Bernard of Gothia

Last updated

Bernard II (in Catalan, Bernat de Gothia) was the count of Barcelona, Girona and margrave of Gothia and Septimania from 865 to 878. [1]

Contents

Origins

Bernard was the son of Count Bernard I of Poitiers (814-844) and Bilichilde, daughter of Count Rorgon I of Maine. He was the paternal cousin of Emeno, Count of Angoulême (839-863), who died fighting the Vikings. On his mother's side he was a nephew of Rorgon II of Maine and of the royal Chancellor Gauzlin, abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

End of Rebellion

Bernard was loyal to King Charles the Bald in the civil war that erupted in 851. After the flight of Humfrid in 864 and the death of the other rebels, Charles redistributed the counties and marches of North-East Iberia and Languedoc (March of Gotia). In 864, Bernard was installed in the counties of Auvergne and Autun in central France after Bernard Plantapilosa (son of Bernard of Septimania) was dispossessed of them for rebellion. At that time Auxerre and Nevers were given to Robert the Strong who also received Autun in 865. In 865, Toulouse, Limousin, Pallars, and Ribagorza were entrusted to Bernard, son of Raymond I of Toulouse. Raymond had been dispossessed by Humfrid three years before. Ermengol, Count of Albi, received Rouergue, and Oliba received Carcassonne and probably Razès.

In 865, however, the king redistributed the Counties of Auvergne and Autun from Bernard and instead gave him the more strategically important Counties of Barcelona, Ausona, Roussillon, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Melgueil, and Nîmes.

King Charles the Child, son of Charles the Bald and thus grandson of Louis the Pious, died 29 September 866, creating a crisis of succession in Aquitaine. There were many vacancies to be filled in Aquitaine: Ranulph of Poitou, Landri of Saintonge, Emeno of Périgord and Angoulême, Bishop Ralph of Bourges, and Bernard of Auvergne were all either dead or had rebelled.

Government Reforms

Wulgrin, a relative of Charles the Bald was given the Counties of Angoulême, Périgord, Agen, and Saintogne, while other family members received their own newly vacated lands: Wullfadus was named Bishop of Bourges, Effroi (who had been a rebel from 862 to 864, but was now loyal to the king) was made Count of Poitou (however he died very soon afterwards). The nominal independence of the Aquitainian kingdom was restored with the proclamation of Charles' son Louis the Stammerer as King, although real power was retained by a Council of Nobles loyal to Charles. Upon the death of Effroi of Poitiers, the County was given to Bernard of Gothia. At this time, the County of Autun, whose Countship had been vacant since the death of Robert the Strong, was returned to Bernard Plantapilosa who had been reconciled to the king. Auvergne was given to Gari.

Towards 869, Count Solomon of Urgell, Cerdanya, and Conflent, died and within the year so had Count Otger of Girona and Besalú. In 870, the King assigned Otger's counties to the County of Barcelona (and hence to Bernard of Gothia). Solomon's titles in Urgell and Cerdanya were given to Wilfred the Hairy, eldest son of Sunifred I. The County of Conflent was given to the second son of Sunifred, Miró the Old. The other three sons of Sunifred – Radulf, Sunifred, and Riculf – were not given any titles.

In 872, Charles the Bald gave the Government of Aquitaine to his brother-in-law Boso, Count of Lyon and Vienne, and showered him with titles and territories: the County of Berry, Royal Chamberlain, and Magister Ostiariorum. However, Bernard of Gothia and Bernard Plantapilosa were asked to assist in the government of the Empire. The County of Auvergne was also given to Plantapilosa.

Bernard of Toulouse was compensated for not being given greater power by being granted the lands of his enemy Oliba II in Carcassonne and Razès. Shortly after, however, Bernard was assassinated by a vassal of (Oliba's former ally) Bernard Plantapilosa, in August 872. Oliba II was restored to his old possessions and Plantapilosa was given Toulouse and Limousin, but Pallars and Ribagorza escaped his control.

876 Reforms

In 876 Charles the Bald reformed his government in the south of the kingdom again. He placed Provence and Italy under the command of Boso and gave the County of Berry to Bernard of Gothia. A year later, Count Ekhard, who had many lands in Mâcon and Chaunois, died and his domains were also added to those of Boso, who had Provence taken away but retained Italy and his own counties. Autun was given for the second time to Bernard. On 8 October 876 Bernard Plantapilosa was captured by Louis the Younger, King of Saxony, at the Battle of Andernach and was as a result not given any new lands.

Bishop Wullfadus died on 1 April 876 and Frotario was named his successor by Charles. However Bernard opposed the elevation of the new bishop, who would have been a counterweight to the immense power and holdings which Bernard had attained. He did not take arms directly against the King, but sought to oppose the King's directions.

877 Rebellion

877 finally saw an open rebellion with Boso, Hugh the Abbot, Bernard Plantapilosa, and Bernard of Gothia all taking up arms against the King. King Charles however died on 6 October 877 in the middle of the rebellion. The death of the king did not stop the conflict. They fought Charles' appointed successor, Louis the Stammerer, former King of Aquitaine where he had been their overlord. Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, subdued Boso, Plantapilosa, and Hugh, leaving Bernard, his brother Emeno, uncle Abbot Gauzlin of Saint Denis, and other uncle Count Gosfrid of Maine to fight alone. [2]

Louis was crowned on 8 December 877. Pope John VIII invoked the Council of Troyes to condemn the rebels for their actions against Bishop Frotario and for the taking of ecclesiastic property.

On 11 September 878, Louis dispossessed Bernard of his honours. Theodoric, his Chamberlain, was given Autun; Plantapilosa received Berry and Septimania; Wilfred the Hairy received Barcelona, Ausona, Girona, and Besalú; and Miró the Old received Roussillon.

Bernard continued to resist in Autun until 879 after which he died.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish March</span> Counties in Southern border of the Frankish Kingdom

The Spanish March or Hispanic March was a military buffer zone beyond the former province of Carolingian Septimania established by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Muslim-ruled Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus and the Frankish Carolingian Empire.

The count of Toulouse was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding county from the late 9th century until 1270. The counts and other family members were also at various times counts of Quercy, Rouergue, Albi, and Nîmes, and sometimes margraves of Septimania and Provence. Count Raymond IV founded the Crusader state of Tripoli, and his descendants were also counts there. They reached the zenith of their power during the 11th and 12th centuries, but after the Albigensian Crusade the county fell to the kingdom of France, nominally in 1229 and de facto in 1271.

Bernardof Septimania (795–844), son of William of Gellone and cousin of Charlemagne, was the Duke of Septimania and Count of Barcelona from 826 to 832 and again from 835 to his execution, and also Count of Carcassonne from 837. He was appointed to succeed the third Count of Barcelona, Rampon. During his career, Bernard was one of the closest counsellors of the Emperor Louis the Pious, a leading proponent of the war against the Moors, and was an opponent of the interests of the local Visigothic nobility in Iberia.

Berengar, called the Wise, was the duke or count of Toulouse (814–835) and duke of Septimania (832–835). He held the County of Barcelona concomitantly with Septimania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunifred, Count of Barcelona</span> 9th-century Catalan nobleman

Sunifred was the Count of Urgell and Cerdanya from 834 to 848, and the Count of Barcelona as well as many other Catalan and Septimanian counties, including Ausona, Besalú, Girona, Narbonne, Agde, Béziers, Lodève, Melgueil, Conflent and Nîmes, from 844 to 848.

This is a list of the counts of Roussillon who ruled over the eponymous County of Roussillon.

The viscount of Narbonne was the secular ruler of Narbonne in the Middle Ages. Narbonne had been the capital of the Visigoth province of Septimania, until the 8th century, after which it became the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. Narbonne was nominally subject to the Carolingian counts of Toulouse but was usually governed autonomously. The city was a major port on the Mediterranean Sea. In the 12th century, Ermengarde of Narbonne presided over one of the cultural centers where the spirit of courtly love was developed. In the 15th century Narbonne passed to the County of Foix and in 1507 to the royal domain of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Besalú</span>

The County of Besalú was one of the landlocked medieval Catalan counties near the Mediterranean coastline. It was roughly coterminous with the modern comarca of Garrotxa and at various times extended as far north as Corbières, Aude, now in France. Its capital was the village of Besalú. Throughout most of its history it was attached to one of the other more powerful counties, but it experienced a century of independence before it was finally and irrevocably annexed to the County of Barcelona.

Humfrid was the count of Barcelona, Girona, Empúries, Roussillon, and Narbonne from 858 to 864. He also bore the title margrave of Gothia, as he held several frontier counties.

William of Septimania was the son of Bernard and Dhuoda. He was the count of Toulouse from 844 and count of Barcelona from 848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Plantapilosa</span>

Bernard Plantapilosa or Bernard II of Auvergne, or Plantevelue, son of Bernard of Septimania and Dhuoda, was the Count of Auvergne from 872 to his death. The Emperor Charles the Fat granted him the title of Margrave of Aquitaine in 885.

Raymond I was the Count of Limoges, Rouergue and Quercy, and Toulouse and Albi. He was the younger son of Fulcoald of Rouergue and Senegund, niece of William of Gellone through his sister Alda.

Bernard II, known as the Calf, was the count of Toulouse, Rouergue, Limoges, Nîmes, Carcassonne, Razès, and Albi. He was the son of Raymond I and Bertha. The dates of his reign are disputed: either 865–877 or 864–872.

Guerin, Garin, Warin, or Werner was the Count of Auvergne, Chalon, Mâcon, Autun, Arles and Duke of Provence, Burgundy, and Toulouse. Guerin established the region against the Saracens from a base of Marseille and fortified Chalon-sur-Saône (834). He took part in many campaigns during the civil wars that marked the reign of Louis the Pious (814–840) and after his death until the Treaty of Verdun (843). The primary sources for his life are charters and chronicles like the Vita Hludovici.

The title Prince of Gothia or Prince of the Goths was a title of nobility, sometimes assumed by its holder as a sign of supremacy in the region of Gothia and sometimes bestowed by the sovereign of West Francia to the principal nobleman in the south of the realm, in the ninth and tenth centuries. Sometimes hereditary and sometimes not, the title has been rendered in English as Dukeof Septimania or Dukeof Gothia. A similar or the same "office" was often held with the title comes marcæ Hispanicæ: "Count of the Spanish March." The title was also a chronicler's device and, as presented in some chronicles, may never have been used in any official capacity.

Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462. It passed briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba in the eighth century before its reconquest by the Franks, who by the end of the ninth century termed it Gothia. This article presents a timeline of its history.

The County of Melgueil was a fief of first the Carolingian Emperor, then the King of France, and finally (1085) the Papacy during the Middle Ages. Counts probably sat at Melgueil from the time of the Visigoths. The counts of Melgueil were also counts of Maguelonne and Substantion from at least the time of Peter's homage to Pope Gregory VII on 27 April 1085. In 1172 Beatriu disinherited her son Bertrand and named her daughter Ermessenda her heiress. Later that year Ermessenda married the future Raymond VI of Toulouse and by her will of 1176 the county was to go to Toulouse. Bertrand refused to recognise his disinheritance and pledged homage as Count of Melgueil to Alfonso II of Aragon in 1172. The county fell to the Toulouse in 1190 and was annexed to the French crown in 1213, during the Albigensian Crusade. At the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 it was given to the Diocese of Maguelonne and secular and ecclesiastical authority were merged.

Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy, was Count of Urgell, Cerdanya, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú and Ausona. On his death in 897, his son, Wilfred Borrell, inherited these Catalan counties.

The Battle of Toulouse in 844 was part of the campaign by Charles the Bald in Aquitaine to force the submission of Pepin II of Aquitaine, the rebellious son of Pepin, the half-brother of Charles. The historical context of this battle is the three-year Carolingian civil war, culminating in the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye in 841. Here Charles and Louis the German defeated their brother Lothair I, who retreated to the south with his army.

A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France, 768–900 is a book about Frankish medieval history by Arthur J. Zuckerman.

References

  1. Camps, J.; Castiñeiras, M.; McNeill, J.; Plant, R. (2018). Romanesque Patrons and Processes: Design and Instrumentality in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque Europe. The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Taylor & Francis. p. 2-PA42. ISBN   978-1-351-10558-3 . Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  2. Nelson, J.L. (2014). Charles The Bald. The Medieval World. Taylor & Francis. p. 254. ISBN   978-1-317-89957-0 . Retrieved June 15, 2018.
Preceded by Count of Roussillon
865–878
Succeeded by
Count of Barcelona
865–878
Succeeded by