The earliest mention of a castle at Forcalquier dates to 1044, when it was in the possession of Fulk Bertrand, joint count of Provence. When Fulk died in 1051 his lands were shared between his sons William Bertrand and Geoffrey II, who inherited Forcalquier. Sometime in the 1060s Forcalquier was inherited by William's daughter Adelaide, who was the first person to be styled "Countess of Forcalquier". She married Ermengol IV of Urgell and died in 1129, at a time when Provence was sharply disputed by the many persons who had inherited some title to it. The counts of Toulouse claimed the title marchio as descendants of Emma of Provence, while the counts of Barcelona laid claim to Provence as descendants of Douce I. In 1125 a formal division of Provence into a march and a county was effected, but in 1131 a new claimant, the House of Baux, provoked a series of wars, the Baussenque Wars, fought over the rights to the county of Provence. Meanwhile, the county north of the Durance, with Forcalquier and Embrun, had devolved to Adelaide's son by Ermengol, William III (the enumeration of counts of Forcalquier includes earlier counts of Provence). William III and his descendants, a cadet branch of the counts of Urgell, continued to rule Forcalquier until the end of the century, when the Treaty of Aix (1193) gave in marriage the last count's granddaughter, Garsenda of Sabran, to Alfonso, son of Alfonso II of Aragon and heir of the county of Provence. Their marriage in July 1193, Alfonso's inheritance in 1196, and Garsenda's in 1209 united the two counties permanently.
The County of Urgell is one of the historical Catalan counties, bordering on the counties of Pallars and Cerdanya.
Ramon Berenguer IIIthe Great was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1086, Besalú from 1111, Cerdanya from 1117, and count of Provence in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1112, all until his death in Barcelona in 1131. As Ramon Berenguer I, he was Count of Provence in right of his wife.
This is a list of the counts of Urgell, a county of the Principality of Catalonia in the 10th through 13th centuries.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, one of the Crusader states that was created in 1099, was divided into a number of smaller seigneuries. According to the 13th-century jurist John of Ibelin, the four highest crown vassals in the kingdom proper were the count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the prince of Galilee, the lord of Sidon, and the lord of Oultrejordain.
Alfonso II was the second son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile. His father transferred the County of Provence from his uncle Sancho to him in 1185. Alfonso II was born in Barcelona.
Forcalquier is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France.
The County of Carcassonne was a medieval fiefdom controlling the city of Carcassonne, France, and its environs. It was often united with the County of Razès.
Fulk Bertrand I was the joint Count of Provence with his elder brother William IV from 1018 and with his younger brother Geoffrey I from at least 1032 if not earlier. After William's death, Fulk assumed the title of margrave, indicating headship of the dynasty. They were the sons of William II, count of Provence.
William Bertrand, was the count and margrave of Provence from 1051 to his death. He succeeded his father Fulk Bertrand on his death in that year, but did not receive the margravial title at first, for it went to his uncle Josfred.
Ermengol or Armengol IV (1056–1092), called el de Gerb or Gerp, was the Count of Urgell from 1066 to his death. He was the son of Ermengol III and Adelaide.
Ermengol or Armengol III, called el de Barbastro, was the Count of Urgell from 1038 to his death. He was the son of Ermengol II, Count of Urgell and his wife Velasquita "Constança", probably the daughter of Bernard I, Count of Besalú.
Garsenda was the Countess of Provence as the wife of Alfonso II from 1193 and the Countess of Forcalquier in her own right from 1209, which was subsequently united with that of Provence. She was also a patron of Occitan literature, especially the troubadours, and herself wrote some lyric poetry and is counted among the trobairitz as Garsenda de Proensa. She was, in the words of her most recent editors, "one of the most powerful women in Occitan history".
Bertrand I of Forcalquier was Count of Forcalquier from 1129 to 1144. He was the second son of William III and Gersende of Albon.
William IV, Count of Forcalquier was the son of Bertrand I, Count of Forcalquier and Josserande de la Flotte. William married Adelaide de Beziers, daughter of Saura de Carcassonne and Raimond Trencavel of Beziers Viscount of Beziers, of Agde, of Albi, of Carcassonne, and of Razès.
William I was the Count of Forcalquier and Marquis of Provence from 1094. He was the second son of Count Ermengol IV of Urgell and the only son of Adelaide of Forcalquier, heiress of Count William Bertrand of Provence.
The House of Sabran was an illustrious Provençal family of knightly extraction extinguished in 1847 in the person of Elzéar-Louis of Sabran, general, made a hereditary peer of France in 1815, comte-pair (count-peer) in 1817, and duc-pair (duke-peer) in 1825. Among its members are two Catholic saints, three bishops, and five generals.
Bernard V, son of Raymond Pilet d’Alès and his wife Mabel, of an unknown family. Count of Meigueil, by right of his wife. Seigneur of Alès. Bernard became Count of Meigueil upon his marriage to Beatrix de Melgueil, in 1146. One source claims Bernard was in the First Crusade, but there is no evidence that this was the case.
Adelaide of Forcalquier was a suo jure reigning countess of Forcalquier from 1110 to 1129.
Garsenda I of Forcalquier was the daughter of William of Urgell, wife of Rainou of Sabran, and mother of Garsenda II, Countess of Forcalquier. Her mother was Adelaide of Béziers, daughter of Raymond I Trencavel, Viscount of Agde and Béziers.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
