Geoffrey I or JosfredAlso spelled Jauffred, Jozfred, Gosfred, or Gausfred. (died February between 1061 and 1063) was the joint

Count 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 ...

with his elder brothers

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

and Fulk from 1018 to his death. He was the third son of

William II of Provence William II (or III) (late 980s – 1019), called the Pious, was the Count of Provence. Life William was the son of William I (or II) of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, who were married by January 984. William appears in the documents of ...

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.

Count

He became Count of Arles in 1032 and he and Fulk made a donation to the

Abbey of Cluny Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter. The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with three churche ...

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 Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

) 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 upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

raids. He restored the abbey of Sparro, which they had destroyed, and gave it to the archiepiscopal see of

Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...

. Following the example of most of his ancestors, he was a patron of Saint Victor in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

. 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 Bertrand may refer to: Places * Bertrand, Missouri, US * Bertrand, Nebraska, US * Bertrand, New Brunswick, Canada * Bertrand Township, Michigan, US * Bertrand, Michigan * Bertrand, Virginia, US * Bertrand Creek, state of Washington * Saint-Bertr ...

, 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

allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod ( Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodiu ...

s. 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 Rudolph III (french: Rodolphe, german: Rudolf; – 6 September 1032), called the Idle or the Pious, was the king of Burgundy from 993 until his death. He was the last ruler of an independent Kingdom of Burgundy, and the last male member of the Bu ...

, his lord, sold any remaining rights over some royal villae, Geoffrey gave these away as allodial holdings.

Marriage and children

Geoffrey and Etiennette had: *

, succeeded his father * unnamed daughter became the first wife of

Raymond IV of Toulouse Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse ( 1041 – 28 February 1105), sometimes called Raymond of Saint-Gilles or Raymond I of Tripoli, was a powerful noble in southern France and one of the leaders of the First Crusade (1096–1099). He was the Count o ...

*Stephanie, married William II of Besalú * Gerberga, married

Gilbert I of Gévaudan Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

References

Sources

External links

Medieval Lands Project: Provence.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoffrey 01 Of Provence 1062 deaths Counts of Provence Occitan people Year of birth unknown