughter, Sancha , was promised to the long-time rival of the Count of Provence — Raymund VII of Toulouse, but because of the delay in issuing the papal permission and under the influence of Eleanor, in 1243 she was given the name of the brother of the English king, Richard Cornielski , later the Roman king and a pretender to the imperial throne.

The last daughter of Beatrice , who inherited all the lands, was correspondingly even more contenders - the same Raimund VII, and King of Aragon Jaime I , but the French court succeeded in ensuring that, after the death of her father, in 1246, Beatrice, the regent of Provence, Roma de Villeneuve , issued for the younger brother of the French king - Carl of Anjou . Some even attributed to him the arrangement of marriages of all four daughters, like Dante in the sixth song of Paradise in the Divine Comedy :

Ramondo Beringer Four Kingdoms
Gave daughters; I knew all this
Romeo, the humble wanderer, the enemy of cunning ^[2] .

Before his death, the earl wrote a testament in Sisteron . The counties of Provence and Forcalquier and all the lands he bequeathed to the younger daughter Beatrice , still unmarried, for the sake of their integrity; if she died childless, Jaime of Aragon was appointed heir to the second line. Margarita and Eleonora got a hundred grades of silver each, Sanche five thousand; widow's share was appointed and Beatrice of Savoy . He appointed Archbishop Aix, Bishops of Rieux and Frejus, as well as Roma de Villeneuve , his first minister, to serve as executors. Count Raimund Berenguer IV died on August 19, 1245 and was buried in his capital Aix-en-Provence , in the hospital of Saint-Jean-de-Malta, near his father.

• Daughters of Raymund Berenger IV
•  

  Margarita Provence

•  

  Eleonora of Provence

•  

  Sancha Provence

•  

  Beatrice Provence

Raymond Berenger IV in December 1220 married Beatrice of Savoy (c. 1205 - 1266), daughter of Count Thomas I of Savoy and Margherita of Geneva . Children were born from this marriage:

• Margarita (1221 - 21 December, 1295); husband: since May 27, 1234, Louis IX the Holy One (April 25, 1214 - August 25, 1270), King of France from 1226
• Eleanor (c. 1223 - 24/25 June 1291); husband: from January 14, 1236, Henry III (October 1, 1207 - November 16, 1272), king of England from 1216
• Sancha (c. 1225 - 5/9 November 1261): husband: from November 22, 1243 to Richard Cornuel (January 5, 1209 - April 2, 1272), Earl of Cornwell from 1227, Roman King from 1257
• Raimund (died in infancy)
• Beatrice (1232/1234 - September 23, 1267), Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1246; Husband: January 31, 1246 Charles I of Anjou ( 1227-1285 ), King of Sicily in 1266-1282, King of Naples from 1266, Count of Anjou and Maine from 1246, Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1246, Titular King of Jerusalem from 1277 , King of Albania since 1272, Prince of Achaean since 1278

• http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/PROVENCE.htm Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Burgundy & Franch-Conte. Provence

• Pécout, Thierry. L'invention de la Provence: Raymond Bérenger V, 1209–1235. Paris: Perrin, 2004. ISBN 2-262-01922-3
• Vivoli, Marguerite. Raymond-Bérenger v de Provence et ses quatre filles. Paris: Panthéon, 2000. ISBN 2-84094-544-4
• Benoit, Fernand. Recueil des actes des comtes de Provence appartenant à la Maison de Barcelone: ​​Alphonse II et Raimond Bérenger V (1196–1245). 2 vol. Monaco: Impr. de Monaco; Paris: Picard, 1925.
• Histoire de la Provence / sous la direction d'Edouard Baratier. Toulouse: Privat, 1987. ISBN 2-7089-1649-1