Opening Moves
Resultant of these crises, the Midi was divided into two clans. The one, supporters of Berenguer Ramon, are supported by his elder brother, Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and the viscounts of Carcassonne, Béziers, Nîmes. The other, supporters of Stephanie and Raymond, have the support of Toulouse, the county of Foix, Arles (until 1150), and even the Republic of Genoa, to whom can be attached the attack on Melgueil in 1144, during which Berenguer Ramon died. He was succeeded in his claim by his young son Ramon Berenguer II.
According to the historian Louis Mathieu Anibert, a man of Arles, his city appointed a consulate to prepare for the occasion of war (1131):
| “ | . . . les préparatifs de guerre que faisaient sourdement les Seigneurs des Baux, contre la Maison de Barcelone à la mort de Raymond-Berenger premier et peut-être quelque temps auparavant, durent décider les Arlésiens à ce grand changement, et engager l’Archevêque à s’y prêter. Les circonstances exigeaient qu’on donnât à la Ville des Chefs capables de porter les armes au besoin.
. . . the preparations which the lords of Baux duly made, against the house of Barcelona upon the death of Ramon Berenguer the first and perhaps some time before, forced the men of Arles to decide on a great change, and they urged the archbishop to take it up. The circumstances demanded that one give to the city leaders capable of carrying arms as needed. |
” |
At the opening of the conflict, Raymond of Baux made an appeal to Conrad III, who was technically the King of Burgundy, though this title meant more in theory than in practice. Provence being, legally at least, a fief of the Burgundian kingdom, Raymond begged for his sovereign's recognition of the rights of Stephanie as heir to the possessions of Gerberga. By an act of 4 August 1145, with little precision of wording, Conrad validated the right of Stephanie and Raymond to their titles and granted them the power of coining money at Arles and at Trinquetaille. The latter was a great aid to their aspirations.
Read more about this topic: Baussenque Wars
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