Xacbert de Barbaira

Coat of arms of Xacbert de Barbaira

Xacbert de Barbaira (also Chabert de Barbeira, * around 1185 , † around 1275 ) was an Occitan knight and Faydit in the 13th century. He was nicknamed "Lion de Combat" ('Battle Lion').

biography

origin

Xacbert was born around 1185 in the Château de l'Alaric, at the foot of the mountain of the same name (under which, according to legend, the bones of the Gothic king Alaric II rest) near Carcassonne , as the son of Guillem Xacbert de Barbaira and Lady Cavanac Born into a Cathar noble clan. His brothers were Ramon Ermengaud and Arnaud Guillem, one sister was called Combors. Nothing is known about Xacbert's childhood and youth.

Albigensian Crusade

Right at the beginning of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229), Alaric was taken by the Crusaders. Xacbert managed to recapture the castle, but had to give it up again in the same year. Almost a year later, in January 1210, he attacked and occupied Montlaur Castle , but lost it to the Crusaders again at Easter. Xacbert was forced to go underground and fought as Faydit in the service of the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VI. , against the conquerors under Simon IV. de Montfort . He took part in the Battle of Baziège and the defense of Toulouse against the Crusaders in 1218/19, in which Montfort fell.

Roussillon and Mallorca

In the years that followed, Barbaira was in the service of Count Nuno Sanchez of Roussillon . In 1223 he became the commander of the Perpignan garrison , which he defended against the rebel Guilhem de Moncarda. At the court of Nuno Sanchez, Xacbert made the acquaintance of Olivier de Termes and Raimund Trencavel , also two Faydits from Languedoc. In the wake of Nuno Sanchez, he took part in the conquest of Mallorca (1229/32) by King Jacob of Aragón , where he distinguished himself through his experience and courage. He rode alongside the king against the Saracens in the victorious battle of Portopí (September 13, 1229) and during the siege of the Ciutat de Mallorca he distinguished himself as a builder of siege engines . Barbaira was given land in Roussillon and Fenouillèdes (Puilaurens) and married Sybille de Parcols in 1233. From this marriage the daughter Xacberta and the son Guillem Bernard emerged.

Riots in Languedoc

In 1240 Barbaira joined the Trencavel uprising together with Termez. He wanted to recapture Carcassonne, his paternal legacy. On their train to Carcassonne, starting in Corbières, they took the fortresses of Aguilar and Montreal. The Montolieu Abbey was destroyed. On September 9th, the siege of Carcassonne began, which had to be broken off on October 12th without success. Two years later, Barbaira supported the uprising of Raymond VII of Toulouse , who also wanted to recapture his legacy. But before the fight broke out, Raimund submitted to royal authority. Barbaira went back to Roussillon. As a follower of the Cathar doctrine , he was excommunicated ; he answered this in the next few years by looting church property.

Last fight and end

Thanks to the influence and mediation of Ramon de Penyafort , the lifting of Barbaira's excommunication from the Pope was achieved. This enabled him to reconcile with the Church in 1247, even if he continued to oppose France. His former comrade in arms, Oliver de Termes, submitted to the French king that same year and, after his return from the Holy Land, played an active role in establishing French rule in Languedoc. He became Barbaira's mortal enemy. This hostility culminated in the siege of Quéribus in 1255 , which had been commanded by Barbaira since 1242 and had been the last Cathar stronghold since the fall of Montségur eleven years earlier. In the end, Barbaira had to give up the castle and went into captivity, which he did not stay long in. After the Fenouillèdes belonging to France was determined in the Treaty of Corbeil , Barbaira went back to Roussillon. There he went into a second marriage with Esclarmonde de Conat (children: Elissende and Xacbert). Barbaira was last mentioned in 1275 when he attended the wedding of the future King of Mallorca, James II , to Esclarmonde de Foix on October 4th . After that his track is lost.

literature

• Jordi Costa i Roca: Xacbert de Barberà. Lion de Combat. 1185-1275. Biography. Llibres Del Trabucaire, Perpinyà 1989, ISBN 2-905828-19-6 .