Raimond de Turenne

Raimond de Turenne on a fresco in the Hospital Santa Maria della Scala in Siena , by Benvenuto di Giovanni , 1436–1518

Raimond-Louis Roger de Beaufort , Viscount de Turenne , called Raimond de Turenne (* 1352 in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon ; † March 1413 ), was captain of the arm of Comtat Venaissin , papal captain in Italy and is known under the name of "Scourge of Provence ”( Fléau de Provence ) in his fight against Marie de Blois , Countess of Provence, and the two antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII.

Life

Raimond Roger de Beaufort is the son of Guillaume III. Roger de Beaufort , Comte de Beaufort and Viscount de Turenne, and Aliénor de Comminges , great-nephew of Pope Clement VI. and Cardinal Hugues Roger , nephew of Pope Gregory XI. and Nicolas Roger de Beaufort . Raimond de Turenne belongs to the nobility of the Limousin and Provence . In addition, as the husband of Marie d'Auvergne, dite de Boulogne, niece of Jeanne , the second wife of King John II , he was able to use ties to the French court, for which he fought in Flanders (campaign against Bourbourg ), as well as to the papacy in Avignon , whose troops in Italy he commanded ( Piedmont , Lombardy and the war of the eight saints against an Italian league of cities and leadership of Florence ).

His first years

Raimond made his first military experience in March 1368 against Bertrand du Guesclin at the siege of Tarascon , at the siege of Arles and Céreste , and at Apt , where the troops of the Breton destroyed the Provencal army. He then took part in the suppression of the laborieux , who had rebelled against the requirements of the two armies. In 1372 he returned from his first campaign in Italy, where he was with Cuneo by Amadeus VI. was knighted by Savoy . Nor does he seem to have participated in the bloody suppression of the Tuchin rebellion (1381-1384) in Languedoc; that was the work of his father and of Gantonnet d'Abzac , his future lieutenant. Instead, Raimond hired the survivors and let them fight against Thibaud de Budos, who wanted to recapture his Portes Castle in Portes .

Les Baux castle

The fiefdom of the Roger de Beauforts

In addition to the vice-counties of Turenne and Châlus , which his father had given him when he married in October 1375, the Raimonds family owned numerous fiefs in Provence, including Les Baux , Saint-Rémy , Pertuis , Meyrargues , Les Pennes etc. in the baronnies : Séderon , Châteauneuf-de-Mazenc , Savasse , and in Languedoc Rhodania: Alès , Anduze , Bagnols-sur-Cèze , Cornillon , Portes-Bertrand , Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française etc. Had as a reward for his military successes in Italy Emperor Charles IV his father Guillaume III. Roger de Beaufort returned the fiefs in Tuscany (in the Diocese of Chiusi and in the jurisdiction of Cortona ) on December 8, 1373 .

His war in Provence

Raimond de Turenne, who was captain of the Comtat Venaissin's army and papal captain in Italy, is still on especially for the war and the looting in Provence, in the Baronnies and in Valdaine , as well as at the gates of Montelimar between 1389 and known in 1399 after the second Angevin dynasty of the Counts of Provence returned to the donations made by Joan I of Naples . Régis Veydarier shows why the viscount in feudal law could only enter into an armed conflict with the papal ( Clement VII and Benedict XIII ) or counts ( Marie de Blois ) powers that had robbed him.

Beaufort Turenne

His wars against Clement VII.

The life and deeds of this terrible Viscount confirm Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's assertion that our fourteenth-century ancestors were: Vivre son destin, c'est tenir son rang et ne pas sortir de sa condition (“His fate to live means to keep your rank and not to leave your circumstances. ")

This is what a figure of Turenne proportions did, especially in the face of “his uncle, this Pope in Avignon”, the famous Clement VII, who had provoked the Western Schism in the Catholic Church. The least that can be said is that the pontiff at Avignon was more inclined to provoke his relatives than to show benevolence, which His Holiness should of course have shown.

On October 24, 1383, Clement VII, who took advantage of Raimond's presence in Flanders (Bourbourg, September 1383, see above), thought it advisable to withdraw his income from Grillon to his uncle Marquis de Canillac and to give it to Giraud d'Adhémar to pass on. Confronted with such a personality, whose stubborn nature and superiority in battle were borne by the powerful drive of pride and victory, Clement VII could only watch powerlessly his campaigns, which caused a whirlwind of death in all his states.

His wars against Benedict XIII.

Benedict XIII. had inherited his predecessor's disputes. Turenne continued to kill, pillage and pillage for his own benefit, despite the condemnations from the palace of the Popes in Avignon . No Pope could calm this man down with a few excommunication bubbles. His skepticism had made him steadfast, indifferent, and insensitive to such threats.

His wars against Marie de Blois, Comtesse de Provence

Raimond's childhood determination to hold together the legacy and privileges of the Roger de Beaufort was also the subject of unprecedented demands when the regent Marie de Blois asked him for the hand of his daughter Antoinette on behalf of her younger son Charles du Maine (1380-1404).

In order not to bend his knee before his son-in-law, the viscount, who was always ready to assume the role and rank which he considered his property, would have believed he would have failed, had he accepted. He refused , preferring to marry his heiress to Jean II Le Maingre , known as Boucicaut, Marshal of France , a role proposed by the Princes de Sang and the King of France.

In her annoyance, the pretender to the Kingdom of Naples and the county of Provence banned him in their states, which provoked a brutal response from Raimonds and his mother Aliénor, Dame de Meyrargues.

"Raimond de Turenne is one of those people who normally carry their rights to the tip of their swords and documents in their arms," ​​wrote the Provencal writer Marie Mauron aptly .

The Viscount, one of the most daring captains of the fourteenth century, rushed to defend his fame and dignity, while at the same time finding himself obliged to fight the papal troops of which he was still the captain, the army of Georges de Marle, Seneschal of Provence, that of the rector of the Comtat ( Odon de Villars ), and that of his brother-in-law, Louis II of Poitiers, Count of Valentinois.

An excellent negotiator

Raimond de Turenne, with his sense of the moment and extraordinary ability to seize opportunities, proved not only to be a formidable warrior but, above all, a remarkable negotiator for anything related to his own interests. Energetic and quick-witted, far-sighted and active, his declarations of war and his diplomatic disputes contributed to the reputation of the Viscount, as did the mocking and astonishing fate of this outstanding warmonger. And his greed for profit discovered the quick way to get rich.

The most conclusive result of his negotiations was that each time the papacy or the regent of Provence gave him enough financial support to recruit a new army after the previous one was dismissed.

The Viscount married his daughter Antoinette to Boucicaut

Although he was considered the "scourge of Provence", he was still valued at the French court. On January 27 and 28, 1390, during the king's stay in Avignon, Clement VII, who only had the name Raimond de Turenne in his mouth, insisted that the royal army should neutralize him. The Marmousets , who had their plan, did not see it that way and advised the Pope to negotiate.

The remains of the castle chapel in Les Baux where Antoinette de Turenne married Marshal Boucicaut .

Clement VII then understood that only in this case Charles VI. of France would be willing to enter Rome to install him on the throne of St. Peter. At the same time, the Kingdom of Naples returned to Louis II of Anjou , the cousin of the King of France, with Raimond de Turenne as captain general, while Provence became an appanage from Louis II de Bourbon , who appointed Guillaume Roger de Beaufort as seneschal . Even a marital connection between the Younger House of Anjou and the Roger de Beaufort was considered.

But this marriage did not materialize because she no longer had any royal favor. The Council of State preferred to vote for Boucicaut. On June 25, 1393, two emissaries of the king in Abbeville received instructions on the marshal's marriage to Antoinette de Turenne, a marriage that her father also favored.

These letters contain the famous paragraph that some consider apocryphal : “If the Holy Father or others said that the marriage of the brother [Charles du Maine] of the said King of Sicily to the said daughter [Antoinette] was being or was being negotiated, I replied that the said Messire Raimond had said that he would rather see his daughter dead than married to the brother of the said king. Because he's too great a gentleman. And he would like to marry her off to a man whom he can be served by and so that he will be honored, and not to a gentleman before whom he should kneel. "

The wedding between Boucicaut and Antoinette de Turenne took place on December 23, 1393 in the castle of Les Baux in the presence of Raimond de Turenne. In January 1394, Guillaume III. Roger de Beaufort and his son know that he is of the opinion that his granddaughter is “badly married” ( méchamment mariée ) to this boucicaut “who is so dishonest and ashamed of our origins” ( a si grant deshoneur et honte de nostre lignage ) .

An extraordinary personality

This offspring of the firm and proud roots of Roger de Beaufort, self-righteous because of his name and ancestry, could have enjoyed his life but preferred to live it. This cheeky nobleman, who had the greatest sense of his dignity, undoubtedly felt himself to be the owner of an unusual fate and was able to admire his fate. Filled with pride, without regard for and without pity for the vulgum pecus (the common people), always ready to accept the slightest challenge, he had more physical than moral strength and found reasons for war everywhere.

“Certainly he was belligerent and had the soul of a leader. If he had used his natural gifts as a man of action in the service of a noble cause, there is no doubt that posterity would have recognized him as a great captain; unfortunately he did not have enough wisdom and intelligence to understand that his ventures were doomed in the long run, ”commented JM Marsily, historian from Pertuis and connoisseur of Roger de Beaufort.

However, it is always easy to interpret fate in retrospect. Suffice it to say that Raimond de Turenne was convinced from childhood that everything must give in to his passionate desires, that he refused to bow to adversity, and that discouragement was an excess he did not know. Not considering that his plans might be thwarted, the slightest opposition sparked his anger. The determined character of this man who seeks fame and is angry, combined with an unwavering confidence in himself, enabled him to serve his greed and shape his own future.

For this nobleman with his thirst for revenge, this promising life to which his brave temperament invited him could only end in these ongoing wars, which were more than just an outlet for him. This lover of fame usually showed himself in unimaginably bold deeds. His violent temperament, his wealth in finding nimble means, his impetuosity and his bravery made him a cruel warlord: Raimond de Turenne "thought strategically and acted primitively" ( René Char )

Two portraits by Raimond de Turenne

Juan Fernández de Heredia and Raimond de Turenne

César Nostradamus described a fresco in the castle Les Baux, on which Raimond de Turenne was depicted: “He was full and angular, rather tall than short, with strong and robust limbs, the head was thick and round, the face full and greasy, the complexion honey-colored and tanned, the hair frizzy and black, the brows and eyes as well, the flesh between the eyebrows puffed out with a slight hump nose ... Apart from the fact that together they have a rather proud and pleasant appearance, that one Resembles a man of good and high house and who could easily not stand an injustice. "

If this fresco did not survive the demolition of the Provencal fortress ordered by Richelieu in 1632, its description is accurate enough to identify the depicted papal captain twice on frescoes by Benvenuto di Giovannis in the Hospital Santa-Maria della Scala in Siena . On the first he faces Juan Fernández de Heredia , the Grand Master of the Order of St. John , on the second he appears among the papal troops and next to his uncle Gregory XI.

If, because of the helmet, this second portrait does not make it possible to verify its correspondence with the Les Baux fresco, it is above all the first that reproduces all the features described by the Provencal historian.

Turenne Castle (Corrèze)

His end of life

Contrary to a legend that is as false as it is persistent, Raimond did not drown on July 7, 1399 in the Rhône near Tarascon. He settled in his vice-county of Turenne, where he is known as Raimond VIII.

Indeed, we find him on April 4, 1402, in Brantes , at the foot of Mont Ventoux , in a transaction between Odo von Thoire and Villars , husband of his niece Alix des Baux , and Philippe de Lévis, her nephew, who is cautious about Raimond showed regarding the review of the agreement between the Viscount, Odon and Alix. In the event of non-compliance with the contract, the latter two undertook to pay Raimond de Turenne 50,000 guilders.

On February 11, 1408, Benedict XIII, who was in Porto Venere on the Gulf of Genoa , at the request of Boucicaut, son-in-law of the Viscount and French governor of the “superba repubblica” ( Republic of Genoa ), lifted the excommunication of Raimond de Turenne and gives up him absolution from everything he had previously suffered under the pontificate of Clement VII as well as from himself. Raimond VIII even accepted that Ameil du Breuil, the Archbishop of Tours , was given the task of releasing him from excommunication. At that time the Viscount would have been in his county of Beaufort-en-Vallée, which was under the Archdiocese of Tours.

Finally, Charles VI sent . of France on September 22, 1411 a letter to his Seneschal of Limousin regarding a complaint made by his "beloved and faithful cousin Raimond de Turenne, Comte de Beaufort et d'Alès, Viscount de Turenne et de Valernes " regarding the fortress of Cazillac , the is located in the center of the vice-county of Turenne and serves as a refuge for the king's enemies. Charles VI agrees with the viscount and calls on the seneschal to have the castle destroyed.

Antoinette, Raimond's only daughter, and his son-in-law Boucicaut, did not appear until April 4, 1413 as Viscount and Viscountess de Turenne. Raimond de Turenne therefore died without a doubt in March of this year. Where he died is as unknown as the place of burial.

literature

• Abbé E. Rose, Raymond de Turenne , Pont-Saint-Esprit, 1858.
• L. Bonnement, Mémoires de Bertrand Boysset. Contenant ce qui est arrivé de plus remarquable particulièrement à Arles et en Provence depuis 1372 jusqu'en 1414 , Le Musée. Revue arlésienne, historique et littéraire, 1876–1877.
• Jean Le Fèvre, Journal de Jean Le Fèvre, évêque de Chartres, chancelier des rois de Sicile Louis Ier et Louis II d'Anjou, Volume I, 1877 , Paris, sur la base du manuscrit de la Bibliothèque nationale de France : Ms. fr . 5015 from July 28, 1381 to June 13, 1388.
• N. Valois, Raymond de Turenne et les Papes d'Avignon (1386–1408), Annales du Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire de France , 1889.
• R. Brun, Annales avignonnaises de 1382 à 1410 extraites des Archives Datini, Mémoires de l'Institut historique de Provence , 1935 to 1938.
• P. Ronzy, Le voyage de Grégoire XI ramenant la papauté d'Avignon à Rome (1376–1377), suivi du texte latin et de la traduction française de l'Itenerarium Gregorii XI de Pierre Amielh , Publications de l'Institut français de Florence , 1952.
• Régis Veydarier, Raymond de Turenne dans l'historiographie provençale: une mythe national? in: Évènement, identité et histoire (Cl. Dolan), Sillery, 1991.
• Jean-Pierre Saltarelli, Les véritables portraits de Clément VI, Grégoire XI et des Roger de Beaufort, vicomtes de Turenne , Bulletin de la Société scientifique, historique et archéologique de la Corrèze, Volume 128, 2006.
• Jean-Pierre Saltarelli, La campagne d'Italie de Raymond de Turenne (1372-1373) , Bulletin de la Société scientifique, historique et archéologique de la Corrèze, volume 130, 2008.

Web links

• Raymond Roger, vicomte de Turenne, et les papes d'Avignon (1386–1408) ( gallica online )

Remarks

1. ↑ Louis d'Anjou wanted to benefit from the return of Pope Urban V to Rome and to conquer the county of Provence. At this time cf. VL Bourrily, Duguesclin et le duc d'Anjou en Provence (1368) , Revue Historique, Volume 152, 1926, and Histoire de Provence , Édouard Baratier (ed.), Toulouse, 1976. The Carpentras City Archives (CC. 154, Folio 3) makes it clear: rebellione quam faciebant laboratores . That was the name given to the rural people, the workers and the artisans.
2. ^ Deed of donation in the Cancelleria Decemvirale (Archivio di Stato, Perugia ). These fiefs are Sarteano , Cetona , Chianciano , Piegaro , Monteleone , Panicale , Paciano , Monticchiello , Camporsevole and Castiglione del Lago . In Tuscany, Guillaume III. Roger de Beaufort known as Guglielmo di Beaufort , also known as le Villata . His son Raimond the Turenne ( Raimondo de Turenna ) is listed among the most famous comrades in arms, as are the Visconti's two sons-in-law , John Hawkwood and Bernardon de la Salle , who will be among his captains in Provence and Italy.
3. ↑ See Adolphe de Coston, Histoire de Montélimar et des principales familles qui ont habité cette ville , Volume 1. Montélimar, 1878.
4. ↑ Toujours also légitime est pour [Raimond de Turenne], malgré le rétrécissement du champ doctrinal et éthique que cela suppose, la guerre privée qu'il mène contre la papauté d'Avignon et le comté de Provence dans la mesure où il la justifie tant sur le plan du droit que sur le plan politique , in: Raymond de Turenne: la deuxième maison d'Anjou et la Provence. Étude d'une rébellion nobiliaire à la fin du XIVe , Dissertation Montreal 1994, p. 365
5. ↑ "But rebellions of this kind, which are inherent in the feudal system, are of interest only insofar as they make it possible to assess the degree of solidity of this system through the more or less great speed and ease with which they are suppressed." - ( “Mais les rebellions de cette sorte, inhérentes au système féodal, ne sont intéressantes qu'en tant qu'elles permettent d'apprécier le degré de solidité de ce système, par le plus ou moins de rapidité et de facilité avec lesquelles elles sont étouffées . ”) Explains Émile Guillaume Léonard , the eminent historian of Queen Jeanne and the First House of Anjou .
6. ^ "Raymond de Turenne est de ceux qui portent coutumièrement leur bon droit à la pointe de leurs épées et leurs documents en leurs armes."
7. ↑ Si nostre Saint Père ou autres disoient que l'on traitait ou eut traité du mariage du frère (Charles de Tarente) dudit roi de Sicile avec ladite fille (Antoinette), qu'il soit répondu que ledit messire Raymond a dit qu'il aimeroit mieux que sa fille fût morte que ce qu'elle fût mariée au frère dudit roi. Car il est trop grand seigneur. Et la veux marier à homme de qui il puisse être servi et qu'il s'en tient être honoré, et non pas à seigneur devant qui lui faudroit agenouiller .
8. ↑ "assurément, il était d'humeur belliqueuse et avait l'âme d'un chef. S'il avait employé ses talents naturels d'homme d'action au service d'une noble cause, nul doute que la postérité l'aurait reconnu comme un grand capitaine; malheureusement, il n'eut pas suffisamment de sagesse et d'intelligence pour comprendre que son entreprise, à longue échéance, était vouée à la faillite ”, JM Marsily, Pertuis. Miettes d'Histoire locale par le chanoine H. Trouillet , Marseille, 1951
9. ^ César de Nostredame, L'histoire et chronique de Provence, par Cæsar de Nostradamus, gentilhomme provençal , Lyon, 1614.
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Il étoit de taille pleine et carrée, plutôt grand que petit, avoit des membres forts et robustes, la teste gross et ronde, le visage plein et gras, le teint couleur de miel et tirant sur la basané, avoit le poil crespé et noir, les sourcils et yeux de mesme, à l'entre-deux des sourcils ayant la chair surenflée et avoit le nez qui tirant sur l'aquilin… Au demeurant ayant l'aspect assez fier et agréable tout ensemble, ressemblant à un homme de bonne et haute maison et qui facilement ne supportoit pas une injustice , Bulletin de la Société Historique de la Corrèze, p. 76.
11. ↑ Louis Barthélemy, Inventaire chronologique et analytique des chartes de la maison des Baux , Marseille, 1882, (No. 1692).
12. ↑ Vatican Apostolic Archives , Benedict XIII. stayed in Porto Venere until June 16, 1408.
13. ↑ Archives nationales , R2 41, No. 69 et vidimus du lundi suivant le 15 octobre 1411.