Henry II (c. 1236 – 1304), of the House of Millau

Millau

Millau is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers.-History:...

, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount

Viscount

A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 of Carlat

Carlat

Carlat is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France.The "Rocher de Carlat" or rock of Carlat situated above the picturesque commune was once the site of one of the most powerful and impenetrable chateaux in all of France. It was the seat of Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, and...

 from 1274 until his death. He was the son of Hugh IV of Rodez

Hugh IV of Rodez

Hugh IV , of the House of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat and Creyssel from 1221 until his death. He was the son of Henry I of Rodez and Algayette of Scorailles....

 and Isabeau de Roquefeuil.

Henry II was 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....

 and patron of troubadours. He composed six poems that survive: four tenso

Tenso

A tenso is a style of Occitan song favoured by the troubadours. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position on a topic relating to love or ethics. Closely related genres include the partimen and the cobla exchange...

s and two partimen

Partimen

The partimen is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the tenso or cobla exchange in which one poet presents a dilemma in the form of a question and the two debate the answer, each taking up a different side. It was especially popular in poetic contests....

s (alternatively five torneyamen

Torneyamen

A torneyamen or certamen was a lyric genre of the troubadours of the thirteenth century. Closely related to the tenso, a debate between two poets, and the partimen, a question posed by one poet and another's response, the torneyamen took place between several poets, originally usually three...

s). His short vida

Vida (Occitan literary form)

Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...

records an exchange of couplets between lo coms de Rodes (the count of Rhodes) and Uc de Saint Circ

Uc de Saint Circ

Uc de Saint Circ or Hugues de Saint Circq was a troubadour from Quercy. Uc is perhaps most significant to modern historians as the probable author of several vidas and razos of other troubadours, though only one of Bernart de Ventadorn exists under his name...

. The count claims to have got Uc back on his feet through his generous patronage. Among the other troubadours who were supported at Henry's court were Guiraut Riquier

Guiraut Riquier

Guiraut Riquier is among the last of the Provençal troubadours. He is well known because of his great care in writing out his works and keeping them together—the New Grove Encyclopedia considers him an "anthologist" of his own works....

, Folquet de Lunel

Folquet de Lunel

Folquet de Lunel was a troubadour from Lunel in the Languedoc. He left behind nine recorded lyric poems, including five cansos, two partimens, and two sirventes. He also wrote one longer work, the Romans de mondana vida...

, Cerverí de Girona

Cerverí de Girona

Cerverí de Girona was a Catalan troubadour born Guillem de Cervera in Girona. He was the most prolific troubadour, leaving behind some 114 lyric poems among other works, including an ensenhamen of proverbs for his son, totaling about 130. He was a court poet to James the Conqueror and Peter the...

, Bertran Carbonel

Bertran Carbonel

Bertran Carbonel was a Provençal troubadour from Marseille. He is a polarising figure among scholars and his reputation varies between authorities. Eighteen of his lyric works survive, as well as seventy-two or ninety-four single coblas triadas esparsas on "edifying" themes...

 and Bernart de Tot-lo-mon

Bernart de Tot-lo-mon

Bernart de Tot-lo-mon was a troubadour and jongleur, probably active at the court of Count Henry II of Rodez . HIs nickname means "of all-the-world"; according to Alfred Jeanroy, he was probably from Bruniquel in the Quercy....

.

Marriages and children

Henry II married three times. His first wife, married in 1256, was Marquise, daughter of Barral des Baux. They had one daughter named Isabeau who inherited the viscounty of Carlat and married the troubadour Geoffrey, lord of Pons

Jaufre de Pons

Jaufre de Pons or Pon was a 13th-century knight and troubadour from the castle of Pons in the March of Poitou in the Saintonge. He composed tensos with his castellan, Rainaut de Pons. There is joint vida of Jaufre and Rainaut. Only two of his tensos survive and only one that has survived is with...

. Though Marquise died in 1276, she was repudiated sometime before that in favour of Mascarosse, daughter of Bernard IV of Comminges. The latter bore Henry four children:

• Hugh
• Cecilia (1275–1313), successor, married (1298) Bernard VI of Armagnac
• Beatrix, lady of Scorailles and Saint-Christophe
  Saint-Christophe
  -Places in France:*Saint-Christophe, Allier, in the Allier département*Saint-Christophe, Charente, in the Charente département*Saint-Christophe, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime département...
  
  , married (1295) Bernard III (died 1325), lord of La Tour
  La Tour
  -France:Several communes in France:* La Tour, Alpes-Maritimes, in the Alpes-Maritimes département* La Tour, Haute-Savoie, in the Haute-Savoie département* La Tour-Blanche, in the Dordogne département* La Tour-d'Aigues, in the Vaucluse département...
  
  
• Valpurge, viscountess of Creyssel and lady of Roquefeuil, married (1298) Gaston d'Armagnac (died 1326), viscount of Fézenzaguet

Henry was widowered in 1292 and remarried for the last time in 1302 to Anne (died 1351), daughter of Aymar III of Valentinois. The couple had no children and the widowed Anne remarried to John I, Dauphin of Auvergne.

Sources

• Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0 8240 9437 9.