Treaty of Paris (1229)
The Treaty of Paris from 1229 , also known as the Treaty of Meaux-Paris , ended the Albigensian Wars , which were essentially waged between the King of France and the Count of Toulouse . He also ended Occitania's autonomy vis-à-vis the Kingdom of France .
The signature
The treaty was signed on April 12, 1229 by Blanka of Castile , regent of France for her underage son Louis IX. , and Raymond VII of Toulouse signed. The latter found himself in a politically extremely uncomfortable situation and had no choice but to accept the terms of the contract. He went to Paris as a pilgrim , looked for absolution on the steps of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral , where he scourged himself for his public repentance and then signed the contract. With the signature he found himself again in a legal position vis-à-vis the king and the church, which he bought with the extremely strict conditions that were listed in the document.
The contract clauses
Raimund VII., Count of Toulouse, was forced to join King Louis IX. to subjugate. In addition, he had to cede almost half of his property, especially the old Trencavel vice-counties . Beaucaire and Carcassonne went to the Crown, the Margraviate of Provence (later Comtat Venaissin ) to the Pope . The county of Toulouse lost the possessions in what are now the Gard , Hérault , Drôme , Vaucluse and Aude departments . He kept the Agenais , the Rouergue , the north of the Albigeois and the lower Quercy , i.e. the present-day departments of Haute-Garonne , Lot-et-Garonne , Aveyron , Tarn and Tarn-et-Garonne .
The treaty also provided for the marriage between Joanna of Toulouse , Raimund's heir, and Alfonso of Poitiers , one of the king's brothers, so that the rest of the county was incorporated into the French crown only a matter of time.
In addition, in order to exclude any resistance from the outset, Raimund had to pull most of the fortresses down, including those of Toulouse . Eventually, the Count pledged to found the University of Toulouse to support the fight against heresy (including teaching staff for the next ten years) and some donations to the Church.
Consequences of the contract
The end of Occitan autonomy
With the contract, not only was half of the county of Toulouse ceded, the rest went to the king's family through the marriage between Johanna and Alfons - and finally, with the childless death of the two in 1271, directly to the crown. In addition, a number of Occitan knights were expropriated in favor of royal vassals . These knights, called Chevaliers faydits , later sided with the Cathars against the king and the Inquisition , which saw the light of day two years after the treaty.
The margraviate of Provence actually remained in Alfonso's possession until his death, and even after that the king hesitated until 1274 when he gave the territory to the church in accordance with the provisions of the treaty.
Reinforcing the struggle against the Cathars
In April 1229 Louis IX signed a document that obliged the Occitan vassals who had submitted to him to engage in the fight against the Cathars. Raymond VII now had no choice but to make his powers available to the king for this purpose. From then on the heretics were forced to retreat to fortresses on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees.
Defeat or victory?
The terms of the treaty, which were very harsh and tied the hands of the last Count of the House of Saint-Gilles, can be considered a decisive defeat. Nevertheless, the treaty also restores the position of the Count of Toulouse towards Simon IV. De Montfort , which he had lost in 1216. On the other hand, Raimund VII never fulfilled all the provisions of the treaty, which resulted in several excommunications from the church - his position towards the Cathars and the king remained ambiguous throughout his life.
The parchment
The parchment with the Latin text of the treaty is in the archives of the Musée de l'histoire de France ; it is - without a seal - 52 × 75.5 cm in size.