Roger I Trencavel, (''Roger I of Beziers''), (died 1150) was the eldest son of

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 Sa ...

Viscount of Albi A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Location Agde is located on the Hérault river, from the Mediterranean Sea, and from Paris. The Canal du Midi con ...

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 ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

, and

Razès Razès (; oc, Rasés; ca, Rasès) is a historical area in southwestern France, in today's Aude ''département''. Several communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of ...

. On his father's death in 1130 he inherited Albi, Carcassonne, and Razès, while his younger brother

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

inherited Agde and Béziers and his youngest brother

Bernard Ato V Bernard Ato V (died 1163) was the Viscount of Nîmes of the Trencavel family from 1129 to his death. He was then succeeded by his son and successor Bernard Ato VI. In 1138, Bernard Ato swore an oath of fidelity to Alfonso Jordan, Count of Toul ...

inherited Nîmes. Beginning in Carcassonne in 1141, Roger was the first

Trencavel The Trencavel was an important noble family in Languedoc between the 10th and 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel" began as a nickname and later became the family's surname. The name may derive from the Occitan words for "Nutcracker" (''trenca ...

ruler to appoint

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

s to go about the vicecomital business at the local level. He appointed vicars both from within his court and without the regions which they were supposed to administer. It is clear, however, that Trencavel government was still rather primitive in Roger I's time. Roger I was a notable benefactor of the

Order of the Temple The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

and a fervent Crusader, making large grants to the first Templar preceptory in

Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language, Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This ...

at Douzens. He made a grant to the Temple in 1133 of the village of Brucafel "that Omnipotent God in his mercy should make us and our posterity live in good perseverance, and that after the course of this life should deign to receive us in a good end." In July 1147 Roger endeavoured to join the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...

and so granted to the preceptory of Douzens the village of

Campagne-sur-Aude Campagne-sur-Aude (; oc, Campanha d'Aude) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aude department The following is a list of the 433 communes of the Aude department of France. The c ...

with all jurisdiction in return for their taking up the mortgage of 3,000 ''

solidi The ''solidus'' (Latin 'solid'; ''solidi'') or nomisma ( grc-gre, νόμισμα, ''nómisma'', 'coin') was a highly pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. Constantine introduced the coin, and its weight ...

'' of

Urgell Modern-day Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Higher Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (county) in Catalonia, Spain, forming only a borderland portion of the region historically known as Ur ...

on the land. Roger also exempted the Templars from taxes, such as the '' usaticum'', on all his lands. He left from

on the Crusade after being released from the encumbrance of his mortgage later in 1147.

Marriages

Roger married Alazais of Pons and Saintonge. They had no children. Roger remarried in 1139 to Bernarda of Comminges, but he died childless in 1150. He was succeeded in Carcassonne, in accordance with an agreement of 1132, by his brother Raymond. Albi and Razès also went to Raymond, while Bernard Ato squabbled over Agde, which was eventually split between the surviving brothers.

Sources

* * * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger 01 Trencavel 1150 deaths Occitan nobility Trencavel Viscounts of Albi Viscounts of Carcassonne Viscounts of Razès Christians of the Second Crusade Year of birth unknown 12th-century French people