{{Infobox noble , name = , title = Countess of Urgell , image = , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more = no , succession = , reign = , reign-type = , predecessor = , successor = , suc-type = , spouse =

James I, Count of Urgell James I (1321 – 15 November 1347), the eighteenth Count of Urgell, was the fourth son of Alfonso IV King of Aragon and Teresa d'Entença & Cabrera, 17th Countess of Urgell. Biography James was born in Zaragoza in 1321. His older brother, P ...

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Bernard VIII, Count of Comminges Bernard VIII of Comminges (c. 1285–1336) was the Count of Comminges in what is now southern France. He was the son and successor of Count Bernard VII of Comminges (died 1312) and Laura of Montfort (died before 1300). The County of Comminges l ...

, mother = Mathe de l'Isle-Jourdain , birth_name = , birth_date = {{c.1320 , birth_place = , christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date, 1384, 6, 16, df=yes , death_place =

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city i ...

, burial_date = , burial_place = , occupation = , memorials = , website = , module = Cécile de Comminges ({{c.1320–1384), was Countess of Urgel 1336–1347 and Viscountess of Turenne 1339–1349.

Biography

Cécile de Comminges was the eldest daughter of Bernard VIII, Count of Comminges and Viscount of Turenne and his third wife Mathe de l'Isle-Jourdain. In 1336, Cécile married

, son of Alfonso IV of Aragon and his first wife

Teresa d'Entença Teresa d'Entença (c. 1300 – 20 October 1327) was the eldest daughter of Gombau d'Entença and his wife Constança d'Antillón. She was Countess of Urgell in her own right; however, control over her estate passed to her husband, Alfonso IV of Ara ...

who was

Countess of Urgell This is a list of the counts of Urgell, a county of the Principality of Catalonia in the 10th through 13th centuries. c. 798–870 Counts appointed by the Carolingians *798–820 Borrell, count of Urgell and Cerdanya *820–824 Aznar Galíndez I ...

.{{sfn, Previté-Orton, 1960, p=903 In 1339, after the deaths of her father and then her only brother, Jean, aged three, Cécile inherited the viscounty of Turenne, a title her father had received from his second wife, Marguerite de Turenne. The succession of the county of Comminges, however, provoked a conflict with her uncle Pierre-Raymond, brother of Bernard VIII, who disputed the right of women to inherit the county of Comminges, arguing that it was a male fief. The conflict was defused by the intervention of Cardinal Jean de Raymond,

Archbishop of Toulouse The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse (–Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux) ( la, Archidioecesis Tolosana (–Convenarum–Rivensis); French: ''Archidiocèse de Toulouse (–Saint-Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux-Volvestre)''; Occitan: ''A ...

: Pierre-Raymond became count of Comminges and Cécile became viscountess of Turenne. Santa Maria de Balaguer

In 1347, James I died, poisoned by his brother according to some. By the will of her husband, Cécile became regent of the county of Urgell in the name of her son, Peter II. In 1349 she sold the viscounty of Turenne to

Pope Clement VI Pope Clement VI ( la, Clemens VI; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Bla ...

for 145,000 gold florins so as to be able to pay her husband's debts and build certain buildings, notably the church of Santa Maria de Balaguer and the monastery of Santa Chiara de Almatà. The pope offered the viscountcy to his nephew William Roger de Beaufort, who married Cécile's sister Aliénor. When her son Pierre came of age, Cécile withdrew from the world. She died on 16 June 1384 at Balaguer Castle.{{cite book , last=Corredera Gutiérrez , first=Eduardo , date=1973 , title=Noticia de los Condes de Urgel , url= , location= , publisher=

Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (, from , the ancient Roman name for the town; en, "Institute for Lleida Studies"), also known by the acronym IEI, is a cultural institution created on March 25, 1942 in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain by the provincial deleg ...

, page=190 , language=es Cécile had two children with James I: *Peter II of Urgell (1340–1408), who succeeded his father as Count of Urgell and married Margaret of Montferrat *Isabella of Urgell, who married Hugo de Cardona (1330–1400)

References

{{Reflist

Sources

*{{cite book , title=The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History , volume=2: The twelfth century to the Renaissance , first=Charles William , last=Previté-Orton , publisher=Cambridge at the University Press , year=1960 {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Comminges, Cécile 14th-century births 1384 deaths 14th-century French women 14th-century French nobility Counts of Urgell French countesses