Last updated Denier minted in Narbonne by Alfonso Jordan, count of Toulouse, during his occupation of the city (1134/39-1143) and the minority of the heiress Ermengarde, bearing the obverse inscription DUX ANFOS ("Duke Alfonso ") and on the reverse CIVI NARBON ("City of Narbonne"), clear affirmation of the Toulouse claims
The title Duke of Narbonne (dux Narbonensis) was a title employed at various times by the overlords of Narbonne, while the direct power in the city was held by the viscounts. The prestige of the title probable attached to the fact that Narbonne had been a capital of the ancient Roman administration of the eponymous province of Gallia Narbonensis.
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies 849 km (528 mi) from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was historically a prosperous port, but declined from the 14th century following a change in the course of the Aude River. It is marginally the largest commune in Aude, although the prefecture is the slightly smaller commune of Carcassonne.
Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra, from its having been the first Roman province north of the Alps, and as Gallia Transalpina, distinguishing it from Cisalpine Gaul in northern Italy. It became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC. Its boundaries were roughly defined by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Cévennes and Alps to the north and west. The western region of Gallia Narbonensis was known as Septimania.
On the death of his cousin Bertha of Rouergue in 1065, William IV of Toulouse inherited the county of Narbonne. His brother and successor, Raymond IV, elevated the status to that of duke. Raymond's son and successor, Alfonso Jordan, also employed the title with royal approval (as Amphusus dux Narbonensis provincie) and his son, Raymond V placed it first before his other titles as an implication of its importance (probably related to its Roman connection). The family was only dispossessed of the title when Raymond VI brought down the wrath of the French king for his supposed support of Cathar heresies.
Bertha was the Countess of Rouergue and Gévaudan from 1054 to her death. She was the daughter and heiress of Hugh of Rouergue and Fides.
Alfonso Jordan (1103–1148) was the Count of Tripoli (1105–09), Count of Rouergue (1109–48) and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne.
The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of influence of the Counts of Barcelona.
Philip II, known as Philip Augustus, was King of France from 1180 to 1223, the seventh from the House of Capet. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style himself "King of France". The son of King Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed Dieudonné (God-given) because he was a first son and born late in his father's life. Philip was given the epithet "Augustus" by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the crown lands of France so remarkably.
Simon IVde Montfort, also known as Simon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and soldier who took part in the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade. He died at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218. He was lord of Montfort-l'Amaury in France and the 5th Earl of Leicester in England.
Sources
Cheyette, Fredric L. Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 2001.
↑ Laurent Macé, Les comtes de Toulouse et leur entourage, XIIe-XIIIe siècles: rivalités, alliances et jeux de pouvoir, Toulouse, Privat, 2000, p. 293 (ISBN2-7089-5600-0)
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