Who's Who In The Cathar War: Raymond-Roger Trencavel (1184-1209),
Viscount of Carcassonne, Béziers, Albi and the Razès (1194-1209)
(
Ramon-Roger Trencavel,  Raimond-Roger
de Trencavel)
  It
was Raymond-Roger Trencavel, Viscount of Béziers
and Carcassonne,
who faced the full force of the first crusade.
Ramon
VI of Toulouse had proposed an alliance with Raymond-Roger,
his nephew, and when the offer was rejected he offered his
submission to the Crusaders and joined the Crusade.
 Aware
that the Crusaders were on the way, Raymond-Roger reconsidered
his position and joined them en route to offer his submission
too, but it was rejected. (If he joined them as well,
his lands would be protected and there would be no-where
for the Crusaders to destroy and pillage - which is why
Arnaud Amaury rejected the offer.) Raymond-Roger returned
to Carcassonne,
ordering Béziers
to prepare for action on his way. He sent all Jews
away to safety, knowing that the Catholic army would kill
them if they ever got hold of them. This was a precaution
as no-one expected Béziers to fall, and certainly
not for a long time.
Everyone had known that the Jews would have been slaughtered
if the town fell, but not that the Crusaders would massacre
everybody they found, Catholics included, if they took the
town, as they did on 22nd of July 1208. Still under
the command of their leader Arnaud
Amaury Abbot of Cīteaux, appointed by Pope
Innocent III, the Crusaders now turned towards Carcassonne.
From 1st to 15th of August Carcassonne
was besieged. Raymond-Roger Trencavel was seized during
a truce. Without their commander the inhabitants surrendered.
The Crusaders expelled the inhabitants with a day's safe conduct,
so that they could loot at leisure.
Raymond-Roger was imprisoned in his own cachette.
Peter
II of Aragon of Aragon, his suzerain, could not help
him and left the Crusaders bitter and disappointed.
It was at this stage that Simon
de Montfort was appointed to hold Raymond-Roger's territories,
and so took over leadership of the Crusaders who stayed.
|
Raymond-Roger Trencavel, Viscount of Carcassonne,
Béziers, Albi and the Razès died in
mysterious circumstances in his own prison on 10th
of November 1208, a few weeks after his capture.
He was aged just 24.
He left an infant son, Raymond II, who became the
ward of Raymond
Roger Count of Foix. He later sought exile in
Aragon,
returning during the course of the later Cathar Wars
in a failed attempt to reclaim his rightful lands
and titles.
|
|
|
Raymond-Roger Trencavel's
mysterious death seems to have been generally
recognised as murder: At the Fourth Lateran
Council in 1215 Raymond of Roquefeuil made the
accusation explicit and no-one, including Innocent
III, demured. The Canso
laisse146 cites Raymond's words in respect of
the right's of the dead Viscount's infant son:
"My lord, true Pope, have pity on an orphan
child, young and in exile, son of the honoured
viscount whom the crusaders and Sir Simon de
Montfort took charge of and then killed. Wrongfully
and shamefully he was martyred and paratge
brought low, brought down by a third, by a half,
and yet you have no cardinal or abbot in your
court who believes more truly in the Christian
faith than he did. As they have killed the father
and disinherited the son, will you, My Lord,
give him his fief and keep your own dignity?
And if you refuse to give it to him, may God
do you the grace to add the weight of his sins
to your own soul! If you do not appoint a day
soon to give him his fief, then I myself claim
it. I claim the right and the inheritance from
you on the Day of Judgement when we shall all
be judged". This speach was well received.
The barons commented to each other how well
he had laid the accusation and the Pope said
"This shall certainly be seen to".
That his crusaders had murdered
the Viscount would hardly have been news to
the Pope. In a letter two years earlier Innocent
III himself acknowledged in writing to Arnaud
Amoury and others that Raymond-Roger Trencavel
had been "wretchedly slain" - "miserabiliter
interfectus" {Patrologiae Latina (J-P
Migne, Paris, 1844-64) v 216, col 739}.
|
|
Click on the following link for more about Raymond
Trencavel II
Click on the following link for more about the
House of Trencavel
Click on the following link for more about the
arms of fighters in the Cathar Wars
Click on the following link for more on Peter
II King of Aragon
Click on the following link to learn more about Raymond
VI Count of Toulouse
Click on the following link to learn more about the
House of Toulouse
|
|
Back to Raymond VII |
|
Next Page: Count
of Foix 
|
|
Pope
Innocent III |
Timeline
|
Raymond
VI of Toulouse |
| Arnaud
Amaury |
|
Raymond
VII of Toulouse |
| Simon
de Montfort |
Peter
II, King of Aragon |
| Amaury
de Montfort |
Raymond
Roger, Count of Foix |
| Bernard
of Clairvaux (Saint Bernard) |
The Cistercian Order |
Roger
Bernard II, Count of Foix |
| Dominic
Guzmán (St. Dominic) |
The
Dominican Order |
Roger
IV, Count of Foix |
| Bernard
Gui (Dominican Inquisitor) |
Heraldry
of the Cathar Crusade |
Esclarmonde
of Foix |
| Philip
Augustus, King of France |
Henry
II, King of England |
Raymond-Roger
Trencavel |
| Louis
VIII, King of France |
Richard I, King of England
|
Raymond
Trencavel II |
| Blanche
de Castile |
John,
King of England |
Count
of Comminges: |
| Louis
IX, King of France |
Henry
III, King of England |
Viscount
of Béarn |
| Pierre Des Vaux-de-Cernay |
|
Savoric de Mauléon et al |
| Fulk (Folquet) de Marsielle |
|
|
| Jacques Fournier |
|
Guilhem Belibaste |
|
|
|
