Aimery II (also called Aimeric II) (died 17 July 1134) was the

Viscount of Narbonne 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 n ...

from around 1106 until his death. He was the eldest son of

Aimery I of Narbonne Aimery I of Narbonne, son of Bernard Berenger of Narbonne and Foy of Rouergue. He was viscount of Narbonne 1071 until his death in the Holy Land in 1106. Biography Quite young when his father Viscount Bernard died, the first years of Aymeri take ...

and Mahalt (also Mahault or Mafalda), daughter of

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabri ...

and

Sichelgaita Sikelgaita (also ''Sichelgaita'' or ''Sigelgaita'') (1040 – 16 April 1090) was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno and second wife of Duke Robert Guiscard of Apulia. She commanded troops in her own right. Life Sh ...

and widow of Raymond Berengar II of Barcelona. This made him a half-brother of Raymond Berengar III. He initially ruled as a minor under the regency of his mother. After he came of age he married Ermengard. Probably in 1112 or 1113, Aimery received the

Fenouillèdes Fenouillèdes (; oc, Fenolhedés/Fenolheda; ca, Fenolledès/Fenolleda) is a French comarca and a traditional Occitan-speaking area in the ''département'' of Pyrénées-Orientales. The capital of the comarca is Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet (''Sant Pa ...

and the

Peyrepertusès Peyrepertuse (Languedocien dialect, Languedocien: ''Castèl de Pèirapertusa'') is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune in France, commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in th ...

from his half-brother in return for swearing an oath of fealty against

Bernard Ato IV Bernard Ato IV (died 1129) was the Viscount of Nîmes of the Trencavel family from 1074 to his death. Bernard Ato was the son of Raymond Bernard of Nîmes (died 1074) and Ermengarde of Carcassonne. In 1096, Bernard joined the army of Raymond of ...

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

, with whom Raymond Berengar was at war.Cheyette, 77 and n31. The lords of the Fenouillèdes and the Peyrepertuseès remained vassals of Narbonne until the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown ...

and the viscounts of Narbonne took the lordship of Rouffiac near

Peyrepertuse Peyrepertuse (Languedocien dialect, Languedocien: ''Castèl de Pèirapertusa'') is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune in France, commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in th ...

into their own hands. When

Douce I, Countess of Provence Douce I (also Dulcia or Dolça, called "of Rouergue" or "of Gévaudan") ( – 1127) was the daughter of Gilbert I of Gévaudan and Gerberga of Provence and wife of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona. In 1112, she inherited the Counts of Prove ...

died and Raymond Berengar claimed the

County of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...

, Aimery received the fief of Beaucaire and the ''terre d'Argence'' near the mouth of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

in Provence.Cheyette, 86. Sometime during his rule, Aimery granted the merchants of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...

the right to form a

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

in imitation of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. Probably he saw the self-organisation of his merchants and their formation of a military in their own defence as an aid to his own rule so long as the consulate remained under vicecomital control, which in the end it did not. Aimery also participated in 1114–15 in the Balearic Islands expedition led by the

Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa ( it, Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated ...

and Raymond Berengar. In 1114, Aimery put an end to conflicting claims in the village of Le Lac on the

Via Domitia The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and tr ...

by transferring his rights there to the

abbey of Lagrasse The Abbey of St. Mary of Lagrasse (French: ''Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse'' or ''Abbaye Sainte-Marie-d'Orbieu'') is a Romanesque abbey in Lagrasse, southern France, whose origins date to the 7th century. It is located in Languedoc, near the ...

in return for a large loan of gold and silver. He also entered into a conflict with his cousin

Richard de Millau Richard de Millau (Milhau) was an 11th-century Cardinal and a major player in the Gregorian reform implemented in the South of France at the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Career He entered the Order of Saint Benedict early in life a ...

Archbishop of Narbonne The former Catholic diocese of Narbonne existed from early Christian times until the French Revolution. It was an archdiocese, with its see at Narbonne, from the year 445, and its influence ran over much of south-western France and into Cataloni ...

, who may have been a compromise candidate between Aimery and the

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

for the archiepiscopal throne. Richard claimed that Aimery ''fecit mihi hominium propriis manibus'' ("did homage to imwith his own hands") received ''fedovia'' ("fiefs") from the Church "in the presence of the universal synod of the

province of Narbonne A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

." The archbishop accused Aimery of deceiving him concerning the extent of the Church's fiefs and attempting to hold land as his by inheritance which was his by grant of the Church; he also accused Aimery of withholding revenues from taxes and imposts that should have gone to the Church. Aimery was recorded to have even abused church property violently and there were disputes concerning who controlled the towers on the city walls. The whole dispute lasted a long time, but Aimery was made to come to terms by the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

's support of Richard.Cheyette, 108–109. In the end, he had to swear oaths of fealty to the archbishop, recognise the archbishop's independent temporal lordship, and concede that some of the rights he held in the city of Narbonne constituted a fief of the archbishopric. In 1124, Bernard Ato of Béziers declared war on Aimery, who responded by razing the castle (''pro justicia'', "out of justice") at

Montséret Montséret is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. Montséret is a small wine-producing village in the wine district of Corbières. The village's annual festival is held in early- to mid-July and includes a community dinner. ...

, which had been held by Aimery's vassal Bernard Amati until he had treacherously turned it over to Bernard Ato. Not long after this Aimery turned towards

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and joined the

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

being waged by

Alfonso the Battler Alfonso I (''c''. 1073/10747 September 1134), called the Battler or the Warrior ( es, el Batallador), was King of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Pet ...

in the

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

valley. In July 1131, Aimery was at the deathbed of his half-brother to witness his final testament, of which he was to be the executor. Aimery died in

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

before the walls of the

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

city of

Fraga Fraga (; ) is the major town of the ''comarca'' of Bajo Cinca ( ca, Baix Cinca) in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It is located by the river Cinca. According to the 2014 census, Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) the municipality ha ...

, which Alfonso had been besieging.Cheyette, 21. Aimery had a son and a daughter by Ermengard; the son, Aimery, predeceased him (ca. 1130), and he was succeeded by his daughter Ermengard, who was only four or five at the time. He married a second time to a woman named Ermessende and left by her a daughter of the same name. This second daughter, Ermessende, married before 1153 a great Castilian magnate,

Manrique Pérez de Lara Manrique Pérez de Lara (died 1164) was a magnate of the Kingdom of Castile and its regent from 1158 until his death. He was a leading figure of the House of Lara and one of the most important counsellors and generals of three successive Castilian ...

, lord of Molina.

Sources

*Cheyette, Fredric L. ''Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aimery 02 Of Narbonne 1134 deaths Military personnel killed in action People of the Reconquista Viscounts of Narbonne 12th-century French people Christians of the 1113–1115 Balearic Islands expedition Year of birth unknown