Raimund Berengar V. (Provence)

Statue of Raimund Berenger V of Provence in the Saint-Jean-de-Malte church in Aix-en-Provence

Raimund Berengar V of Provence (* 1205 in Aix-en-Provence , † August 19, 1245 ibid) was a count of Provence and Forcalquier . He was a son of Count Alfonso II of Provence and the Garsinde (Gersende, Garsenda) of Sabran, Countess of Forcalquier. His grandfather was King Alfonso II of Aragon .

After the death of his father in 1209, Raimund Berengar was educated at the Aragonese court in Monzón , while his great-uncle, Count Sancho von Roussillon, initially ruled Provence for him. In 1219 he was able to take over the government himself. In his intention to centralize rule in Provence, he led an anti-urban policy. He made use of the Albigensian Crusade of the French King Louis VIII , who conquered Avignon in 1226 and then withdrew the city's privileges. Raimund Berengar also abolished the consulates in Arles and Tarascon , and he was at war with Marseille for a long time. In terms of foreign policy, he initially leaned on his liege lord, Emperor Frederick II , to win him over as an ally against the Count of Toulouse . He supported the emperor in the fight against the Lombard cities, but after the failure before Brescia in 1239 he switched to the side of the pope, for which he was banned from the empire. This drove Raimund Berengar to the side of France, and the marriages of his daughters began the increasing alienation of Provence from the Holy Roman Empire .

After his death, Raimund Berengar was buried in the church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte in Aix-en-Provence.

progeny

On June 5, 1219 he married Beatrix of Savoy (1201-1266) a daughter of Count Thomas I of Savoy . The couple had four surviving daughters. The two eldest were married to kings who were already ruling, while the husbands of the two younger ones later attained royal dignities. The youngest daughter was appointed by Raimund Berengar as heir to his lands.

• Raimund (died early)
• Margaret of Provence (1221–1295) married Louis IX. the saint the King of France and had eleven children with them, including the later King of France Philip III. and Robert von Clermont , the founder of the Bourbon dynasty .

• Eleanor of Provence (1223–1291) married Henry III. Plantagenet the King of England and had nine children with him, including the future King of England Edward the Longshanks .

• Sancha von der Provence (1225–1261) married Richard of Cornwall, who later became the Roman-German king, had three sons with him and thus became the ancestral mother of the House of Cornwallis.

• Beatrix of Provence (1231-1267) married Charles of Anjou, her brother-in-law and King of Naples and Sicily, and had seven children with him, including the later King of Naples and Sicily, Charles II of Anjou , the later Latin Empress Beatrix and the later Queen of Hungary Isabella.

literature

• Bruno W. Häuptli:  Raimund Berengar V. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 1118-1122.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Alfonso II	Count of Provence 1209–1245	Beatrix