Bernard I of Besalú
Encyclopedia
Bernard I called Taillefer (Bernat or Bernardo Tallaferro), was the Count of Besalú in Catalonia
from 988 until his death. He was the eldest son of Oliba Cabreta
and Ermengard, and succeeded his father in Besalú while his younger brothers Oliba
and Wifred, inherited Berga–Ripoll
and Cerdagne
–Conflent
, respectively.
, Cuixà, Sant Joan
, Lagrasse
, Arles de Tec, Banyoles
, and Camprodon.
Despite already being a father of his eventual heir William, he had not fully come of age when his father abdicated to become a monk at Montecassino (988), since he and Wifred were left under the protection of the Pope
, then John XV
. Alongside Besalú Bernard inherited the Fenouillèdes and Peyrepertuse
in the County of Carcassonne, where his father had extended his dynasty's power base. Bernard also stood to inherit Vallespir
on the death of his mother, which finally occurred in 994.
In 998 Bernard joined Ermengol I of Urgell
on a pilgrimage to Rome
, the first of either. There they participated in a synod held under the auspices of the Emperor Otto III. Ermengol returned to Rome in 1001. In 1016–17 Bernard and a large entourage that included with his sons William and Wifred, his brother Oliba, the viscounts of Besalú, Fenouillèdes, and Vallespir, the jurist Pons Bonfill, the abbot Adalbert, and many other dignitaries and prelates, went to Rome to celebrate Christmas at Saint Peter's Basilica
. There Bernard petitioned Pope Benedict VIII
to create a see in Besalú. He also accused the nuns of Sant Joan of impropriety and because they refused to appear before a papal tribunal, Benedict suppressed their convent, calling it a meretrius de Venus (brothel) and establishing instead some monks under the rule of Aachen and remanding to Bernard the feudal dues of the abbey. By a bull
directed to the new bishop, Benedict created Bernard's desired bishopric. The count then paid to have his second son, Wifred installed there. Though a minor, Wifred was consecrated by the pope himself. The pope even gave Bernard the choice of the diocesan seat, which he placed in Besalú, in the Adalbert's monastery there. To this monastery the new community at Sant Joan was subjected. From Rome Bernard brought back a relic of the Holy Cross
(Santes Creus, lignum Crucis) and deposited in Adalbert's Benedictine church, which already possessed altars dedicated to Sant Vicenç
, Sant Salvador
, Santa Maria, Sant Genís
, and Sant Miquel Arcàngel.
Around 1000 Bernard founded a comital monastery at Sant Pau in the Fenouillèdes, delegating its organisation to Wifred, abbot of Cuixà. In 1003 the count transferred the ancient monastic community of Sant Aniol d'Aguja to Sant Llorenç del Mont. In the decade after Bernard's death this house was under the rule of abbot Tassius, also abbot of Sant Pere in 1029–31. The Aachen ruled church of Sant Pere in Besalú, rebuilt in a Romanesque style
begun under Miro II, was consecrated on 23 September 1003 by Bernard.
Bernard's relationship with the Church was unusual. In two judgements emitted from his court in 1002 and 1004 the list of confirmants begins with four abbots, all figures at court and an indication of the preeminence of the monsteries in Besalú at the time. In a charter of 1017 Bernard remarked that the Pope held the sceptre of the world, but in a spirit of independence added: "let no one, neither the Pope himself, nor a General Council, violate the conditions of this document".
" or "crusade"—that defeated an invading Córdoban
army in battle near Thoranum castrum
. Of the allied Catalan leaders, Bernard appears to have been the senior. According to an early source (1043), before the battle Bernard reasoned that if the saints Peter
and Michael and the Virgin Mary each killed 5,000 Muslims, there would be a manageable number left for the soldiers. He further recalls that the Muslims are often slain before they have a chance to retreat. In the end, the Córdobans retreated to their own territory, where a second battle was fought at Albesa
. The result of this second battle is unclear, but probably not favourable to the Christians, but it was the end of the brief war, and possibly of the campaigning season as well. Bernard's presence at this second battle can be surmised based on the presence of his brother Berengar, who died there.
When Giselbert I of Roussillon
died in 1014 his brother Hugh I of Empúries invaded the County of Roussillon
and tried to wrest it from the hands of Giselbert's young son, Gausfred II
, who appealed to Bernard and Oliba for aid. Through their intervention Hugh and Gausfred came to terms in 1020.
(princeps, which at the time retained its sense, derived from Isidore
, of "sovereign"). His brother Oliba, in perpetuating his memory, calls him princeps et pater patriae: sovereign and father of his country
. Oliba also lauds his fair judgement. In 1015 Bernard began using the title duke
(dux), implying military and even ethnic leadership, but not usurping royal rank.
During Bernard's rule in Besalú there is evidence of continued reliance on the Liber iudiciorum of the Visigoths
and on the Frankish court system established by the Carolingians. There is also the earliest evidence of new judicial procedures, some of which had already been developed in Occitania
, such as the court of procures et boni homines, the relinquishing of property rights known as a guirpitio, and the agreement called a pacto or conventio. Bernard minted his own currency, but no examples survive, the only evidence of it being documentary. Later coins of his grandson and namesake, Bernard II
, contain a representation of a cross, representing the relic Bernard I retrieved in Rome. He was also the first Catalonian count to have his own seal
, imitating the Carolingian emperors
and the Frankish kings in style. Though the latter were his nominal sovereigns, the existence of such a seal suggests that civil authority rested entirely with Bernard.
or William II Sánchez of Gascony
. It has been hypothesised that she was the route by which the exotic Byzantine
name Constance, feminine form of Constantine, entered Spain. Boso II of Arles had married Constance, daughter of Charles Constantine
and grand-daughter of the Emperor Louis III and Anna, daughter of Leo VI the Wise
. Boso's son, William I of Provence
, married Adelaide of Anjou
. Their son, William II, thus had both Adelaide and Constance in his name pool
. If Bernard's wife was indeed his daughter, this would explain the name of Bernard's own eldest daughter and perhaps the name of a certain Constance, wife of Sancho Garcés, illegitimate son of García Sánchez III of Navarre, and a daughter of García's wife, Stephanie, by a previous marriage, perhaps to an unnamed son of Bernard of Besalú.
Bernard drowned in the river Rhône
while crossing into the County of Provence in 1020 and was buried in the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll
. Bernard's will, dated 26 September 1020, lists his children as Henry (Asenric/Aienrich), Hugh, Berengar, Adelaide, Constance, and William, and also names his wife and brother Oliba. His will was then published by his widow, his brother Oliba, his son Wifred, and the three other executors in a charter of 13 October, but this version does name his daughters and adds his brother Wifred and his nephew, Wifred's son and eventual successor, Raymond I. One of the executors of his will was Pons Bonfill. He left his younger sons under the tutelage (in tuicione) of their elder brother William, who inherited Besalú. His second son, Wifred, was already bishop of Besalú and his third son, Henry, he named as Wifred's heir in the diocese, with the price of his elevation (to bribe the cathedral chapter) to be paid by William. Bernard's two younger sons, Hugh and Berengar, inherited allodial lands strategically placed on the borders of the county. Though they were recognised as "co-heirs", these younger sons were never more than castellan
s and vassals of their elder brother.
Bernard's eldest daughter, Constance, was given several allods and eventually married Ermengol II of Urgell
. Another daughter, Adelaide, married Ponç I of Empúries, son and heir of Hugh I; widowed, she entered the monastery of Sant Pau. A possible daughter Garsenda (Garcinda), unnamed in his will, married Berengar, viscount of Narbonne
.
of Comte l'Arnau. Traditionally, Arnau is a Don Juan
figure who carries on a series sexual liaisons with the nuns of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. The abbess in the legend, who tries to keep Arnau from entering the convent, is usually named Engelberga. In 1017, at Bernard's insistence, Pope Benedict suppressed the convent, then under Bernard's sister Ingilberga, for rampant sexually immorality.
The Catalan-language writer Jacint Verdaguer
drew on the historical count of Besalú for his fictional character Comte Tallaferro, who figures as the protagonist in his epic poem Canigó, a central work of the Catalan Renaixença
.
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
from 988 until his death. He was the eldest son of Oliba Cabreta
Oliba Cabreta
Oliba Cabreta was the count of Cerdanya from 965 and count of Besalú from 984 until his abdication in 988. He was the fourth son of Miró II and Ava. He inherited Cerdanya from his eldest brother Sunifred II and Besalú from his elder brother Miró III...
and Ermengard, and succeeded his father in Besalú while his younger brothers Oliba
Abbot Oliva
Oliva was the count of Berga and Ripoll and later bishop of Vic and abbot of Sant Miquel de Cuixà. He was the son of a noble Catalan house who abdicated his secular possessions to take up the Benedictine habit in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll...
and Wifred, inherited Berga–Ripoll
Ripoll
Ripoll is the capital of the comarca of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter River and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the French border...
and Cerdagne
County of Cerdagne
The County of Cerdanya was one of the Catalan counties formed in the last decades of the 8th century by the Franks in the Marca Hispanica. The original Cerdanya consisted of the valley of the upper Segre. Today Cerdanya is a Catalan comarca.-Origins:...
–Conflent
County of Conflent
The County of Conflent or Confluent was one of the Catalan counties of the Marca Hispanica in the ninth century. Usually associated with the County of Cerdanya and the county of Razès, and was located to the west of Roussillon...
, respectively.
Youth and succession
Bernard's first public action took place during the reign of his father, when he witnessed, alongside his mother, the donation of the church of Saint Vincent by Miro II to the church of Besalú on 12 April 977. Bernard also witnessed his parents' donation of some property to Sant Llorenç de Bagà on 15 January 981, along with his brothers. Oliba Cabreta had left his sons a strong principality, perhaps the strongest in Catalonia. Its control extended over the great Catalonian monasteries of RipollSanta Maria de Ripoll
The Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll is a Benedictine monastery, built in the Romanesque style, located in the town of Ripoll in Catalonia, Spain...
, Cuixà, Sant Joan
Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Sant Joan de les Abadesses is a town and municipality located in the south-east of the comarca of Ripollès, in Catalonia.-Geography and climate:...
, Lagrasse
Lagrasse
Lagrasse is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.Lagrasse is part of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France association .-Geography:...
, Arles de Tec, Banyoles
Banyoles
Banyoles is a city of 17,309 inhabitants located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain.The town is the capital of the Catalan comarca "Pla de l'Estany"...
, and Camprodon.
Despite already being a father of his eventual heir William, he had not fully come of age when his father abdicated to become a monk at Montecassino (988), since he and Wifred were left under the protection of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, then John XV
Pope John XV
Pope John XV , Pope from 985 to 996, succeeding Boniface VII . He was said to have been Pope after another Pope John that reigned four months after Pope John XIV and was named "Papa Ioannes XIV Bis" or "Pope John XIVb"...
. Alongside Besalú Bernard inherited the Fenouillèdes and Peyrepertuse
Peyrepertuse
Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in the Aude département, and has been associated with the Counts of Narbonne and Barcelona...
in the County of Carcassonne, where his father had extended his dynasty's power base. Bernard also stood to inherit Vallespir
Vallespir
Vallespir is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. The capital of the comarca is Ceret, and it borders Conflent, Rosselló, Alt Empordà, Garrotxa and Ripollès...
on the death of his mother, which finally occurred in 994.
Ecclesiastical policy
Despite its control of the great monasteries the family of Oliba Cabreta did not initially control a bishopric. This Bernard and his brothers immediately set out to rectify. Berengar, a younger brother, was made Bishop of Elne (993) and then Oliba resigned the county of Berga to Wifred and that of Ripoll to Bernard and entered the monastery of Ripoll (1003). He eventually became Bishop of Vic (1018). By a large sum of money Bernard and Wifred then obtained the Archdiocese of Narbonne for Wifred's second son, also Wifred (1016).In 998 Bernard joined Ermengol I of Urgell
Ermengol I of Urgell
Ermengol I , called el de Córdoba, was the Count of Urgell from 992 to his death. He was the second son of Borrell II of Barcelona and his first wife, Letgarda...
on a pilgrimage to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, the first of either. There they participated in a synod held under the auspices of the Emperor Otto III. Ermengol returned to Rome in 1001. In 1016–17 Bernard and a large entourage that included with his sons William and Wifred, his brother Oliba, the viscounts of Besalú, Fenouillèdes, and Vallespir, the jurist Pons Bonfill, the abbot Adalbert, and many other dignitaries and prelates, went to Rome to celebrate Christmas at Saint Peter's Basilica
Old Saint Peter's Basilica
Old Saint Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, on the spot where the Basilica of Saint Peter stands today in Rome. Construction of the Basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began during the reign of emperor Constantine I...
. There Bernard petitioned Pope Benedict VIII
Pope Benedict VIII
Pope Benedict VIII , born Theophylactus, Pope from 1012 to 1024, of the noble family of the counts of Tusculum , descended from Theophylact, Count of Tusculum like his predecessor Pope Benedict VI .Benedict VIII was opposed by an antipope, Gregory...
to create a see in Besalú. He also accused the nuns of Sant Joan of impropriety and because they refused to appear before a papal tribunal, Benedict suppressed their convent, calling it a meretrius de Venus (brothel) and establishing instead some monks under the rule of Aachen and remanding to Bernard the feudal dues of the abbey. By a bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
directed to the new bishop, Benedict created Bernard's desired bishopric. The count then paid to have his second son, Wifred installed there. Though a minor, Wifred was consecrated by the pope himself. The pope even gave Bernard the choice of the diocesan seat, which he placed in Besalú, in the Adalbert's monastery there. To this monastery the new community at Sant Joan was subjected. From Rome Bernard brought back a relic of the Holy Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
(Santes Creus, lignum Crucis) and deposited in Adalbert's Benedictine church, which already possessed altars dedicated to Sant Vicenç
Vincent of Saragossa
Saint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, is the patron saint of Lisbon. His feast day is 22 January in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion and 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Churches...
, Sant Salvador
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, Santa Maria, Sant Genís
Genesius of Rome
Saint Genesius of Rome was an actor who worked in a series of plays that mocked Christianity. One day while performing in a work that made fun of baptism he received sudden wisdom from God, realized the truth of Christianity, and had a conversion experience on stage...
, and Sant Miquel Arcàngel.
Around 1000 Bernard founded a comital monastery at Sant Pau in the Fenouillèdes, delegating its organisation to Wifred, abbot of Cuixà. In 1003 the count transferred the ancient monastic community of Sant Aniol d'Aguja to Sant Llorenç del Mont. In the decade after Bernard's death this house was under the rule of abbot Tassius, also abbot of Sant Pere in 1029–31. The Aachen ruled church of Sant Pere in Besalú, rebuilt in a Romanesque style
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
begun under Miro II, was consecrated on 23 September 1003 by Bernard.
Bernard's relationship with the Church was unusual. In two judgements emitted from his court in 1002 and 1004 the list of confirmants begins with four abbots, all figures at court and an indication of the preeminence of the monsteries in Besalú at the time. In a charter of 1017 Bernard remarked that the Pope held the sceptre of the world, but in a spirit of independence added: "let no one, neither the Pope himself, nor a General Council, violate the conditions of this document".
Military interventions
In 1003, Bernard took part in the defensive campaign—described as a "holy warReligious war
A religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
" or "crusade"—that defeated an invading Córdoban
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ruled the Iberian peninsula and part of North Africa, from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous...
army in battle near Thoranum castrum
Battle of Torà
The Battle of Torà was a defensive battle of the Reconquista, fought between an alliance of Catalonian counts and an army of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1003 at Torà, Lleida. The main source for the battle is Andrew of Fleury, who probably received his information, which is detailed and generally...
. Of the allied Catalan leaders, Bernard appears to have been the senior. According to an early source (1043), before the battle Bernard reasoned that if the saints Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and Michael and the Virgin Mary each killed 5,000 Muslims, there would be a manageable number left for the soldiers. He further recalls that the Muslims are often slain before they have a chance to retreat. In the end, the Córdobans retreated to their own territory, where a second battle was fought at Albesa
Battle of Albesa
The Battle of Albesa was a follow-up to the Battle of Torà that took place 25 February 1003 at Albesa, near Balaguer, between the united Christian forces of Catalonia and the Islamic forces of the Caliphate of Córdoba...
. The result of this second battle is unclear, but probably not favourable to the Christians, but it was the end of the brief war, and possibly of the campaigning season as well. Bernard's presence at this second battle can be surmised based on the presence of his brother Berengar, who died there.
When Giselbert I of Roussillon
Giselbert I of Roussillon
Giselbert I , count of Roussillon , was the son of Gausfred I. His father divided his lands between his sons, giving Ampurias to Hugh and Roussillon to Giselbert....
died in 1014 his brother Hugh I of Empúries invaded the County of Roussillon
County of Roussillon
The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees.-Visigothic county:...
and tried to wrest it from the hands of Giselbert's young son, Gausfred II
Gausfred II of Roussillon
Gausfred II was the count of Roussillon from 1013 or 1014 to his death. He was the son and successor of Count Giselbert I, who was also count of Empúries, and Beliarda....
, who appealed to Bernard and Oliba for aid. Through their intervention Hugh and Gausfred came to terms in 1020.
Administration
In 1005 Bernard began using the title princePrince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
(princeps, which at the time retained its sense, derived from Isidore
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, of "sovereign"). His brother Oliba, in perpetuating his memory, calls him princeps et pater patriae: sovereign and father of his country
Pater Patriae
Pater Patriae , also seen as Parens Patriae, is a Latin honorific meaning "Father of the Country," or more literally, "Father of the Fatherland".- Roman history :...
. Oliba also lauds his fair judgement. In 1015 Bernard began using the title duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
(dux), implying military and even ethnic leadership, but not usurping royal rank.
During Bernard's rule in Besalú there is evidence of continued reliance on the Liber iudiciorum of the Visigoths
Visigothic Kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom which occupied southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th century AD. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of...
and on the Frankish court system established by the Carolingians. There is also the earliest evidence of new judicial procedures, some of which had already been developed in Occitania
Occitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
, such as the court of procures et boni homines, the relinquishing of property rights known as a guirpitio, and the agreement called a pacto or conventio. Bernard minted his own currency, but no examples survive, the only evidence of it being documentary. Later coins of his grandson and namesake, Bernard II
Bernard II of Besalú
Bernard II was the Count of Besalú and Ripoll in Catalonia, the brother, co-ruler , and successor of William II, who was assassinated in 1066. The second son of William I of Besalú and his wife, Adelaide, Bernard married his first cousin Ermengarda, daughter of Ponç I of Empúries and Adelaide,...
, contain a representation of a cross, representing the relic Bernard I retrieved in Rome. He was also the first Catalonian count to have his own seal
Seal (device)
A seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...
, imitating the Carolingian emperors
Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
and the Frankish kings in style. Though the latter were his nominal sovereigns, the existence of such a seal suggests that civil authority rested entirely with Bernard.
Marriage, heirs, and death
In 992, Bernard married Toda, also known as Adelaide, as contemporary charters attest. A grant of property dated 27 March 1000 to the church of Santa Maria del Castell de Besalú refers to uxori mee Tota que vocant Azalatz (my wife Toda who they call Adelaide) and another grant to the same, dated 1 March 1018, refers to uxor mea Tota comitissa que vocatur Adalet (my wife, the countess Toda, who is called Adelaide). The couple was a consistent patron of said church, also making a donation on 7 May 1012, with their son. She is never mentioned after the publication of Bernard's will. According to the modern Europäische Stammtafeln, Toda may have been the daughter of William II of ProvenceWilliam II of Provence
William II , called the Pious, was the Count of Provence, succeeded his father, William I, on the latter's retirement to a monastery just before his death in late 993. He did not succeed in the margravial title, which went to his uncle Rotbold II...
or William II Sánchez of Gascony
William II Sánchez of Gascony
William II Sánchez , Duke of Gascony from circa 961 at least until 996, was the younger illegitimate son of duke Sancho IV and successor, around 961, of his childless elder brother, duke Sancho V. He united the County of Bordeaux with the Gascony...
. It has been hypothesised that she was the route by which the exotic Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
name Constance, feminine form of Constantine, entered Spain. Boso II of Arles had married Constance, daughter of Charles Constantine
Charles Constantine
Charles Constantine was a Canadian North-West Mounted Police officer and superintendent, from Bradford, Yorkshire....
and grand-daughter of the Emperor Louis III and Anna, daughter of Leo VI the Wise
Leo VI the Wise
Leo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher , was Byzantine emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty , he was very well-read, leading to his surname...
. Boso's son, William I of Provence
William I of Provence
William I , called the Liberator, was Count of Provence from 968 to his abdication. In 975 or 979, he took the title of marchio or margrave. He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence...
, married Adelaide of Anjou
Adelaide of Anjou
Adelaide , called the White, was the daughter of Fulk II of Anjou and Gerberga. She was therefore the sister of Geoffrey Greymantle. She was married five times to some of France's most important noblemen....
. Their son, William II, thus had both Adelaide and Constance in his name pool
Onomastics
Onomastics or onomatology is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. The words are from the Greek: "ὀνομαστικός" , "of or belonging to naming" and "ὀνοματολογία" , from "ὄνομα" "name". Toponymy or toponomastics, the study of place names, is one of the principal branches of...
. If Bernard's wife was indeed his daughter, this would explain the name of Bernard's own eldest daughter and perhaps the name of a certain Constance, wife of Sancho Garcés, illegitimate son of García Sánchez III of Navarre, and a daughter of García's wife, Stephanie, by a previous marriage, perhaps to an unnamed son of Bernard of Besalú.
Bernard drowned in the river Rhône
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
while crossing into the County of Provence in 1020 and was buried in the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll
Santa Maria de Ripoll
The Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll is a Benedictine monastery, built in the Romanesque style, located in the town of Ripoll in Catalonia, Spain...
. Bernard's will, dated 26 September 1020, lists his children as Henry (Asenric/Aienrich), Hugh, Berengar, Adelaide, Constance, and William, and also names his wife and brother Oliba. His will was then published by his widow, his brother Oliba, his son Wifred, and the three other executors in a charter of 13 October, but this version does name his daughters and adds his brother Wifred and his nephew, Wifred's son and eventual successor, Raymond I. One of the executors of his will was Pons Bonfill. He left his younger sons under the tutelage (in tuicione) of their elder brother William, who inherited Besalú. His second son, Wifred, was already bishop of Besalú and his third son, Henry, he named as Wifred's heir in the diocese, with the price of his elevation (to bribe the cathedral chapter) to be paid by William. Bernard's two younger sons, Hugh and Berengar, inherited allodial lands strategically placed on the borders of the county. Though they were recognised as "co-heirs", these younger sons were never more than castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
s and vassals of their elder brother.
Bernard's eldest daughter, Constance, was given several allods and eventually married Ermengol II of Urgell
Ermengol II of Urgell
Ermengol II , called the Pilgrim, was the Count of Urgell from 1011 to his death. He was the son of Ermengol I. He was a child when he succeeded his father and was put under the regency of his uncle Raymond Borrel of Barcelona until 1018...
. Another daughter, Adelaide, married Ponç I of Empúries, son and heir of Hugh I; widowed, she entered the monastery of Sant Pau. A possible daughter Garsenda (Garcinda), unnamed in his will, married Berengar, viscount 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...
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In legend and epic
There is a historical relationship between Bernard and the Catalan legendCatalan myths and legends
Catalan myths and legends are the traditional myths and legends of the Catalan-speaking world, especially Catalonia itself, passed down for generations as part of that region's popular culture.Among the figures of Catalan mythology are:*Aloja...
of Comte l'Arnau. Traditionally, Arnau is a Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
figure who carries on a series sexual liaisons with the nuns of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. The abbess in the legend, who tries to keep Arnau from entering the convent, is usually named Engelberga. In 1017, at Bernard's insistence, Pope Benedict suppressed the convent, then under Bernard's sister Ingilberga, for rampant sexually immorality.
The Catalan-language writer Jacint Verdaguer
Jacint Verdaguer
Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló is regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a national revival movement of the late Romantic era. The bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the main figures of Catalan nationalism, called him the...
drew on the historical count of Besalú for his fictional character Comte Tallaferro, who figures as the protagonist in his epic poem Canigó, a central work of the Catalan Renaixença
Renaixença
The Renaixença was an early 19th century late romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture, akin to the Galician Rexurdimento or the Occitan Félibrige movements. The first stimuli of the movement date of the 1830s and 1840s, but the Renaixença stretches up into the 1880s, until it...
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External links
- Nobility of Catalonia: Chapter 3. Besalú, Section A. Comtes de Besalú (988–1111) at the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy's Medieval Lands Project. Charles Crowley, proj. ed.