Hugh IV (c. 1212 – 1274), 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...

 and Creyssel from 1221 until his death. He was the son of Henry I of Rodez

Henry I of Rodez

Henry I , of the house of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat from 1208 until his death. He was the son and successor of Hugh II...

 and Algayette of Scorailles.

In 1242 Hugh was in revolt against the King of France, Louis IX

Louis IX of France

Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...

. Upon making peace he made a vow to go on Crusade. He redeemed his vow with the payment of a rather small sum of money towards Louis IX's Crusade

Seventh Crusade

The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...

 in 1248.

Hugh IV was a patron of 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....

s. Among the troubadours supported at his 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...

, and 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...

. It is possible that he is the coms de Rodes who is the dedicatee of three religious cansos by Folquet de Lunel: Dompna bona, bel'e plazens, Si quon la fuelh'el ramel, and Tant fin'amors totas horas m'afila. Scholarship, however, is divided over whether the intended count was Hugh, indicating that the songs are a product of Folquet's youth, or his son Henry

Henry II of Rodez

Henry II , of the House of Millau, was the Count of Rodez and Viscount of Carlat from 1274 until his death. He was the son of Hugh IV of Rodez and Isabeau de Roquefeuil....

, making them a product of his maturity.

Marriages and children

He married Isabeau (died 1271), daughter of Raymond I of Roquefeuil

House of Roquefeuil-Blanquefort

The House of Roquefeuil-Blanquefort was one of the most illustrious noble families of the Languedoc area of France. It was named after its possession at Blanquefort and a inheritance from Catherine de Roquefeuil in 1381, and its members included...

, and had five children:

• Henry II (1236–1304), successor
• Peter
• Valpurge (Walperga), married William IV, lord of Châteauneuf-Randon and Randonnat (died 1305)
• Dauphine (Dalfina), married Peter I of Alais
• Alix (Alice), nun

Sources

• Maier, Christopher T. (1994). Preaching the Crusades: Mendicant Friars and the Cross in the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 45246 5.
• Riquer, Martín de (1975) Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta.