Olivier de Termes

Olivier de Termes (* around 1200; † August 12, 1274 in Acre ) was a famous Occitan knight , faydit and crusader . He carried the titles of Seigneur de Termes , Seigneur de Marcorignan and Seigneur de Sainte-Valière .

Origin and first years

Olivier was probably born around 1200 at Termes Castle in the Corbières as the son of Raymond III. Born of Termes and the Ermesende de Corsavy . His family was one of the most important Cathar aristocratic clans in Languedoc . The Cathar bishop of the former county of Razès (since 1226), Benoît , may have been his uncle; he became known as the spokesman for the Cathars in the dispute at Pamiers (1207) against Domingo de Guzmán . Olivier also had a brother named Bernard and two sisters - Blanca (married to Guillaume V. de Minerve ) and Raimonde (married to Guillaume Jourdain de Saint Felix).

As a child he saw the beginning of the Albigensian Crusade in 1209 and the seven-month siege of Termes Castle by the Crusaders under Simon IV. De Montfort . The castle had to be abandoned on November 22nd, 1210 and Olivier's father was taken prisoner, in which he died three years later in Carcassonne . The paternal inheritance was given to the crusader Alain de Roucy in 1213 . Olivier and his family went into exile in Vallespir, Catalonia, where his mother remarried to Bernat-Hug de Serrallonga.

In 1222, the defeat of the Crusaders and Roucy's death enabled him to return to Languedoc and regain his legacy. In the following years he fought alongside Guilhem de Moncada and Pierre de Fenouillet in Roussillon against Nuno Sanchez .

When King Louis VIII led another crusade against the Cathars in 1226 , Olivier joined Count Raimund VII of Toulouse , for whom he defended Labécède-Lauragais against the French in 1227 , but had to submit to the French crown the following year .

The conquest of Mallorca

Olivier went into exile again at the court of the Count of Roussillon . With him he joined the army of King James I of Aragon in 1229 , who wanted to liberate the Balearic Islands from Muslim rule. During this campaign, Olivier made a close friendship with the Cathar Faydit Xacbert de Barbaira . The army landed near Santa Ponça on September 10, 1229 and, after the victorious battle of Serra de Portopí, captured the Cité de Majorque on December 31, 1229 . The Muslim resistance withdrew to the mountains, where it could only be broken after two more years.

Faydit, renegade and crusader

After this successful campaign, Olivier returned to his homeland, where he again joined Raymond VII, the Count of Toulouse . Despite his oath of allegiance to the king, he took up the fight against the Inquisition of Narbonne , where he was appointed governor of the Count of Toulouse between 1234 and 1242. Then in 1240, together with Barbaira, he took part in the revolt of Raimund Trencavel with the aim of conquering Carcassonne. The company failed and Olivier went underground. After the massacre of the Inquisitors in Avignonet (1242), Olivier was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Narbonne . He then carried out several raids against church property in Razès and Roussillon.

Conquest of Damiette (1249)

In 1247, however, he decided to make his peace with the Church and in penance he joined the crusader army of Louis the Saint on the Sixth Crusade . He took part in the fighting in front of the fortress city of Damiette and its storming and was appointed commander of the artillery ( maître des arbalétriers ). From Damiette he experienced the failure of the crusade in front of the walls of the fortress al-Mansura and the capture of the king. After the king's release, Olivier went with him to Acre , where he took part in several battles against local princes. So also in 1253 before Banyas , where he saved the life of the later chronicler Jean de Joinville .

After his return from the Holy Land (1255) Olivier stood firmly on the side of France and was involved in peacemaking of the royal rule with the local nobility. He also besieged Quéribus , the castle of his former friend and now mortal enemy Xacbert de Barbaira and finally took him prisoner. Olivier achieved great merit in bringing about the Treaty of Corbeil (1258).

He decided to spend the remaining days of his life in the service of God and took the cross again in 1265. In addition, he sold most of his possessions and donated the Abbey of Fontfroide . He led a royal contingent to the Holy Land and was appointed Seneschal of Jerusalem in 1269 . A year later he took part in the seventh crusade under King Louis IX. against Tunis in the course of which the king was killed. Again he moved in 1274 with a royal army, which was supported by both the Pope and Philip III. was funded, to Jerusalem. Olivier de Termes died there on August 12 of the same year in Acre.

Family and offspring

Olivier was married to a noble lady named Thérès, with whom he had a son, Raimund. This married Guilherme de Saissac. From this marriage the sons Guilhem and Arnaud emerged, both of whom later became city consuls of Palma .

Olivier had two half-brothers, his mother's sons from her second marriage. Both accompanied him to the Holy Land in 1264 and died there. Ramon de Serrallonga drowned in 1265 and Bernat-Hug de Serrallonga died on December 19, 1269 in Acre.

See also

• Albigensians (chronological table)

literature

• Gauthier Langlois: Olivier de Termes. Le cathare et le croisé (verse 1200–1274). Éditions Privat, Toulouse 2001, ISBN 2-7089-7520-X .

Web links

• Website to Olivier de Termes (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guillaume de Nangis : Gesta Sancti Ludovici. Edited by Pierre-Claude Daunou . In: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France . Vol. 20, 1840, p. 456 .
2. ↑ L'Estoire de Eracles empereur. In: Recueil des historiens des croisades . Historiens Occidentaux. Volume 2. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1859, p. 466 , Liv. XXXIV, Cap. XIX.