Oh, don't worry, milady. I have an idea about reorganizing Spain...Sad that it's sundering. I liked me a nice organized looking Spain.
Regnum Visigothorum
- Thread starter Kurt_Steiner
- Start date
Because you know me a bit and are familiar with my love for dirty tricks?Why am I afraid of asking how?..
..
Update incomming. Some old friends so far missing are going to say "hello!" in their unique way...
This is gonna hurt, isn't it?
Oh well, I'm still enjoying this TL.
Not too much. At least not to me, milady.
7. The decadence of the old Visigothic Spania (1028-1120).
7. The decadence of the old Visigothic Spania (1028-1120).
Unexpectedly, the man who was to be, without a shred of a doubt, the most important man in Spania was Sancius, lord of the small dukedom of Pampelona, who played with a great success his cards and became the kingmaker of his age. Between 1032 and 1040 he was allied with Thorismund, king of Toledo, who had risen to the throne by murdering and poisoning his rivals, thus an uneasy peace was kept as neither Recceswinth, king of the West, nor Chindasuith of the Baetica were able to put up their differences in face of their common enemy. Meanwhile, King Tulga of Gallaecia just played a dangerous game, either supporting Chindausith either moving closer to Thorismund that, eventually, would push Recceswinth to ally with Sancius as Thorismund and Tulga became allies after Chundausith was murdered in a court plot and his kingdom sank into chaos and civil strife in 1040. If the Baetica was not invaded and its spoils divided among the victorious kings was due to the deep mistrust that Thorismund had towards Tulga, who, in the end, was murdered in 1051 by his ally.
By then all the surviving kings and the new lord of the Baetica, Chintila, began to ally between them with the marriage of their grandsons. And by then, their kingdoms had become highly "feudalized". The aristocrats were, again, the dominant force in politics and society, after the crisis of the previous decades that had damaged their power. However, by the 1050s, in all Spania there was a closed group of about 70 large families, who monopolised the magistracies, church priesthoods and senior military posts of their kingdoms, which made their kings, specially in the Baetica, to be just a decorative figure.
Then, an old enemy returned again. Yusuf Ibn Tašufín, the Almoravid ruler of Morocco, smelling the blood in the air, crossed the strait with an army and attacked Chintila's kingdom in 1086. He crushed the Visigothic army in Sagrajas and, by 1094, he had conquered the whole southern kingdom and pushed the forces of the kingdom of the West back to Murcia while advacing and taking Badajoz and Lisbon. Hardly had the damage from the Muslim invasion been partially adressed, that the crisis of 1112 would take all by surprise. King Louis VI of France had to face challenges to his royal authority since he ascended to the throne in 1108. Thus, in 1112, he led his risky nobilty in a sacking expedition against Pampelona. Even if this was not a surprise (two smalls wars had rocked the relations between the duke of Tolouse and the king of Pampelona), King Sancius II's forces were overwhelmed by the enemy's numbers and ferocity. The Pampeloneses met the French in pitched battle at the Battle of Izruzun. The French forces defeated the defenders and pursued them back to Pampelona, which was sacked. This would mark the end of the preeminence of the Pampelonese kingdom in Spania's affairs.
As Europe placed its attention in the Holy Land with the First Crusade (1119-1120) and the victorious recovery of Jerusalem, Spania was to play his own Crusade version, that would change the history of Spania and of the world forever.
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Cú_Chulainn
Banned
Are all these new kingdoms still following Arianism? I don't see how that can last with the possibility of one of the Kings converting to Catholicism to get recognition from the Pope and Europe as true king of Spania. How integrated are the Hispano Romans with the Visigoths after 500+ years of rule?
Not really. I'll explain how is the religious situation "right now" in a future chapter. Since good old Euric the Blessed, Arianism is going down, I can tell you that.
The Visigoths are around 5% of the total population. Mixed marriages were allowed at the end of TTL 6th century (more or less as IOTL). The biggest and clearest difference between the two peoples is religion, as I will explain, as, otherwise, Visigoths and Hispano Romans have blended quite well. They dropped their language for Latin and even if power relies on the Visigothic nobility, the local lords have managed to make room from themselves in the high offices. To sum up, the Visigoths are more Hispano Roman than Visigothic.
8. The Sword and the Cross (726-1120)
8. The Sword and the Cross (726-1120)
The visigoths were a rather odd conquerors, as they had not attempted neither to convert their subjects into their faith nor to force the Hispano Romans to learn their language. In fact, both Arrian and Catholic cult went along with any interference from any of the faiths. In fact, Theodoric II had accepted Catholicism to win the support of this Frankish subjects, a policy that was copied by Wamba when Tolouse was lost and the Visigothic kingdom was reduced to its Spanian dominions. As we have seen, the first attempt to cover the religious gap had been when Witteric III made and effort to unite the Visigothic-Arian elite and the Hispano-Roman Catholic population through a doctrinal compromise on matters of faith, but his efforts failed, Thus, after this failure, religion became a weapon that was used with great ease during the Great Crisis of the IX Century.
When Gundebar I (726-781) invited Frankish settlers to come to Spania, they brought with them their Catholic faith and when the Frankish Odro became the dux of Barcino, he enforced the conversion of the Arian followers into Catholicism or face inmediate execution. However, when Euric, dux of the Baetica, renounced Arianism for Catholicism and proclaimed himself king in 812, even if many Arian nobles and ecclesiastics followed his example, it was a mistake that damaged the standing of Catholicism in Spania, as it was associated with the usurper and was very bad received among the Arian elite. In fact, many Spanian Catholics were murdered in those troubled days regardless of the side they were taking. Thus, when Reccared, dux of Leon revolted in 815 with the support of the Arian bishop, Athaloc, many Arian nobles flocked to his side more for religious issue than for any question of legality. In fact, Reccared, once he was king, put an end to the religious persecutions. However, when Reccared died in 851, the religious divide was too serious to have the two faiths going along.
Then Euric the Blessed attempted his religious revolution, when he tried to overcome the differences with a new faith inspired in Bogomilism, but without too much success. In fact, his faith died with him as his son and heir was unable to preserve the changes and, eventually, those Spanians who followed the new faith were persecuted by both faiths and burn at the stake. Wilfred I understood the lesson and openly sided with the Catholic church, which would lead, among many other causes, to the failed conspiracy of 955. Wilfred III would convert into Catholicism. For him, religious was another piece of his "Spaniatization" process of Lusitania.
Wilfred III's conversion marked the end of Arianism in Spain (and in Europe), as freedom of worshiped was forbidden. Arianism was persecuted, though, but the cult was forbidden. The Council of Ilerda (1) in 966 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them under the blessings of Rome. Then, the Council of Toletum (991) egulated many matters of discipline, decreed uniformity of liturgy throughout the kingdom and ennacted stringent measures against baptized Jews who had relapsed into their former faith. However, during the civil strife that followed after the death of Wilfred IV, Chindasuith of the Baetica wanted to reintroduce the Arian religion. As we know, he was dethroned by a conspiracy and killed at a banquet in 1040. The fact that he was buried in unconsecrated soil lead us to think that his Arian reform was more serious that the chronicles tell. From this year on, Arianism was hotly persecuted in Spanism, sharing the faith of the Jewish population, as both religions were targeted as enemies of the State and of the Catholic church.
The Muslim invasion increased the fanatism and the pace of conversion. Theudisegel, king of the West, ennacted a law in 1095 by which Arians and Jews were offered "baptism within a year or flogging, exile and confiscation of goods". However, he also adopted a hard stance with both clergy and noblel who got to feel that it was the king who was lord of the country. He also abolished Roman law, as Witteric I had done in 680 and Gundebar had reversed in 740. With Gundebar the Goths been convicted by Gothic law and the kingdom's other population by Roman law. Now Theudisegel decreed that henceforth both Goths and the other inhabitants should be judged by Gothic law in his lands. This would be also coppied by the other Visigoth kings of the Peninsula in the next decades, as the different kingdoms strenghtened their relations in face of the Muslim and other foreign threats.
(1) Present day Lleida/Lérida
9. The "royal triumvirate" (1120-1186)
The wedding of Wallia IV and Grisajald in 1177
9. The "royal triumvirate" (1120-1186)
By 1120 a new generation of Visigothic leaders sat the different thrones of Spania. Gundemar III, king of the West, and Sigeric IV, king of Toletum, were the most powerful king after the Muslim conquest of the Baetica and the crushing defeat suffered by Pampelona. However, king Adalfuns of Gallaecia was not the man to be let down and shadowed the moves of his two main rivals, who he deeply hated. From 1120 to 1123, Gundemar III forced Wigila, dux of Pampelona first to cede the lands in dispute between them by a combination of diplomatic and military pressure. Around this time, Segeric IV and Adalfuns I tried to solve their land claims in a peaceful and even way, but to no avail. Then, in 1148, Segeric IV moved against the Muslims. First he crossed the border and surrounded Corduba. As the city did not surrender at once, the siege began in earnest. When the city fell in april 1149, he left a strong garrisson in the city and then moved to the north to raid and pillage those lands. However, on the way he discovered that Gundemar III had been plotting and conspiring on his back. By a combination of bribes and promises, he had created within the royal court of Toletum a group of support led by several minor earls, among them Haimerik, earl of Salamantica. Some noblemen close to the king were put to death by Haimerik, who acussed them of abusing his position and the absence of Segeric, and then he sat there as a royal chancellor, winning supporters with Gundermar's gold.
It goes without saying that Segeric IV raged at hearing this. He turned his army toward Toletum and entered the city as he was ready to fight a battle in its streets. However, hearing that the king was comming back, Haimerik's own men had murdered him. By 1150, he had purged his kingdom of traitors and instituted a reign of terror. When he died in 1156, his son Wallia IV reformed the Aula Regia, which had been ignored and in decadence since Reccared I the Conqueror 's days. With Wallia the Aulia Regia went from being the Germanic thing to become a body close to the Roman senate, while following Germanic traditions similar to the Anglosaxon folcgemōt, but under the king's close control. Then, in 1161, he offered an alliance to king Sisenad III of the West and king Adalfuns II of Gallaecia. This was called the "royal triumvirate". It was during this time when Pampelona was divided and annexed by Sisenad and Wallia, who also settled his lands issue with Adalfuns by giving up all the lands to the west of Ponte Ferrato (1).
From then on, the three kings devoted their attention to the delicate situation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and used the chance to show their fealty to Rome and the truthfulness of the faith by joining the Second Crusade (1165-1168) and sending their own expeditions against Egypt (1169-1171) and Syria (1173-1175). However, the death of the closest and more powerful ally of Jerusalem, Emperor Manuel, would leave the kingdom again in a difficult situation when Baldwin III of Jerusalem, called "the Saint" (2), was crowned on the following year. As the "royal triumvirate" was not at heart a union of those with the same ideals and ambitions, but one where the kings were seeking their personal advantage, the first cracks on it began to appear during the expedition to Syria, as the three kings quarrelled during the siege of Damascus about the looting of the city. This quarrell was, according to the chronicles, one of the main causes that led to the failure of the siege of the city in 1175. From then on, the relations between Wallia and Sisenad, went from slightly bad to absolutely terrible. However, when Wallia IV married Sisenad III's daugther Grisajald in 1177, the crisis seemed to be comming to and end.
In 1178 Sisenad III went to war against al-Ḥakam IV of Corduba. Initially, he was left to his own devices and Wallia IV seemed to be interested only in his wife. This, however, changed in 1179, when Grisajald died and Sisenada crushed the combined armies of al-Hakam of Corduba and al-Manṣūr, the Almohad Caliph in the battle of Ubeda, when, against all odds, he destroyed an enemy host twice his numbers. From then on, he conquered singlehandledly the Muslim Baetica. To make it worse for Wallia, even Adalfuns II had been able to take profit from the calamity that doomed al-Manṣūr and conquered the Algarve. By 1181, the war was over when the last Muslim fort, Ẏabal Tāriq (2), fell in Sisenad's hands. However, this incredible success had poisoned Sisenad's relations with his son in law and Wallia IV became obssesed with the destruction of his father in law and main rival. As Adalfuns II had died in 1180 and his heir, Athalward, was only 7 years old, this left Wallia and Sisenad facing each other.
It was just a matter of time that both kings were to loose their temper and events came to a head. And they did in 1185.
(1) Present day Ponferrada.
(2) No lepper king tis time.
(3) Present day Gibraltar.
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Cú_Chulainn
Banned
Have the Lusitania, Gallaecia and Toletum developed separate identities strong enough to prevent reunification after this war or does the fact that there is a Visigoths elite make it so integration of the kingdoms wouldn't account for local customs and so be manageable. I think there is a chance mountainous Gallaecia with its regional history of rebelliousness and unruliness could maintain independence until the renaissance but it would take a considerable amount of luck as in OTL for this Lusitanian realm to survive.
I'm also interested in the possibilities if the Merino wool industry to develop way earlier ITTL due to Christian control over the whole central Maseta. In OTL this annual herding of the sheep was made impossible by the ongoing holy war and so couldn't prosper until the 14th century or later. This could bring great wealth the the Toletan kingdom. The population of this kingdom would also be much higher than IOTL because of the lack of need to colonize reconquered areas and general higher stability.
I'm also interested in the possibilities if the Merino wool industry to develop way earlier ITTL due to Christian control over the whole central Maseta. In OTL this annual herding of the sheep was made impossible by the ongoing holy war and so couldn't prosper until the 14th century or later. This could bring great wealth the the Toletan kingdom. The population of this kingdom would also be much higher than IOTL because of the lack of need to colonize reconquered areas and general higher stability.
10. The Visigothic civil wars (1186-1191)
10. The Visigothic civil wars (1186-1191)
The war began when Sisenard decided to remove a threat to his kingdom by invading Pampelona (January, 10, 1186). Sancius II, duke of Pampelona, feared for his life (for many good reasons) and fled his lands with a small retinue, flying to Toletum. Thus, Sisenard was able to conque the dukedom without a fight. Then, by surprise, Sisenard marched to Ovetum. With a fast pace, he arrived there before any strong resistance could be organized and forced Fafila, dux of Ovetum, to offer battle in his own conditions. Ludovic withdrew, taking only light losses, but his army was utterly demoralized by the time that they took protection behind the walls of the city on May 15. The city held until August 2, when it surrendered after defeating several attacks of the besieging army, which 700 men in the process for 200 of the defenders. Fafila, leaving the doomed city, raced towards Toletum with a few followers. Most of his formers soldiers gladly joined Sisenard side.
Finally, on June 1187, Wallia marched north with all his forces available to face Sisenard on the battlefield. On July 10, the two fought in the battle of Araviana, and Sisenard, after suffering 1,000 casualties, was forced to withdraw. However, Wallia, who had lost 2,000 men, misinterpreted the retreat as a feint into a trap, and did not give chase to deliver the decisive coup de grâce, thus losing hin only chance to conclude the war. One Month later, on August 9, the two met again, in Náxera (2), where Sisenard crushed the much larger enemy army. Wallia left the field and retreated towards Toletum, where he was assasinated by some of his noblemen who hoped to win Sisenard's good will with this. The first Visigothic war was over, and Sisenard was the indisputed king of both Toletum, the West and the Baetica. Only Gallaecia was still independent.
However, Sisenard had to put down two rebellions, the first one in 1189 and the next one in 1190. After this, the first civil war was over. However, when he was planning the invasion of Gallaecia, Sisenard died of unknown causes in Toletum, which led to the second civil war (1190-91). As soon as the news of Sisenard's death was known around the country, a nobleman rebelled. He was Pelagius, a Visigoth nobleman, the son of Fafila, dux of Ovetum, who was killed by Sisenard at Náxera. He was supported by Khindaswinth , king of Gallaecia. Sisenard's two sons, Recceswinth and Theodofred, and the closest advisor of the late king, Leovigild, mustered the royal host and their allies and subjects and marched north to defeat the rebel.
According to the chronicle, the rebel army was made up by 17,000 men while the royal brothers had 19,000 with them. The two armies clashed twice. The first time was outside Salamantica (3), on March 1191, where the rebels managed to win a phyrric victory againt their enemies. However, the next clash, two weeks later, saw the royalists defeating their enemies, who withdrew with light losses. However, as he was leaving the field, Leovigild fell from his horse and broke his neck. Even if the death of Leovigild was a hard blow for the royal brothers, the defeat at Salamantica was a complete disaster to Pelagius, as some of the nobles who were with him negotiated their surrender to Recceswith and Theodofred and entered their service A third encounter, on April 23, ended with the destruction of the rebel force. Pelagius, defeated, withdrew with hardly 4,000 men under his command. Seeing that he could not escape to Gallaecia and that he was going to be captured, he commited suicide the next day.
(1) Present day Logroño.
(2) Nájera.
(3) Salamanca.
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That's my idea, to give the Gallaecians some reasons to feel different from their eastern neighbours. And yes, the Meseta is going to play a big role in the fortunes of the Toletan kingdom, in due time.
11. The consolidation of the Visigothic kingdom under Theodofred I (1191-1220)
Theodofredus Rex Spaniae
11. The consolidation of the Visigothic kingdom under Theodofred I (1191-1220)
Once the war was over, Recceswinth and Theodofred divided the kingdom. The former was to rule the Western part and the latter the Eastern. However, quite unexpectedly, Recceswinth died in 1193. He was 42 years old and left two sons and two daugthers. However, the Aula Regis of Toletum elected no son of late king as his heir, but his own brother, Theodofred, who was 30. Anyway, Theodofred I named his elder nephew, Chindaswith, as his heir, as by then the king had only a daughter and no son. Thus, Chindaswith was recognized as the heir by the Aula Regis of both Toletum and Barcino.
By 1197 the king had to deal with one problem with two faces: both his wife Recciberga and his closest friend, Alhreiks, dux of Astura, became alienated by having Chindaswith as the heir to the throne. That spring, Theodofred suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the coronation of his nephew. However, he changed his mind and in his last will he named Alhreiks as his succesor while making Wifred, dux of Tarraco, the commander of the royal hosts. To the surprise of many, Chindaswith came away empty-handed and he died later that year.
In 1208, as Phillip II of France had his hands full dealing with the English king and the German Emperor, Theodofred I embarked in the conquest of Sicily, which had been conquered by the Muslims in 965. The landing of his forces in Licata marked the beginning of a long campaign that was to last until 1217, when the last Saracen strongpoint, Noto, was conquered. The king returned his attention to France, as Phillip II had crushed his enemies at Bouvines. Theodofred had a deep and severe mistrust of the French king, for unknown reasons. It was then when Pope Gelasius III sent a delegation of friars to the province of Languedoc (1218) to assess the situation as the Cathars of tha area were seen as not showing proper respect for the authority of the French king or the local Catholic Church. In 1220 Theodeoric invaded Malta and, after conuering it, began to colonize it with Roman-visigothic settlers from Spania.
Then, the dangerous situation in the Languedoc came to a head in April 1220 when the old duke of Tolouse, Raymond VI, was excommunicated for being sympathetic to Catharism and an interdict placed on his lands. When Lotario dei Conti di Segni, the senior papal legate, was murdered after a heated and failed meeting with Roger-Raymond, the son and heir of the duke, Pope Calixtus IV not only declared Raymond anathematized and released all of his subjects from their oaths of obedience to him, but also called for a crusade against the Albingensians. At the same time, Al-Afdal, Emir of Damascus, allied himself with his brother Al-Aziz, Sultan of Egypt, and invaded the kingdom of Jerusalem.
12. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -1-
12. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -1-
Conflict came into being in 1121. The Crusaders captured the small village of Servian and then headed for Béziers, arriving on July 21, 1221. When Roger-Raymond of Tolouse arrived with a relief army, battle ensued. The massive Crusader army crushed the tiny forces that attacked them and, to make it worse, Roger-Raymond was slain during the withdrawal by a Flemish mercenary that failed to recognize his arms. Just a few days later, Duke Raymond VI died misteriously. He had been poisoned.
The war could have ended there, but Roger Raymond was married with Gelvira, the younger sister of Theodofred I, and the regent of Toulouse in behalf of his two years son, Raymond VII of Toulouse, turned to his royal brother for protection. Thus had the king of Spania the chance of recovering the lands lost 700 years back. Thus, as Gelvira recognized Theodofred as the feudal lord of Toulouse. The Spanian king at once demanded the Crusade to be stop. He, as the overlord of Toulouse, would take care of the persecution and chastisment of the Cathar heressy. However, Pope Calixtus IV did not fully trust the words of Theodofred I. After all, Spania had only stopped to be Arian for little more than a century.
Then, Al-Afdal, Emir of Damascus, and his brother Al-Aziz, Sultan of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. The Patriarch of Jerusalem had traveled to Italy, France, and England in search of support and was still in London when the news of the attack arrived. King Baldwin III led an out-numbered Christian force against the vanguard of the army of Al-Aziz. The Muslim forces was caught by surprise at Montgisard (September 25, 1220) and quickly routed. When it withdrew, it fell into the main body, causing confusion and chaos, and then they were caught by Baldwin, who slaughtered his enemies and then pursued for twelve miles. However, when Baldwin turned south to face Al-Afdal, who routed the Christian host at Jdeideh, Lebanon, (October 14. 1220). However, Al-Afdal withdrew to Damascus after destroying the newly built Le Chastellet stronghold.
The pressing situation and the unexpected death of Calixtus IV led to the next Pope, Honorious III, in an interesting situation. As king Louis VII of France had not taken part in the Albigensian Crusade, the new Pope managed to persuade him, along with Henry III of England, to depart towards the Holy Land. Unexpectedly, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. joined the expedition, keeping the promised done when he was elected King of the Romans. Furthermore, he trusted the leadership of the Albingensian crusade to Theodofred I. Pope Honorious III had little confidence in the Spanian conversion to catholicism and, with this move, he was hoping to force the Visigothic king either to prove his faith and to persecute the heir of those who had supported Euric I the Blessed in his herssy, two centuries back. In fact, Honorius III was sure that Theodofred I would betray himself as a heretic and tihs would lead to a bigger Crusade against the whole of Spania. Even if the Pope was right about his feelings towards Thedofred's religious ideas, he was not the kind of heretic he was looking for. The god of the Visigothic king was not the Christian deity, indeed, but the duality of glory and fame.
However, in early December 1221, Al-Adil died in Cairo. His cousin Al-Kamil became ruler of Egypt and his other cousins, Al-Muazzam and, Al-Ashraf Musa did it in Palestine and Transjordan, and in Syria and the Jazira. who, under the threat of the Christian Crusade, recognised Al-Kamil's supremacy as their Sultan,
Will you include a special post in relation to the linguistic history of Iberian Peninsula in this scenario?
13. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -2-
13. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -2-
A pragmatic man ever, Theodofred had no qualms to send the Cathar heretics to be burned at the stake. However, doing that it would mean just to replace the Crusaders and to do the same dirty job. It all started when Theodofred began to become suspicious about the Occitan lords' attitude towards the heretics as, once the Crusader threat had vanished, the Cathars returned to their activities while the great and minor noblemen of the lands turned a blind eye on that and presented vain apologies to the king. On March 1222 Theodofred took matters in his own hands and presented himself in Termes with a small retinue. The village was caught by surprise and the king ordered the arrest of all the heretics. To his surprise, Pierre-Roger de Cabaret, the local lord, refused to do so. Theodoric returned to Barcino and there he emplaced the Occitan noblemen to attend an meeting there to settle the Cathar question. To his dismay and anger, very few lords travelled to Barcelona and none of them were neither the Trencavel nor the de Toulouse lords. Thus, with the lands interdicted once more, Theodoric musted his army and marched north. on June 1222.
By then the Crusader Kings in the Holy Land had managed to inflict a heavy blow to Al-Kamil in the battle of Harim (July 12, 1222), where Louis VII of France and Henry III of England crushed Al-Kamil's army as Frederick II and Balwin III kept at bay his brothers. After this, with his prestige broken, Al-Kamil's position of preeminence came to and end and the internal turmoil returned to the Muslim ranks. By late 1222, Louis and Henry returned to their countries while Frederick remained in Jerusalem until 1223.
Theodofred moved against Termes, which he took after a three month siege (September 1222). where he had one hundred heretics burned at the stake. From there, he moved fast to Carcassone, disregarding the attempts of Raymond Roger to make amends. The siege of Carcassone only lasted for a week after the city's water supply. were cut by the Visigothic army. However, Cabaret resisted when Theodofred demanded its surrender and the king decided to call off the crusade until the next spring. Louis VII had the same intention, but Avignon stood on his way, unwilling to surrender.
In the meantime, Raymond VII of Duke of Toulouse and Narbonne, rose in revolt and soon raised a substantial force from disaffected towns. The revolt soon became a bloody reckoning that brought havoc to the hatred persecutors of the heretics and let cities like Marmande, Beaucaire and Narbonne. The murder of Mattfred II, viscount of Narbonne, killed by the mob during the riots that brought havoc over the city, gave Theodofred a golden chance. He marched against the city, which had fell into anarchy. The local militia that protected the city had either fled or vanished durin the riots and offered little resistance. There he burned at the stake the first Cathar heretics, as twenty of them were executed the very day that the city fell (April 5, 1223). Thus, by late April 1223 most of the viscounty was in Theodoric's hands, who was bemused by all the troubles that his French rival was having at the walls of Avignon. In the end, it was neither the walls nor the arrows of the defenders but a bout of disentery that ended the French Crusade. Very ill, Louis VII returned to Paris. Even if he managed to survive, his last nine years of life were marked by his delicate health, his demented but holy son and heir, Louis, and his unruly nobility.
Without his troublesome northern neighbour and the Pope happy by the smell of the purifying fires, Theodoric was free to (re)conquer the lands of the old Visigothic Kingdom of Tolouse.
14. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -3-
Castrum Montsegur in the 1230s
14. The wars of Theodofred I (1220-1231) -3-
By 1225, Theodofred had secured the viscounties of Narbonne, Beziers, Albi and Carcassonne. At best, the Duke of Toulouse was not openly hostile to him and, at wost, he was conspiring along with the notorious troublemaker count of Foix, Roger-Bernarnd II. In Paris, the ailing Louis VII was unable to do anything about the incomming threat created by the alliance of Henry III of England and Emperor Frederick II. Thankfully for France, young Louis, the Dauphin, a gifted warrior and a cunning politician, was able to keep the enemy at bay until his untimely death in the battle of Quatre Bras (May 1227), when he failed to stop the combined English and Imperial armies. His hotheaded and reckless brother, Robert, earl of Artois, would not be as brilliant as him but he managed to win against all odds at Poitiers (April 1228), where he saved France. The unsolved troubles of his rivals were to return with this defeat to torment them, winning precious time for the French recovery:. Frederick II would have to deal with the Papacy and his rebellious son Heinrich (future Emperor Henrich VII) while Henry III had to put down the revolt of his lords, which would led to the Civil War of 1235, while attempting to conquer Wales and Scotland before he could claim back again the lost Angevin lands.
The victorious path of Theodofred would come to a sudden end in 1228. From 1225 to 1227 there had been a constant hunt of the heretics that had put to death three hundred Cathar parfaits. After this, the Cathar clergy of the regions under Visigothic control began to fled towards more secure areas. It was then when the Occitan cause suffered a heavy blown when Baudouin de Toulouse, brother of Raymond VI and uncle of Raymond VI, recognized Theodoric I as his king in exchange for the Viscounty of Bruniquel and all the west of the Laurageais as a fief. This unexpected betrayal, as there was not bad blood between uncle and nephew offered Theodoric a unique opportunity: having Baodouin as the theoretical lord of the entire region of Quercy would cut Toulouse from the east and made the fall of the city possible. Victory, thus, seemed at hand in 1227.
Knowing that the defeat of Raymond VI meant the death knell to him, Roger-Bernarnd II of Foix, with count Bernard V of Comminges and viscount Roger III of Couserans, gathered their forces at Pamiers and marched towards Carcassonne and a general rise reduced Baudouin's control of the Quercy reduced to Cahors and his surroundings. The two opposing armies met at Castelnaudary (August 1st, 1228). The battle ended badly for the both sides, as losses were very high. However, Raymond VI, who had joined the fight late, ended it up with few casualties and began a lightning campaign across Laurageais and Quercy. Reduced to Carcasonne, Narbonne and Bezier, Theodoric bid his time as reinforcements arrived from Spania. With the arrival of the firts troops Theodoric I, who was 63 years old, launched a daring campaign in the spring of 1229.
First he viciously hit Foix, moving towards Mirepoix while leaving behind a trail of blood and burning villages. Then, unexpectedly, he turned north and reached Montreal, laid siege to the castle and took it. Aimeric-de-Montréal and 90 knights were put to chains and send to Spania, while one hundred Cathar Parfaites were burned on the spot. Only one of them renounced his faith. Then, to finish his first campaign, he marched north, towards Lombers. On the way, he sieged and took Hautpoul, surrendered by Izarn d'Hautpoul, which was taking prisoner by the king and marched as such with him for the rest of the campaign; then, he placed two strong garrisons at Castres and Puylaurens.
Then, an untimely event in the Holy Land forced Theodofred to turn his attention beyond the seas.
15. The Jerusalemite civil war (1229-1231)
The troubled arrival of Theodofred to Jerusalem.
15. The Jerusalemite civil war (1229-1231)
It all began when Raymond II, Prince of Antioch, died in 1216, leaving a son Raymond-Roupen which soon proved to be too unpopular among his nobles when he restrained their power and rose the taxes. Soon his uncle Bohemond, count of Tripoli, led the opposition to the king and forced the prince to rely on them in 1218. However, in 1223 Raymond-Roupen had regained control, and for the next six years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. Suddenly, in 1228, he had his uncle and many of his supported arrested and, some of them, were executed. However, Bohemond managed to escape from his prison and found refuge in Jerusalem in 1229. Baldwin III of Jerusalem, clearly worried by the sudden and violent turn of Raymond-Roupen, had attempted in vain to persuade the young prince not to resort to violence. Thus, when he arrested and executed their opponets, Baldwin III turned against him and, when Bohemond arrived to his court, he recognized him as the new Prince of Antioch. Thus started the war.
Supported by the Republic of Pisa, the Hospitalier and Teutonic Knights, Raymond-Roupen faced the combined armies of Baldwin III and his cousin Henry I of Cyprus, the Republic of Genoa and the Templars. The first major battle of the war took place at Casal Imbert in May 1229, where Raymond-Roupen routed the enemy vanguard led by John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut. With the arrival of reinforcements from Cyprus, Baldwin III moved again against Antioch and defeated his rival in June. Trapped in Tyre, Raymond-Roupen prepared for a long siege. Then Kayqubad I, the Seljuq sultan of Rum, launched a massive invasion of Cilicia. Even this did not stop the war and persuaded Theodofred I of Spania to return to Outremer with a large army. He forced Baldwin III and Raymond-Roger to make ammends and to march with him to defend king Leo II of Cilicia. The childless Raymond-Roupen would recognize his uncle as his heir, who won't be restored in his earldorm of Tripoli but would be made of Tyre. After that, the Christian armies marched north.
From 1230 to 1231 the conflict raged on. Venice joined Pisa and Genoa in their support of the Crusaders and finally eend up when Kayuqbad I decided to cut losses in face of his isolation and the enemy alliance. Thus having saved and pacified the Holy Land, Theodofred returned to Spania, to die a few weeks after this landing in Barcino. The peace he had managed to create was not to last. In 1233 Raymond-Roupen was murdered. Even if no one could prove it, all the eyes were set on Bohemond, now Bohemond IV of Antioch. By then Jerusalem was ruled by the young and impetuous Baldwin IV. who declared Bohemond a murdered and a traitor, declared his lands forfeited and invaded Antioch. Defeated, Bohemond was thrown into prison in 1234, where he would die in 1237.
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