Ermessende of Pelet was the last heiress of the County of Melgueil, in southern France, and the last countess before it was joined with the County of Toulouse.
Alfonso Jordan, also spelled Alfons Jordan or Alphonse Jourdain (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 (1112–48).
The Trencavel was an important noble family in Languedoc between the 10th and 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel" began as a nickname and later became the family's surname. The name may derive from the Occitan words for "Nutcracker". The name was traditionally restricted in actual use only to those family members named Raymond, but the last Trencavel viscount, Raymond II, preferred the surname over his given name and adopted it for his charters.
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.
Raymond VI was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.
Almodis de la Marche was a French noble. She was famed for her marriage career, in particularly for her third marriage to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, with whom she committed double bigamy in 1053, for which the Pope had them excommunicated.
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.
Berenguer Ramon (1115–1144) was the count of Provence (1131–1144). He was the younger son of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence. While his older brother Raymond Berengar received Barcelona, he received Provence.
Ermengarde, was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne and his first wife, also named Ermengarde.
Bernard Roger was the count of Couserans, in which capacity he was lord of parts of Comminges and Foix.
The Baussenque Wars were a series of armed conflicts (1144–1162) between the House of Barcelona, then ruling in Provence, and the House of Baux. They are held up in Provence as the idealistic resistance by one of her native families against Catalan "occupation." In reality, they were the first of many successful expansions of Catalan power and influence in the Mediterranean world.
Douce II was Countess of Provence and Viscountess of Gévaudan and Carlat for a few months in 1166, as well as Countess of Melgueil for some time in 1172. She was a member of the House of Barcelona, a dynasty of Catalan origin that acquired the County of Provence through the marriage of Douce I to Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona.
Gui Guerrejat was the fifth son of William VI of Montpellier. When still a boy, in 1146, he inherited the castles of Paulhan and le Pouget from his father.
William VI or Guillem VI was the eldest son of William V and his wife Ermessende, daughter of Count Peter I of Melgueil. William succeeded his father in the lordship of Montpellier in 1121, while still a minor, under his mother's guardianship. He suppressed a revolt of the bourgeoisie in 1143 and participated in several military campaigns of the Reconquista in Spain. He also increased the public character of the lordship in Montpellier and supported the growth of its trade.
William VII of Montpellier was the eldest son of William VI and of his wife Sibylle.
Aimery II was the Viscount of Narbonne from around 1106 until his death.
Peire Pelet was the conseigneur of Alès in the Languedoc. He was married to Delfina (Delphine), a sister of Henry II of Rodez. He is the senher d'Alest referred to as a participant in the torneyamen "Senhe n'Enric, us reys un ric avar" along with his brother-in-law Henry and the troubadour Guiraut Riquier.
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.
Aimerico Manrique de Lara or Aimeric was the co-ruler of the Viscounty of Narbonne from 1167 and self-styled Duke of Narbonne from 1172. He was the nephew and heir of the Viscountess Ermengarda. He appears briefly to have ruled Narbonne in his own name from 1176 until his death.
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.
Ermesinda is feminine given names of Germanic origin, being derived from Irmin- and either -swint (strong) or -sind. A possible original meaning is "warpath of the Irminones".
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