Roger II
Trencavel (died March 1194) was the
Viscount of Carcassonne,
Béziers,
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 ...
, and
Albi
Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albigé ...
from 1167 or 1171 until his death. Until 1177 he used the title
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
, usually as ''proconsul de Bitteris'' (of Béziers), but he abandoned the usage when he became a vassal of the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...
. His government of his lands was characterised by increasing complexity, such as the development of the offices of
seneschal and sub-vicar, but his later years are characterised by financial troubles and a "general malaise" perhaps brought about by his poor relations with the Church hierarchy in light of his favourable attitude towards
Catharism
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. F ...
.
Roger was the elder of two sons of
Raymond I Trencavel Raymond I Trencavel (also Raimond) (died 1167) was the Viscount of Agde and Béziers from 1130 and Viscount of Albi, Carcassonne, and Razès from 1150. He was a member of the Trencavel family, ruling the lands of the elder branch.
He was the sec ...
and Saure. As a child in 1153 he was placed in the "custody and service" of
Ermengard of Narbonne Ermengarde (Occitan: Ermengarda, Ainermada, or Ainemarda) (b. 1127 or 1129 – d. Perpignan, 14 October 1197), was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne and his first wife, also named Ermengarde. ...
. Eventually he inherited all four of Raymond's viscounties on his death in 1167.
[Cheyette, 265.] However,
Raymond V of Toulouse objected to the young Roger and instead enfeoffed
Roger-Bernard I of Foix
Roger Bernard I the Fat (c. 1130 – November 1188) was the fifth Count of Foix from 1148.
At Pamiers in 1149 and again in 1163, he had to make restitution of confiscated lands to the church of Saint-Antonin of Fredelas. He made a paréage with ...
with the viscounties in December 1167 at
Narbonne.
Roger rebelled. He retook
Béziers in 1169 with the assistance of troops from
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...
and
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...
.
[Graham-Leigh, 147–148.] After taking the city, Roger brought the Aragonese inside to murder the citizens who had handed the city over to his rival.
However, in November 1171, Raymond drew Roger away from
Alfonso II of Aragon by enfeoffing him with the viscounties and depriving the count of Foix.
Roger married the young
Adalais, daughter of Raymond of Toulouse, in 1171. It opened the only (brief) period of alliance between Roger and Raymond.
[Graham-Leigh, 99.] Adalais' dowry was the town of
Minerve, a fief of the
King of France
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the fir ...
.
In 1176, Roger held a public inquiry to prove his lordship of the village of
Mèze
Mèze (; oc, Mesa; phn, Mansa) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.
Its inhabitants are called ''Mézois''.
Geography
Situated on the étang de Thau, Mèze shares with Bouzigues its historic role as the oyster capita ...
. About the same time (c. 1175), Alfonso of Aragon held a public inquiry to prove that Carcassonne was his possession and that Roger II merely held it from him at his pleasure. In the late 1180s, Roger began the compilation of a
cartulary
A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll ('' rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the f ...
to collect the charter evidence for his rule. The cartulary contained 248 folios and was written in proto-Gothic script.
Roger was a close ally of
Ermengard of Narbonne Ermengarde (Occitan: Ermengarda, Ainermada, or Ainemarda) (b. 1127 or 1129 – d. Perpignan, 14 October 1197), was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne and his first wife, also named Ermengarde. ...
from 1171 onwards, when the viscount and viscountess swore oaths of mutual alliance. In 1177, he joined an alliance with Ermengard and
William VIII of Montpellier to prevent Raymond from seizing Narbonne.
In 1179, he was forced to forswear his former alliance with Raymond of Toulouse and return to the fold of Alfonso of Aragon.
[Graham-Leigh, 100.] He recognised that he held his fiefs from Alfonso. Roger agreed to hold Minerve from the king of Aragon instead of the king of France, significant of a realignment in the politics of the lords of Languedoc with respect to central authority.
Some have suggested that Roger was driven to the side of Alfonso by the results of the Third Lateran Council and by Raymond of Toulouse' request for assistance in dealing with heresy in his domains. Roger appears therefore as lenient towards heretics.
Around 1175, Roger imprisoned
Gerard, the
bishop of Albi
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albi (–Castres–Lavaur) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Albiensis (–Castrensis–Vauriensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse d'Albi (–Castres–Lavaur)''), usually referred to simply as the Archdiocese of Albi, is a ...
, probably over the disputed lordship of Albi.
[Graham-Leigh, 142.][Cheyetter, 316.] Roger succeeded in establishing a vicar (Pierre Raimond d'Hautpoul) in Albi between 1175 and 1177, but he was forced to come to humiliating terms with the bishop
William of Dourgne
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...
in 1193. In 1178
Henry of Marcy
Henry of Marcy, or Henri de Marsiac, (c. 1136 –1 January 1189) was a Cistercian abbot, first of Hautecombe in Savoy (1160–1177), and then of Clairvaux, from 1177 until 1179. He was created Cardinal Bishop of Albano by Pope Alexander II ...
, who was leading a
papal legation
The delegations as they existed in 1859.
Between the Congress of Vienna (1815) and the capture of Rome (1870), the Papal State was subdivided geographically into 17 apostolic delegations (''delegazioni apostoliche'') for ...
in the region, marched on
Albi
Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albigé ...
, whence Roger fled to
Ambialet, and the on
Castres, where they declared him a heretic and excommunicated him after releasing the bishop Gerard.
[Cheyetter, 317.] In 1179, he was excommunicated again by
Pons d'Arsac for his "conspicuous lack of enthusiasm for the extirpation of heresy" under the twenty-seventh canon of the
Third Lateran Council and the decretal ''
Ad abolendam'' of
Pope Lucius III. He was also accused of hiring
routiers
Routiers () were mercenary soldiers of the Middle Ages. Their particular distinction from other paid soldiers of the time was that they were organised into bands (''rutta'' or ''routes''). The term is first used in the 12th century but is parti ...
. In 1181, Henry of Marcy returned to the south of France and besieged Roger and his wife in
Lavaur, which was promptly surrendered.
In 1185, Alfonso was making war on Raymond over the possession of
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
. From
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 Belgiu ...
he travelled to
Najac, where, probably in April, he made a treaty with
Richard the Lionheart and with Roger against Raymond of Toulouse.
[Cheyetter, 334.] Roger in gratitude followed Alfonso into Spain and to the siege of
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
, where, in June, he adopted the king's son
Alfonso II of Provence as his heir, even though his wife was expecting.
[Graham-Leigh, 111.] Perhaps the adoption was cautionary in case the child of Adalais was a girl. Alfonso of Provence did not succeed Roger, rather that child, which was a boy named
Raymond Roger
Raimond Roger (french: Raymond-Roger; Occitan: ''Ramon Roger'') (died 27 March 1223) was the sixth count of Foix from the House of Foix. He was the son and successor of Roger Bernard I and his wife Cécilia Trencavel.
When Raimond-Roger and A ...
, did. In 1188, Alfonso of Aragon came north 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 ...
again to defend Roger at Carcassonne, but he also granted away that viscounty as well as the
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 ...
to
Raimond-Roger of Foix
Raimond Roger (french: Raymond-Roger; Occitan: ''Ramon Roger'') (died 27 March 1223) was the sixth count of Foix from the House of Foix. He was the son and successor of Roger Bernard I and his wife Cécilia Trencavel.
When Raimond-Roger and A ...
in a move to dispossess the Trencavels entirely.
[Cheyette, 335.]
In 1189, Roger fell seriously ill and made his will.
After his recovery in 1191, however, he gathered his vassals and made them swear fealty to his son, which they did.
Sources
*Cheyette, Fredric L. ''Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
*Graham-Leigh, Elaine. ''The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger 02 Trencavel
12th-century births
1194 deaths
Trencavel
Viscounts of Albi
Viscounts of Béziers
Viscounts of Carcassonne
Viscounts of Razès
People excommunicated by the Catholic Church