Ermengard of Narbonne, viscountess of Narbonne
Overview
Biography
Ermengard was the daughter of Aymeri II, viscount of Narbaronne, and an Ermengard about whose family nothing is known.(1) Ermengard succeeded her father in 1134, since her two older brothers had died, but she was a child and did not actually rule until 1143. Narbonne, which was strategic in the wars between the lords of Toulouse and Barcelona, was seized by Alphonse Jordan, Count of Toulouse, in 1139 and he forced Ermengard to sign a marriage contract with him in 1142, but that led to fighting in the region, Alphonse was defeated and imprisoned and compelled to return Narbonne to Ermengard.(2) Apparently the marriage was not consummated; her cousin Raymond Berengar IV "perusaded her to refuse Alphonse's hand" (Caille, X-8). She was swiftly married to Bernard d'Anduze, a viscount of Nîmes, in 1143. Bernard was a widower with several children who, according to Caille (10), offended no one, and was not active in Narbonne, which Ermengard ruled in her own right from 1143 to at least 1192. Ermengard took military and diplomatic action with no mention of Bernard, who died in 1157.(3)
Ermengard was known for her legal and diplomatic skills, and was called on to arbitrate disputes between lords and princes. She obliged lords within the sway of Narbonne to submit to her power, she balanced vicecomital and archiepiscopal lordships, summoned the most active and educated townsmen to her council, who managed it with the knights for the common profit of all (Caille, 16-17). When Raymond Trencavel was captured by Raymond V of Toulouse, he asked the count of Barcelona to be the guardian of his wife and children, but left his son and his men in Ermengard’s service: Et Hermengardae de Narbona meae consanguineae relinquo Robertum meum filium & meos homines in Dei garda & in sua & ad suum servicium (“And to Ermengard of Narbonne, my relative, I leave Robert my son and my men in God’s and her protection and to her service”).(4) Pope Alexander III wrote to the French king to say Ermengard had rendered important services to him when he was in Montpellier in 1162 (Devic and Vaissette, 3.822-23).
Commercial treaties were signed with Genoa, Pisa, and Tortosa (5). She made agreements on shared mines, took control of main arteries of communication, and had a new road built going toward Roussillon. She was involved in a number of alliances against the count of Toulouse and led her own troops at the siege of Tortosa, 1148, the siege of Les Baux, 1162-63; in 1159, she was part of a coalition against Toulouse with Henry II of England, Raymond Berengar IV of Aragon, the Trencavels, Guillaume VII of Montpellier and others; she was one of the mediators in the treaty of 1176 between Raymond of Toulouse and king Alfons of Aragon; in 1182 she was allied with Alfons to support Henry II against his rebelling sons; in 1183, she was at the siege of Puy-Saint-Front outside Perigueux, with Alfonse, Henry II and three of his sons. Caille sees an echo of Ermengard’s military role in the literary Ermengard, wife of Aymeri, who despite her white hair is the first to offer to come to the aid of her son, Guillaume, in battle in Aliscans.
Having no children of her own, Ermengard’s heirs were the sons of her sister Ermessend and Manrique de Lara, a Castilian noble. She associated her sister’s sons with her in the rule of Narbonne, first Aymeri from 1167, and when he died in 1177, Pedro. But by 1194 Pedro was acting alone; he took over the city, and presumably forced her into exile. Her will in which she mentions the wrongs he has done her, is dated April 30, 1196 and she died in 1196 or 1197.
Ermengard was apparently a patron of poets. Narbonne is mentioned positively by a number of poets during her rule: Raimon de Miraval alludes to her generosity.(6) Bernard de Ventadorn praises her actions: "Carry my poem to my lord/lady of Narbonne, for all her deeds are whole/true" (Nichols, 23.57-59: Lo vers mi porta, Corona/ lai a midons a Narbona,/ que tuih sei faih son enter). Cf. Azalais de Porcairagues (a woman): "carry my song to Narbonne, to her whom joy and youth guide" (Bruckner, 11.50-52: ves Narbona portas lai/ ma chanson a la fenida/ lei cui iois e iovenz guida, cf. Rieger 27).(7) Guiraut de Bornelh raises a question about love and hope and then says "ask my lord/lady of Narbonne about it" (Kolsen 26.98-99: er o demandatz/ midons de narbona).(8) This tantalizing remark may lend weight to the notion that she participated in or judged love debates, as Andreas Capellanus implies. He names her as an arbiter of love matters (De amore, book 2, ch7, sections 8, 9, 10, 11, 15) and has her give judgments, one in philosophical language, two favoring the woman's choice, two against love in marriage, and one defending a man's right to enjoy love despite deformities derived from battle, appropriate perhaps to a ruler who had been involved in warfare.
Cheyette has discovered 64 archival documents that bear her name in French and Spanish archives (Ermengard of Narbonne, 5). Vaissette published a few which are translated here and two summaries: from Actes relatifs a l’eglise de Elne, CCXXX c.1536 1155, 14 November: Arnold, bishop of Elne and his feudataire, (feudatory) Gerard of Avalri, agree on the subject of regales and justices of the city of Elne, through the intervention of the archbishop of Tarragon, the bishop of Ausone, and Ermengard, viscountss of Narbonne, and several other lords. And from Actes relatifs a l’église de Lavaur, CXXIV c,1564-65 1156, 9 December: Adrian IV confirms the relinquishment by the viscountess of Narbonne, Ermengard, in favor of B. archbishop, of the evil custom long praticed of plundering the goods of the archbishops of Narbonne after their death.
Letters from Ermengard of Narbonne, viscountess of Narbonne
A letter to Abbot Peter of St. Mary of Quarante (1163, October 2)A letter to Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne (1156)
A letter to Ermengaud of Faberzano and public (1193, March)
A letter to Louis VII, King of France (1/1/1173)
A letter to Louis VII, King of France (1164)
A letter to Louis VII, King of France (1164)
A letter to Public (1157, March 21)
A letter to Public (1196, April 30)
A letter to Raymond Trencavel, viscount of Beziers (1151, July 20)
A letter to Raymond Trencavel, viscount of Beziers (1163, January 31)
A letter to Raymond Trencavel, viscount of Beziers (1164, July)
A letter to Vitalis, abbot of Fontfroide (1157)
A letter to William of Durban (1153)
Letters to Ermengard of Narbonne, viscountess of Narbonne
A letter from Bernard, son of Faith (1157, March 21)A letter from Louis VII (1164)
A Letter from Pope Adrian IV