Raymond I ( ca, Ramon, es, Raimundo) (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

884–920) was the first independent count of Pallars and Ribagorza from 872 until his death. Early speculation made him a scion of the

counts of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de 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 surroundin ...

, but he is certainly the "Count Raymond, son of Count Lupus ... in the country of Pallars" (''Regimundo comite, filio Luponi comiti ... in pago Paliarensi'') of a 920 document. His father may have been the Basque Count Lupus I of

Bigorre Bigorre ({{IPA-fr, biɡɔʁ; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of t ...

. During his lifetime Pallars represented the easternmost extent of the Basque language.

Rise to power

Raymond was a local nobleman who in the aftermath of the assassination of

Bernard II of Toulouse Bernard II (died 877), known as the Calf, was the count of Toulouse, Rouergue, Limoges, Nîmes, Carcassonne, Razès, and Albi. He was the son of Raymond I and Bertha. The dates of his reign are disputed: either 865–877 or 864–872. In ...

by partisans of Bernard Plantapilosa (872) seized authority for himself in Pallars and Ribagorza.Lewis, 110. The exact circumstances surrounding his rise are obscure, but he had probably held lands south of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

from the

County of Toulouse The County of Toulouse ( oc, Comtat de Tolosa) was a territory in southern France consisting of the city of Toulouse and its environs, ruled by the Count of Toulouse from the late 9th century until the late 13th century. The territory is the ...

prior to gaining independence. Neither is it clear what part the leading men of the regions played in his elevation, but after the fact Pallars and Ribagorza were not even nominally attached to Francia.Lewis, 110.

Rule

Raymond immediately made overtures of peace and alliance with the

Banu Qasi The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi ( ar, بني قسي or بنو قسي, meaning "sons" or "heirs of Cassius"), Banu Musa, or al-Qasawi were a Muladí (local convert) dynasty that in the 9th century ruled the Upper March, a frontier ter ...

governors of Huesca and

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, in 884 even purchasing Zaragoza, only to have it immediately reconquered by the Caliphate. In the end, a policy of

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 ...

had to be adopted. Consequentially, his reign saw the

encastellation Encastellation (sometimes castellation, which can also mean crenellation) is the process whereby the feudal kingdoms of Europe became dotted with castles, from which local lords could dominate the countryside of their fiefs and their neighbours', an ...

of Pallars of Ribagorza and the proliferation of ''turres'' (defensive towers). Castles were built at Leovalles, Castellous, and Lemignano. Raymond also consolidated his ''de facto'' independence from any superior authority by creating a new diocese of Pallars, enabling himself to control the local church. Raymond also established an alliance with the Jiménez dynasty of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. He married his sister Dadildis to García Jiménez of Pamplona, and in 905 he collaborated with

Alfonso III of Asturias Alfonso III (20 December 910), called the Great ( es, el Magno), was the king of León, Galicia and Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. In later sources he is the earliest to be called "Emperor of Spai ...

and Abd Allah ibn Lubb al-Qasawi in a coup that unseated Fortún Garcés of Pamplona in favor of Raymond's nephew, Sancho Garcés I.

Later years

In 904 he was attacked by Lubb ibn Muhammad al-Qasawi, who took 700 prisoners, including Raymond's son Isarn. He lost much of Ribagorza, including Roda and Montpedrós, to Muhammad al-Tawil of Huesca in 907 and thereafter ruled mainly just Pallars, which had always been his political base. His wife may be the Giniguentes, daughter of Aznar Dat, mentioned in the ''

Códice de Roda The ''Códice de Roda'' or ''Códice de Meyá'' (Roda or Meyá codex) is a medieval manuscript that represents a unique source for details of the 9th and early 10th century Kingdom of Navarre and neighbouring principalities. It is currently held ...

'', but the text is ambiguous and probably refers to the wife of his son, Isarn.Lacarra, 234. In concluding a paragraph that describes both Raymond and Isarn, the Codex relates that "This anmarried Giniguentes, daughter of Aznat Dat," and could be referring to either father or son, though the author had left the name of Raymond's wife blank earlier in the paragraph, suggesting this statement refers to Isarn. Isarn had a documented wife, Senegundia, perhaps representing the same name as Giniguentes. Pallars was inherited by his two youngest sons, Isarn and Llop, while mostly-overrun Ribagorza went to his two eldest, Miro and

Bernard Unifred Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brave ...

. Another son of Raymond was Ato, Bishop of Pallars, who appears as brother of both Bernard and Isarn in contemporary documents.

Notes

Sources

*d'Abadal i de Vinyals, Ramon. ''Els comtats de Pallars i Ribagorça'', Institut d’Estudis Catalans:Barcelona, 1955. *del Arco y Garay, Ricardo. "España Christiana: Hasta el año 1035, fecha de la Muerte de Sancho Garcés III" in ''España Christiana: Comienzo de la Reconquista (711-1038). Historia de España irigida por Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal', vol. 6. Espasa Calpe: Madrid, 1964. *Lacarra, José María. "Textos navarros del Códice de Roda," ''Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón'', 1:194-283 (1945). *Lewis, Archibald Ross.
The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050
'. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965. *Pérez de Urbel, Justo. "Los Primeros Siiglos de la Reconquista, (Años 711-1038)" in ''España Christiana: Comienzo de la Reconquista (711-1038). Historia de España irigida por Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal', vol. 6. Espasa Calpe: Madrid, 1964. *Serrano y Sans, Manuel. ''Noticias y documentos historicos del Contado di Ribagorza hasta la muerte de Sancho Garces III'', Centro de Estudios Historicos: Madrid, 1912. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond 01 of Pallars and Ribagorza 9th-century births 920 deaths 10th-century Catalan people Year of birth unknown Counts of Pallars Counts of Ribagorza Upper March