A letter from Alphonse of Poitiers (1263)

Translated letter:

To the most excellent lady and his dearest sister Marguerite, by the grace of God most illustrious queen of the French, Alphonse, son of the king of France, count of Poitiers and Toulouse, greetings and a will prepared to [do her] pleasure with fraternal love. In response to the letters which you sent us on the business of lord Gaston de Biado [sic], we notify your excellence of the fact that G[aston] entered the land of our faithful ... count of Comminges which he held from us, with arms, and perpetrated much harm and damage in it, which up to now he has not made amends for, although he has been requested to by us, which displeases us, and we ask your serenity that it also displease you. We wish you to know that that land, over which there was contention between the count of Comminges and said Gaston, is not among our fiefs.

Original letter:

Excellentissime domine et karissime sorori sue Margarite, Dei gratia Francorum regine illustrissime, Alfonsus, filius regis Francie, comes Pictavensis, et Tholose, salutem et cum dilectione fraterna paratam ad beneplacita voluntatem. Super litteris quas nobis misistis pro negotio domini Gastonis de Biado (sic), vestre excellentie notificamus de facto ipsius, quod idem G. intravit cum armis in terra fidelis nostri...comitis Convennarum, quam tenet a nobis, et in eadem multa gravamina et dampna perpetravit, que adhuc non emendavit, quamvis super hoc a nobis fuerit requisitus, quod nobis displicet, vestram serenitatem rogantes ut vobis, displiceat illud idem, scire vos volentes quod terra illa, de qua contentio vertitur inter comitem Convennarum et dictum Gastonem, de nostris feodis non existit.

Historical context:

Gaston de Béarn was a cousin of Marguerite and Eleanor through his mother, Garsend, sister of their father Raymond Berengar V; in 1243, Eleanor persuaded Gaston to do homage to Henry at Bordeaux, as lord of the largest Gascon fiefs (Howell, 37). Gaston was later part of a rebellion against the king, was captured by Simon de Montfort in 1249, but pardoned and his lands restored at the queen's intercession (Howell, 62). In another act of rebellion, Gaston did homage to Alfonso X of Castile for the same lands in 1253. Nonetheless, he was prepared to bring troops to support Eleanor and Henry in 1263. In ep.1866 (508.html) Marguerite urged her brother-in-law Alphonse to stop oppressing Gaston, but Alphonse replied that Gaston was the aggressor in the dispute with the count of Comminges.

Printed source:

Correspondance Administrative d'Alfonse de Poitiers, ed. Auguste Molinier (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1894), Collection de Documents indédits sur l'Histoire de France, 2.433, ep.1867

Date:

1263