13th-century French nobleman
Alphonse
(11 November 1220 – 21 August 1271) was the
Count of Poitou
from 1225 and
Count of Toulouse
(as such called
Alphonse II
) from 1249. As count of Toulouse, he also governed the
Marquisate of Provence
.
Birth and early life
[
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]
Born at
Poissy
, Alphonse was a son of King
Louis VIII of France
and
Blanche of Castile
.
He was a younger brother of King
Louis IX of France
and an older brother of Count
Charles I of Anjou
. In 1229, his mother, who was
regent
of
France
, forced the
Treaty of Paris
on Count
Raymond VII of Toulouse
after his rebellion.
It stipulated that a brother of King Louis was to marry
Joan
, daughter of Raymond VII of Toulouse, and so in 1237 Alphonse married her.
Since she was Raymond's only child, they became rulers of
Toulouse
at Raymond's death in 1249.
By the terms of his father's will Alphonse received an
appanage
of
Poitou
and
Auvergne
.
To enforce this Louis IX won the
battle of Taillebourg
in the
Saintonge War
together with Alphonse against a revolt allied with King
Henry III of England
, who also participated in the battle.
Crusades
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]
Alphonse took part in two crusades with his brother, Louis IX, in 1248 (the
Seventh Crusade
) and in 1270 (the
Eighth Crusade
). For the first of these, he raised a large sum and a substantial force, arriving in
Damietta
on 24 October 1249, after the town had already been captured.
He sailed for home on 10 August 1250.
His father-in-law had died while he was away, and he went directly to Toulouse to take possession.
There was some resistance to his accession as count, which was suppressed with the help of his mother Blanche of Castile who was acting as regent in the absence of Louis IX.
Later life
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]
In 1252, on the death of his mother, Blanche of Castile, Alphonse was joint regent with
Charles of Anjou
until the return of Louis IX. During that time he took a great part in the campaigns and negotiations which led to the
Treaty of Paris
in 1259, under which King
Henry III of England
recognized his loss of continental territory to
France
(including
Normandy
,
Maine
,
Anjou
, and
Poitou
) in exchange for France withdrawing its support for English rebels.
Aside from the crusades, Alphonse stayed primarily in Paris, governing his estates by officials, inspectors who reviewed the officials' work, and a constant stream of messages.
His main work was on his own estates. There he repaired the effects of the
Albigensian war
and made a first attempt at administrative centralization, thus preparing the way for union with the crown. On 8 October 1268, Alphonse had all Jews throughout his lands arrested and their property confiscated.
When Louis IX formed the
Eighth Crusade
, Alphonse again raised a large sum of money and accompanied his brother.
This time, however, he did not return to France, dying while on his way back, at
Savona
in Italy, on 21 August 1271.
Death and legacy
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]
Alphonse's death without heirs raised some questions as to the succession to his lands. One possibility was that they should revert to the crown, another that they should be redistributed to his family. The latter was claimed by Charles of Anjou, but in 1283
Parlement
decided that the County of Toulouse should revert to the crown, if there were no male heirs.
Alphonse's wife
Joan
(who died four days after Alphonse) had attempted to dispose of her lands in a will to her nearest female relative
Philippa de Lomagne
. However, Joan was the only surviving child and heiress of
Raymond VII
, Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Marquis of Provence, so under Provencal and French law, the lands should have gone to her nearest male relative. Her will was invalidated by Parlement in 1274.
One specific bequest in Alphonse's will, giving his wife's lands in the
Comtat Venaissin
to the
Holy See
, was allowed, and it became a
Papal territory
, a status which it retained until 1791.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
Citations
[
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]
Sources
[
edit
]
- Benbassa, Esther (2001).
The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present
. Princeton University Press.
- Clanchy, M.T. (1983).
England and its Rulers 1066-1272
. Fontana Press.
ISBN
1405106506
.
- Fawtier, Robert (1960).
The Capetian Kings of France
. Translated by Butler, Lionel; Adam, R.J. Macmillan.
ISBN
0-312-11900-3
.
- Hallam, Elizabeth M. (1980).
Capetian France, 987-1328
. Longman.
ISBN
0-582-48909-1
.
- Kolla, E.J. (2013). "The French Revolution, the Union of Avignon, and the Challenges of National Self-Determination".
Law and History Review
.
31
(4): 717?747.
doi
:
10.1017/S0738248013000448
.
S2CID
145185352
.
- Jackson, Guida M. (1999).
Women rulers throughout the ages: an illustrated guide
. ABC-CLIO.
- Jordan, William Chester (1999). "The Capetians from the death of Philip II to Philip IV". In Abulafia, David (ed.).
The New Cambridge Medieval History
. Vol. 5, c.1198?c.1300. Cambridge University Press.
- Petit-Dutaillis, Charles (1936).
The Feudal Monarchy in France and England from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century
. Translated by Hunt, E.D.
- Richard, Jean (1983). Lloyd, Simon (ed.).
Saint Louis: Crusader King of France
. Translated by Birrell, Jean. Fayard.
- William of Puylaurens (2003).
The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: The Albigensian Crusade and Its Aftermath
. Translated by Sibly, W.A.; Sibly, M.D. Boydell Press.
- Strayer, Joseph R. (1969). "The Crusades of Louis IX". In R. L. Wolff; H. W. Hazard (eds.).
A History of the Crusades
. Vol. II: The later Crusades, 1189?1311. pp. 486?518.
- Wolfe, M. (2009).
Walled Towns and the Shaping of France: From the Medieval to the Early Modern Era
. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Wood, Charles T. (1966).
The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy: 1224-1328
. Harvard University Press.
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