Aimerico Manrique de Lara
Encyclopedia
Aimerico Manrique de Lara (c. 1152 - 1177) was the co-Viscount of Narbonne
from 1167 and Duke of Narbonne
from 1172. His name can be spelled Aimeric or Aymeric, and is sometimes Gallicised as Aimery, but he is not usually numbered among the others of his name who ruled Narbonne.
(March 1161) and later in the concession of a madrigal to Burgos Cathedral
(August 1164). He was either the eldest or second eldest son of Manrique Pérez
, head of the Lara clan
and count of Molina
, and Ermessende, daughter of Aimeric II of Narbonne and sister of Ermengarda
. The seventeenth-century historian of the Lara family, Luis de Salazar y Castro, reasoned that Aimeric was the eldest son because he inherited Narbonne and was listed before his brother Pedro Manrique
in the document of 1164. He was listed second, however, in that of 1161, and as Pedro inherited Molina, which was regarded as more important by the Laras, it is more likely that Aimeric was a second son, according to Antonio Sánchez de Mora. Derek Nicholson also held that Aimeric was the eldest son, since Pedro later followed their aunt in Narbonne, which has the appearance of following a line of succession. Karl Appel, following Joseph Vaissete, thought Aimeric was the eldest son and placed his birth towards 1152, when his parents were married, because of the number of children they had after him.
, confer certain fiefs on Count Roger Bernard I of Foix, thus forming an alliance against the increasing power of King Alfonso II of Aragon
. In 1169 Ermengarda and Aimeric gained a new vassal of their own by granting Peyrac in fief to Raymond de Triavilla.
In 1171 Ermengarda witnessed the sealing of an alliance between the count of Toulouse and Roger II Trencavel
, who held several viscounties neighbouring Narbonne and was a former ally of the king of Aragon. Aimeric was absent from the region at this time, and he can be seen with his family at Molina in 1172. A rupture between the count of Toulouse and the viscount of Narbonne can be seen to date from this period, when Raymond emphasises his suzerainty
over Narbonne by titling himself Duke of Narbonne
in his act of alliance with the Trencavel
, and Aimeric began using the same title, implying a rejection of Toulousain suzerainty, while he was in Spain. The break of Ermengarda and Aimeric with Raymond may have had to do with the latter's submission and oath of vassalage to Henry II of England
and his son Richard, Duke of Aquitaine
, on 25 February 1173, for Ermengarda wrote at that time to Louis VII of France
seeking his protection against the count of Toulouse.
, represented by its ambassador Ildebrandino Sismondi. He was also in on the confirmation of the village of Terrail to the Archbishop of Narbonne in 1176, which Ermengarda had apparently ceded some years before. In 1176 Ermengarda intervened in a pact between the count of Toulouse and the king of Aragon, but it was soon broken. Roger Trencavel led several of his neighbours into an alliance with Aragon in 1177, and agreed to defend the rights of the viscounts of Narbonne, recognising the rights of Aimeric at the same time. By 1176 Aimeric held the reins of the government in Narbonne.
In 1177 Aimeric decided to retire to the monastery of Fontfroide. By 21 December 1177 he had died and Raymond V had recovered his rights in Narbonne and his ducal title. Peire Rogier
, a troubadour
who frequented Ermengarda's court, addressed a poem to the viscountess and Aimeric. It is one of Peire's few datable works, coming between the years of Aimeric's arrival and death, although Appel was prepared to place it in 1177 precisely:
This, the seventh and final stanza
, is called a tornada
and it is addressed to one, usually a joglar, this time called Bastart ("bastard"), who will go perform the song to the intended recipients, in this case Ermengarda and Aimeric. The phrase Tort-n'avetz ("you are wrong") is a senhal ("signal"), a disguised reference, usually to the poet's lady, in this case Ermengarda. Nicholson writes that "[f]rom the contents of the tornada ... in which Peire reminds [Aimeric] of the duties attached to his position and of the family to which he belongs, it is reasonable to assume that the poem was written during the period when Aimeric was sharing the responsibilities of the government of Narbonne."
Viscount of Narbonne
The Viscount of Narbonne was the secular ruler of Narbonne in the Middle Ages. Narbonne had been the capital of the Visigoth province of Septimania, until the eighth century, after which it became the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. Narbonne was nominally subject to the Carolingian Counts of...
from 1167 and Duke of Narbonne
Duke of Narbonne
The title Duke of Narbonne was a title employed at various times by the overlords of Narbonne, while the direct power in the city was held by the viscounts...
from 1172. His name can be spelled Aimeric or Aymeric, and is sometimes Gallicised as Aimery, but he is not usually numbered among the others of his name who ruled Narbonne.
Origins
Aimeric is first mentioned in a royal charter for Segovia CathedralSegovia Cathedral
Segovia Cathedral is a Roman Catholic religious building in Segovia, Spain. It is located in the main square of the city, the Plaza Mayor, and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary....
(March 1161) and later in the concession of a madrigal to Burgos Cathedral
Burgos Cathedral
The Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral in Burgos, Spain. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for its vast size and unique architecture. Its construction began in 1221, and was in use nine years later, although work continued on and off for two hundred years...
(August 1164). He was either the eldest or second eldest son of Manrique Pérez
Manrique Pérez de Lara
Manrique Pérez de Lara was a magnate of the Kingdom of Castile and its regent from 1158 until his death. He was one of the most important counsellors and generals of three successive Castilian monarchs: Alfonso VII , Sancho III and Alfonso VIII...
, head of the Lara clan
House of Lara
The House of Lara or Casa de Lara are a noble family, known from the medieval Kingdom of Castile.Two of its branches, those from the Duke of Nájera and from the Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain...
and count of Molina
Molina
Molina is a Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian surname. It can possibly refer to:-A:*Alfonso Quiñónez Molina , President of El Salvador twice 1918–1927*Alfred Molina , English actor...
, and Ermessende, daughter of Aimeric II of Narbonne and sister of Ermengarda
Ermengarde of Narbonne
Ermengarde , was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192...
. The seventeenth-century historian of the Lara family, Luis de Salazar y Castro, reasoned that Aimeric was the eldest son because he inherited Narbonne and was listed before his brother Pedro Manrique
Pedro Manrique de Lara
Pedro Manrique de Lara , commonly called Pedro de Molina and usually known in French sources as Pierre de Lara, was a Castilian nobleman and military leader of the House of Lara...
in the document of 1164. He was listed second, however, in that of 1161, and as Pedro inherited Molina, which was regarded as more important by the Laras, it is more likely that Aimeric was a second son, according to Antonio Sánchez de Mora. Derek Nicholson also held that Aimeric was the eldest son, since Pedro later followed their aunt in Narbonne, which has the appearance of following a line of succession. Karl Appel, following Joseph Vaissete, thought Aimeric was the eldest son and placed his birth towards 1152, when his parents were married, because of the number of children they had after him.
First trip to Narbonne (1167–71)
Perhaps because she had no descendants or being a woman required a man beside her to consolidate her authority, Ermengarda invited her nephew Aimeric to share power with her in Narbonne, and designated him her heir. He is first recorded north of Pyrnees with his aunt in 1167, when the two witnessed their overlord, Count Raymond V of ToulouseRaymond V of Toulouse
Raymond V was count of Toulouse from 1148 until his death in 1194.He was the son of Alphonse-Jordan. When Alphonse died in the Holy Land in 1148, the county of Toulouse passed to his son Raymond, at the time 14 years old....
, confer certain fiefs on Count Roger Bernard I of Foix, thus forming an alliance against the increasing power of King Alfonso II of Aragon
Alfonso II of Aragon
Alfonso II or Alfons I ; Huesca, 1-25 March 1157 – 25 April 1196), called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1164 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was...
. In 1169 Ermengarda and Aimeric gained a new vassal of their own by granting Peyrac in fief to Raymond de Triavilla.
In 1171 Ermengarda witnessed the sealing of an alliance between the count of Toulouse and Roger II Trencavel
Roger II Trencavel
Roger II Trencavel was the Viscount of Carcassonne, Béziers, Razès, and Albi from 1167 or 1171 until his death. Until 1177 he used the title proconsul, usually as proconsul de Bitteris , but he abandoned the usage when he became a vassal of the Crown of Aragon...
, who held several viscounties neighbouring Narbonne and was a former ally of the king of Aragon. Aimeric was absent from the region at this time, and he can be seen with his family at Molina in 1172. A rupture between the count of Toulouse and the viscount of Narbonne can be seen to date from this period, when Raymond emphasises his suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
over Narbonne by titling himself Duke of Narbonne
Duke of Narbonne
The title Duke of Narbonne was a title employed at various times by the overlords of Narbonne, while the direct power in the city was held by the viscounts...
in his act of alliance with the Trencavel
Trencavel
The Trencavel were an important noble family in Languedoc during the 10th through 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel," originally a nickname and later a family name, may derive from the Occitan words for "nutcracker"...
, and Aimeric began using the same title, implying a rejection of Toulousain suzerainty, while he was in Spain. The break of Ermengarda and Aimeric with Raymond may have had to do with the latter's submission and oath of vassalage to Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
and his son Richard, Duke of Aquitaine
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, on 25 February 1173, for Ermengarda wrote at that time to Louis VII of France
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
seeking his protection against the count of Toulouse.
Final stay in Narbonne (1174–77)
By 1174 Aimeric had returned north of the Pyrenees, and was present to receive the homage of several of the vassals of Narbonne and to renew the alliance of 1164 with the Republic of PisaRepublic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
, represented by its ambassador Ildebrandino Sismondi. He was also in on the confirmation of the village of Terrail to the Archbishop of Narbonne in 1176, which Ermengarda had apparently ceded some years before. In 1176 Ermengarda intervened in a pact between the count of Toulouse and the king of Aragon, but it was soon broken. Roger Trencavel led several of his neighbours into an alliance with Aragon in 1177, and agreed to defend the rights of the viscounts of Narbonne, recognising the rights of Aimeric at the same time. By 1176 Aimeric held the reins of the government in Narbonne.
In 1177 Aimeric decided to retire to the monastery of Fontfroide. By 21 December 1177 he had died and Raymond V had recovered his rights in Narbonne and his ducal title. Peire Rogier
Peire Rogier
Peire Rogier or Rotgiers was a twelfth-century Auvergnat troubadour and cathedral canon from Clermont. He left his cathedral to become a travelling minstrel before settling down for a time in Narbonne at the court of the Viscountess Ermengard...
, a troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
who frequented Ermengarda's court, addressed a poem to the viscountess and Aimeric. It is one of Peire's few datable works, coming between the years of Aimeric's arrival and death, although Appel was prepared to place it in 1177 precisely:
- Bastart, tu vay [Bastard, go]
- e porta.m lay [and carry there]
- mon sonet a mon Tort-n'avetz; [my song to my You-Are-Wrong]
- e di.m a n'Aimeric lo tos [and give it to your Lord Aimeric]
- membre.lh dont es e sia pros. [that he remember what he is and be brave]
This, the seventh and final stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
, is called a tornada
Tornada (Occitan literary term)
In Occitan lyric poetry, a tornada refers to a final, shorter stanza which is addressed to a patron, lady, or friend. They often contain useful information about the piece's composition and the troubadour's circle....
and it is addressed to one, usually a joglar, this time called Bastart ("bastard"), who will go perform the song to the intended recipients, in this case Ermengarda and Aimeric. The phrase Tort-n'avetz ("you are wrong") is a senhal ("signal"), a disguised reference, usually to the poet's lady, in this case Ermengarda. Nicholson writes that "[f]rom the contents of the tornada ... in which Peire reminds [Aimeric] of the duties attached to his position and of the family to which he belongs, it is reasonable to assume that the poem was written during the period when Aimeric was sharing the responsibilities of the government of Narbonne."