Roger Bernard I. (Foix)

Roger Bernard I († November 1188 ), known as le Gros ("the fat one" or "the fat one"), was Count of Foix from 1148 until his death . He was the only son of Count Roger III. from Foix and his wife Jimena from Barcelona. On the maternal side, Roger Bernard was a great-grandson of El Cid .

Regency

Under Roger Bernard's reign, the count's authority achieved a consolidation of its power within his sphere of influence. Several of the count's feudal men such as those of Mirepoix , Quie, Roquefort or Génat paid homage to him, and the very influential lords of Dun also joined Foix at the expense of the Counts of Toulouse . Roger Bernard got into a dispute with them over the castle of Saverdun , which the Count had fortified with a tower in 1156. This temporarily ended in 1167 when Roger Bernard Saverdun was able to assert himself, but he had to pay homage to the Count of Toulouse for this castle and its city.

Roger Bernard also attached great importance to the order of his relations with the clerical greats of his county. In 1149 and 1163 he renewed the paréage treaty with the Abbot of St. Antonin, which regulated the division of power between the Count and the Abbot over the city of Pamiers . The count concluded the same contract in 1168 with the Abbey of St. Volusien near Foix .

Wars in Languedoc

The Languedoc at the end of the 12th century

During Roger Bernard's lifetime, the Occitania region was the scene of several wars that were characterized by mutual alliances. The center of these events was the offensive appearance of the Counts of Toulouse and the kings of Aragon, who persisted in gaining hegemony over Languedoc. Above all, the vice counts from the Trencavel house stood in their way.

During this time, Roger Bernard was anxious to withdraw from the Tuscan influence, for which he was ready in 1151 to recognize his uncle Count Raimund Berengar IV of Barcelona as liege lord for the highlands of the County of Foix. When in 1159 Roger Barnard's father-in-law Raimund I. Trencavel, in league with Heinrich Plantagenet , drew a devastating blow against Toulouse, Roger Bernard took a neutral stance. The campaign failed spectacularly a little later after the French King Louis VII appeared on the walls of Toulouse and thus forced the Plantagenet-Trencavel alliance to abandon the siege of this city.

In 1167, Roger Bernard's cousin, King Alfonso II of Aragon , intended to transform his formal overlordship over Carcassonne and Razès into a direct one. This could only be done at the expense of Roger Bernard's brother-in-law, Roger II Trencavel , who had been an ally of Aragon until then. The Trencavel then entered into an alliance with his previous opponent, the Count of Toulouse. When King Alfonso II crossed the Pyrenees with an army in 1170 , Roger Bernard joined him. However, the Catalan's plan was to fail after he failed to capture strategically important castles. The castle of Rhedae in particular offered stubborn resistance, only the city (today's Rennes-le-Château ) was completely destroyed by the Aragonese king. The war ended in 1171, and King Alfonso was only able to book Peyrepertuse Castle and small profits in Fenouillèdes for himself. Roger II Trencavel was supposed to return to Aragon's side in November of the same year.

The last few years

The actions of the Count of Foix during these events illustrate the relationship he has redesigned with his neighbors. While he was distancing himself from the Counts of Toulouse, on whom his ancestors leaned even more, he entered into a vassal relationship to the kings of Aragon that will be important for Foix for the next hundred years. In 1185 he even became an official of the Catalan king when he was appointed governor of the county of Provence where he was to rule for the still underage Count Alfonso II .

Of further importance in Roger Bernard's time was the beginning of the Cathar work in Languedoc. This religious movement, classified as heretical by the Roman official church, should also gain a large following in the count's family, especially through the count's daughter Esclarmonde, and be of great influence for the politics of his descendants.

Count Roger Bernard I died in November 1188 and was buried in Boulbonne Abbey .

Marriage and offspring

Since 1151 Roger Bernard was married to Cecile, a daughter of Raimund I. Trencavel , Vice Count of Carcassonne and Béziers . Both children were:

• Roger († 1182)
• Raimund Roger († March 1223), successor as Count von Foix
• Esclarmonde († around 1215), ∞ Jourdain II. De l'Isle-Jourdain
• Daughter (name unknown), ∞ Arnaud Guillaume de Marquefave

literature

• Claude Devic and Joseph Vaissète Histoire générale de Languedoc . 1841

Web links

• "Short biography of Roger Bernard I. von Foix" (French)

predecessor	Office	successor
Roger III	Count of Foix 1148–1188	Raimund Roger