Raymond I (, ) (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for '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 indic ...

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 (, ) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding ...

, 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 Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Count Lupus I of

Bigorre Bigorre (; 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 the larger region k ...

. During his lifetime Pallars represented the easternmost extent of the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

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. I ...

by partisans of

Bernard Plantapilosa Bernard Plantapilosa or Bernard II of Auvergne (22 March 841-886), or Plantevelue, son of Bernard of Septimania and Dhuoda, was the Count of Auvergne (as Bernard II) from 872 to his death. The Emperor Charles the Fat granted him the title of Ma ...

(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 are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

from the

County of Toulouse The County of Toulouse (, , ) was a territory in present-day 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. After Pippin the Short conq ...

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 (, 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 territory of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba, l ...

governors of

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

and

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

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

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

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', a ...

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 The Jiménez dynasty, alternatively called the Jimena, the Sancha, the Banu Sancho, the Abarca or the Banu Abarca, was a medieval ruling family which, beginning in the 9th century, eventually grew to control the royal houses of several kingdoms ...

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. 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 (), was king of Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. After his death, the Kingdom of Asturias was split between his sons, with García inheriting León, ...

and Abd Allah ibn Lubb al-Qasawi in a coup that unseated

Fortún Garcés of Pamplona Fortún Garcés (Basque: ''Orti Gartzez''; died 922) nicknamed the One-eyed (''el Tuerto''), and years later the Monk (''el Monje''), was king of Pamplona from 870/882 until 905. He appears in Arabic records as ''Fortoûn ibn Garsiya'' (''فرت� ...

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 Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Tawil (, died 913 or 914) was a Muwallad Wāli of Huesca and a prominent Muslim lord in the Upper March (, ''Aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Aʿlà'') of Al-Andalus in the late-ninth and early-tenth centuries. Acting autonomously from ...

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 primary source for details of the 9th- and early 10th-century Kingdom of Navarre and neighbouring principalities. It is current ...

'', 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. 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 10th-century Spanish nobility Year of birth unknown Counts of Pallars Counts of Ribagorza Upper March