This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(November 2018) |
Geoffrey I of Provence | |
---|---|
Died | c. 1062 |
Noble family | Bosonids |
Spouse(s) | Etiennette |
Issue | Bertrand II of Provence Daughter (name unknown) Stephanie Gerberga, Countess of Provence |
Father | William II of Provence |
Mother | Gerberga of Burgundy |
Geoffrey I or Josfred [1] (died February between 1061 and 1063) was the joint Count of Provence with his elder brothers William IV and Fulk from 1018 to his death. He was the third son of William II of Provence and Gerberga of Burgundy and a scion of the younger line of the family. It is possible that he did not carry the title "count" until after the death of his eldest brother William around 1032.
He became Count of Arles in 1032 and he and Fulk made a donation to the Abbey of Cluny on 26 May 1037. During his brother's life, he was secondary to him. With the death of his brother, he became sole count with the title marchyo sive comes Provincie. The title of marchio (margrave) implied that he was the head of the dynasty.
He was a great builder of the church in his region, devastated in the previous century by Saracen raids. He restored the abbey of Sparro, which they had destroyed, and gave it to the archiepiscopal see of Aix. Following the example of most of his ancestors, he was a patron of Saint Victor in Marseille. In 1045, he consented to a donation of one of his vicecomital vassals to the monastery and in March 1048 to the transferral of property from Raimbaud, Archbishop of Arles, to the church. On 1 July 1055 and again in 1057, with his wife Etiennette and his son Bertrand, he himself donated property to St Victor. His patronage far exceeded his predecessors however. He relinquished his rights over any lands the viscount of Marseilles, Fulk, wished to donate to the monastery in 1044, while in 1032 he had consented to turn over lands to the church as allods.
In 1038, he gave over comital rights which had been possessed of his house since the reign of his great-grandfather William the Liberator to his vassals, losing control over many castles and fortresses. The royal fisc , which had been under control of the counts of Provence since the time of William, was mostly parcelled out as allods to the vassals during Geoffrey's tenure and the weakening of the county of Provence as a united polity can be dated from his reign. Even when Rudolf III of Burgundy, his lord, sold any remaining rights over some royal villae, Geoffrey gave these away as allodial holdings.
Geoffrey and Etiennette had:
Robert I, known as Robert the Old and "Old French: Tête-Hardi, lit. 'the Headstrong'", was Duke of Burgundy from 1032 to his death. Robert was the third son of King Robert II of France and Constance of Arles. His brother was Henry I of France.
Fulk III, the Black was an early Count of Anjou celebrated as one of the first great builders of medieval castles. It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles as well as abbeys throughout the Loire Valley in what is now France. He fought successive wars with neighbors in Brittany, Blois, Poitou and Aquitaine and made four pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.
Geoffrey I of Anjou, known as Grisegonelle, was count of Anjou from 960 to 987.
Geoffrey II, called Martel, son of Fulk the Black, was Count of Anjou from 1040 to 1060 and Count of Vendôme from 1032 to 1056. He fought battles against William VII, Duke of Aquitaine, Theobald III, Count of Blois, and William, Duke of Normandy. During his twenty-year reign Geoffrey II faced the ambitions of the Bishop of Le Mans, Gervais de Château-du-Loir, but was able to maintain his authority over the County of Maine. Martel founded the Abbey aux Dames in Saintonge and also -in collaboration with his wife Agnes- founded the Abbaye de la Trinité at Vendôme. The first mention of Geoffrey II in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum reads: "Geoffrey, count of the Angevins, nicknamed Martel, a treacherous man in every respect, frequently inflicted assaults and intolerable pressure on his neighbors."
Conrad I, called the Peaceful, was King of Burgundy from 937 until his death in 993.
Odo I, Count of Blois, Chartres, Reims, Châteaudun and Omois, lord of Provins, was the son of Theobald I of Blois and Luitgard, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois. He received the title of count palatine from King Lothair of West Francia.
The House of Baux is a French noble family from the south of France. It was one of the richest and most powerful families of medieval Provence, known as the 'Race d’Aiglon'. They were independent lords as castellans of Les Baux and Arles and wielded very considerable authority at the local level. They held important fiefs and vast lands, including the principality of Orange.
William I, called the Liberator, was Count of Provence from 968 to his abdication. In 975 or 979, he took the title of marchio or margrave. He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence. He and his elder brother Rotbold I were sons of Boson II of Arles and his wife Constance, who, based on her name, has been speculated to be daughter of Charles Constantine of Vienne. They both carried the title of comes or count concurrently, but it is unknown if they were joint-counts of the whole of Provence or if the region was divided. His brother never bore any other title than count so long as William lived, so the latter seems to have attained a certain supremacy.
William II, called the Pious, was the Count of Provence.
Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou(c. 940 –1010 or 1026) was, by her successive marriages, countess of Gévaudan and Forez, of Toulouse, of Provence, and of Burgundy, and queen of Aquitaine. She was the regent of Gevaudan during the minority of her sons in the 960s, and the regent of Provence during the minority of her son from 994 until 999.
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.
Gerberga (1045/65–1115), also spelled Gerberge or Gerburge, was the Countess of Provence for more than a decade, until 1112. Provence is a region located in the southeastern part of modern-day France that did not become part of France until 1481.
The Bosonids were a dynasty of Carolingian era dukes, counts, bishops and knights descended from Boso the Elder. Eventually they married into the Carolingian dynasty and produced kings and an emperor of the Frankish Empire.
The County of Forcalquier was a large medieval county in the region of Provence in the Kingdom of Arles, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was named after the fortress around which it grew, Forcalquier.
Ermengarde of Anjou was the Countess of Rennes, Regent of Brittany (992–994) and also Countess of Angoulême.
Agnes of Burgundy was Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William V and Countess of Anjou by marriage to Count Geoffrey II. She served as regent of the Duchy of Aquitaine during the minority of her son from 1039 until 1044. She was a daughter of Otto-William, Count of Burgundy and Ermentrude de Roucy and a member of the House of Ivrea.
William Taillefer, numbered William II or William IV, was the Count of Angoulême from 987. He was the son of Count Arnald II Manzer and grandson of Count William Taillefer I. He stood at the head of the family which controlled not only the Angoumois, but also the Agenais and part of Saintonge. By the time of his death he was "the leading magnate in [the west] of Aquitaine[, but his] eminence ... proved temporary and illusory," evaporating on his death in succession squabbles, revolts and the predations of his erstwhile allies. The principal sources for William's career are Ademar of Chabannes and the anonymous Historia pontificum et comitum Engolismensium.
Ermengarde was a medieval noblewoman. Through her first marriage, to Rotbold II, Count of Provence, she was countess of Provence, and from 1011 to 1032 Ermengarde was the last queen of independent Burgundy by virtue of her second marriage to Rudolf III of Burgundy.
Laugier of Nice, known as the Roux, is also known as Laugier of Orange-Mévouillon or Laugier of Vence. He was co-lord of Nice, Gréolières, Cagnes and Vence. He held these titles in part through his wife Odile of Provence and his father-in-law, William I of Provence. Laugier seems to be related to the Mévouillon-Orange lineage. Some historians give him the title of viscount. He was a member of the first house of the counts of Orange-Nice. From 1023 Laugier was a monk of the order of Cluny.