Couserans
The Couserans ( okzit -gasgon: Coserans ) is a historical province of southern France , which includes the western half of today's Ariège department , corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Girons . The name of this region is derived from a people who lived there in antiquity and were called Consoranni by the Romans .
Geographically, the Couserans is bordered by the Pyrenees in the south, the Arize River in the east and the valley of the Salat River in the west. The main town is Saint-Girons , which lies on the border between the lowlands (Bas-Couserans) and the highlands (Haut-Couserans) of the region.
Diocese of Couserans
Since the 5th century there was a diocese of Couserans with its seat in Saint-Lizier ; the first bishop is considered to be a certain Valerius . The diocese was dissolved in 1801 by the Concordat between Napoleon and the Holy See .
County Couserans
At the beginning of the high Middle Ages, the Couserans was a county that corresponded to the entire present-day Ariège department. It had been in the possession of the Counts of Comminges since the 12th century , at the beginning of which were the brothers Roger I and Arnaud I , with the Couserans belonging to the latter. With Arnaud's marriage to the heiress of the County of Carcassonne , the family rose to become one of the leading houses in the Languedoc region under his son Roger the Elder . After the death of Count Bernard Roger , the county was divided among his sons. While the elder Roger I got the eastern part with the capital Foix , the younger Peter Bernard got the rest of couserans in the west. The name Couserans would henceforth be associated with this territory.
Although Roger I of Foix died without an heir and the land around Foix fell to his nephew Roger II , the son of Peter Bernard, he was to continue the title of Count of Foix . The Couserans remained part of the county's domain for the next several years.
Counts of Couserans of the House of Comminges
- Arnaud I († around 957), Count of Couserans and part of Comminges
- Roger the Old († 1012), Count of Couserans and Carcassonne and part of Comminges, Lord of Foix
- Bernard Roger († 1034), Count of Couserans, Lord of Foix
- Peter Bernard († 1071), Count of Couserans
Vice-county of Couserans
At the beginning of the 12th century, the Counts of Comminges succeeded in expanding their power into the Couserans. Around the year 1180, Count Bernard IV of Comminges handed over the property held there to a Roger with vice- count rights, which should confirm a vassal of Rogers and his descendants to the House of Comminges. According to Dutil, Roger was a younger brother of Bernard; Schwennicke, on the other hand, sees him as a member of the family of the Vice Counts of Carcassonne, who in turn were provided by the Trencavel family at this time without specifying the exact relationship.
House Comminges
- Roger I († 1211)
- Roger II († 1257), son of his predecessor, by marriage Count von Pallars Sobirà
- Roger III († around 1267), son of his predecessor
- Arnaud I, called d'Espagne († around 1310), son of his predecessor
- Roger IV, son of his predecessor
- Raimund Roger I († 1392), son of his predecessor
- Johann Roger I, son of his predecessor
- Raimund Roger II († 1425), son of his predecessor
- Johann Roger II. († 1446), brother of his predecessor
- Eleonore, daughter of Raimund Roger II.
House Foix-Rabat
The house Foix-Rabat is a bastard line of the house Comminges
- Johann I. (II.) († 1480), husband of Eleonore, son of Mr. Johann I. von Foix-Rabat
- Roger V. († 1508), son of his predecessor
- Corbeyrand II († 1510), brother of his predecessor
- Germain. († 1515), brother of his predecessor
- Johann II († around 1530), son of his predecessor
- Johann Paul († 1560), son of his predecessor
- Françoise († 1600), daughter of her predecessor, married to François de Mauléon, Baron de la Cour
Subsequently, the title of Vice-Count of Couserans was held by the families of Modave and Polignac. The last heiress, Alexandrine de Polignac, emigrated from France after the French Revolution in 1792. Her husband Louis-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste de La Boissière, Comte de Chambors, was one of the three deputies of the couseran for the Estates General of 1789 and later a general in the Revolutionary Army and Napoleon's army .
literature
- Léon Dutil: La Haute-Garonne et sa région: geographie historique. 1928
- Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables . Volume III.3, 1985, plate 404b
