Fulcrad was the count of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

in the middle of the ninth century, who was given military command over the other counts of the Provençal country and took the title of duke (Latin ''dux''). His recorded activity took place after the

treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three years of civil war and ...

(843), when Provence lay in the south of the kingdom of

Middle Francia Middle Francia ( la, Francia media) was a short-lived Frankish kingdom which was created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun after an intermittent civil war between the grandsons of Charlemagne resulted in division of the united empire. Middle Franc ...

ruled by the

Emperor Lothair I Lothair I or Lothar I (Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German: ''Lothar''; French: ''Lothaire''; Italian: ''Lotario'') (795 – 29 September 855) was emperor (817–855, co-ruling with his father until 840), and the governor of Bavar ...

. As the leading man in Provence he seems to have succeeded

Warin Warin () is a town in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated 19 km southeast of Wismar. Warin is a small town with a population of under 4,000 persons. Warin is situated 104 km from ...

. In 845 Fulcrad led the counts of Provence in revolt against Lothair. The emperor came down and forced him to surrender. The northern ''

Annals of Saint-Bertin ''Annales Bertiniani'' (''Annals of Saint Bertin'') are late Carolingian, Frankish annals that were found in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, France, after which they are named. Their account is taken to cover the period 830-82, thus conti ...

'' record that "Count Fulcrad and the other Provençals failed to usurp all power in Provence from Lothair". The German '' Annals of Fulda'' give Fulcrad the title of duke: "Lothair accepted the surrender of the duke of Arles and the rest of the counts of the party planning to rebel and ordered Provence according to his own wishes." Fulcrad was reconciled to the emperor by the next year (846), when he accompanied Lothair on a military expedition against the Saracens of Italy. Fulcrad's revolt took place at a time when Provence was increasingly under attack from foreign quarters. In 842 Saracens attacked

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 ...

and Arles, and in 848 Marseille was assaulted by Byzantine (Greek) pirates. In 859 Arles was fortified against Saracen attacks. In 859–60 Provence was ravaged by the Vikings under

Hastein Hastein (Old Norse: ''Hásteinn'', also recorded as ''Hastingus'', ''Anstign'', ''Haesten'', ''Hæsten'', ''Hæstenn'' or ''Hæsting'' and alias ''Alsting''Jones, Aled (2003). ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth Series'' Cambridge ...

and

Björn Ironside according to Norse legends, was a Norse Viking chief and Swedish king. According to the 12th- and 13th-century Scandinavian histories, he was the son of notorious Viking king Ragnar Lodbrok and lived in the 9th century, between 855 and 858. Bj� ...

. After Lothair's death in 855, Middle Francia was divided between his sons. Charles, the youngest, received Provence and the lands to its immediate north. His kingdom is usually called the "Kingdom of Provence", although it was much more extensive than Fulcrad's dukedom. The southern part of Charles's kingdom—Provence proper—is poorly documented in this period. Fulcrad attended the public assembly at Sermorens (near

Voiron Voiron (; frp, Vouèron) is a commune (French municipality) in the ninth district of the Isère department in southeastern France. It is the capital of the canton of Voiron and has been part of the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole since 2010. Voiron ...

) that probably took place between 858 and 860 (prior to the death of Bishop Ebbo of Grenoble). Fulcrad's preeminence among the counts of Provence is indicated by his place in the surviving list of attendants: second after the regent of the kingdom, Girard of Roussillon. In a royal diploma of 25 August 862, Fulcrad appears as Charles's special representative (''ambasciator'') to the church of Orange when the king donated a village in the county of Orange to the church. The count of Orange at the time was Aldric, who also participated in Lothair's Italian expedition in 846.

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* * * {{refend Counts of Provence