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Birth:          ABT 1195 of Aix-en-Provence, Provence
Death:          19 Aug 1245 France

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Berenguer_IV,_Count_of_Provence
Ramon Berenguer IV or V (1198 – 19 August 1245), Count of Provence and 
Forcalquier, was the son of Alfonso II of Provence and Garsenda de Sabran, heiress 
of Forcalquier.

He was the first Count of Provence to live in the county in more than one hundred 
years.
Career[edit]

After his father's death (1209), Ramon was imprisoned in the castle of Monzón, in 
Aragon until he was able to escape in 1219 and claim his inheritance. He was a 
powerful and energetic ruler who added Forcalquier to his domain.

He and his wife were known for their support of troubadors, always having some 
around the court. He was known for his generosity, though his income did not always 
keep up. He wrote laws prohibiting nobles from performing menial work, such as 
farming or heavy labor.

Ramon had many border disputes with his neighbors, the Counts of Toulouse. In 1226, 
Ramon began to reassert his right to rule in Marseille. The citizens there initially 
sought the help of Ramon's father-in-law Thomas, Count of Savoy in his role as 
imperial vicar. However, they later sought the help of Raymond VII, Count of 
Toulouse.[1]

In 1228, Ramon supported his father-in-law in a double-sided conflict against Turin 
and Guigues VI of Viennois. This small war was one of many rounds intended to more 
firmly establish control over trade from Italy into France, and Provence included 
several key routes.[2]

While the Albigensian Crusade worked in his favor against Toulouse, Ramon was 
concerned that its resolution in the Treaty of Paris left him in a precarious position. 
Raymond turned his troops from fighting France to attempting to claim lands from 
Provence.[3] When Blanche of Castile sent her knight to both Toulouse and Provence 
in 1233, Ramon entertained him lavishly, and the knight left well impressed by both 
the count and his eldest daughter, Margaret. Soon after, Blanche negotiated the 
marriage between Margaret and her son, Louis, with a dowry of ten thousand silver 
marks. Ramon had to get contributions from allies for a portion, and had to pledge 
several of his castles to cover the rest. Ramon and Beatrice travelled with their 
daughter to Lyon in 1234 to sign the marriage treaty, and then Margaret was escorted 
to her wedding in Sens by her uncles from Savoy, William and Thomas.

Shortly after, William began negotiating on Ramon's behalf with Henry III of England 
to marry his daughter Eleanor. Henry sent his own knight to Provence early in 1235, 
and again Ramon and his family entertained him lavishly. Henry wrote to William on 
June 22 that he was very interested, and sent a delegation to negotiate the marriage 
in October. Henry was seeking a dowry of up to twenty thousand silver marks to help 
offset the dowry he had just paid for his sister, Isabella. However, he had drafted 
seven different versions of the marriage contract, with different amounts for the dowry, 
the lowest being zero. Ramon shrewdly negotiated for that option, offering as 
consolation a promise to leave her ten thousand marks when he died.

In 1238, Ramon joined his brother-in-law, Amadeus IV at the court of Frederick II, Holy 
Roman Emperor in Turin. Frederick was gathering forces to assert more control in 
Italy. Raymond VII of Toulouse was also summoned, and all expected to work together 
in the war.[4]

In January 1244, Pope Innocent IV decreed that no one but the pope could 
excommunicate Ramon.[5] In 1245, Ramon sent representatives to the First Council of 
Lyon, to discuss crusades and the excommunication of Frederick.[6]

Ramon died in August 1245 in Aix-en-Provence, leaving the county to his youngest 
daughter, Beatrice.[7]

Marriage and children[edit]

On 5 June 1219, Ramon married Beatrice of Savoy, daughter of Thomas, Count of 
Savoy. She was a shrewd and politically astute woman, whose beauty was likened by 
Matthew Paris to that of a second Niobe. The wedding also provided the 14-year-old 
Ramon with a powerful father-in-law to aid him in establishing his authority and 
protecting his interests.[8] They had four daughters who reached adulthood, all of 
whom married kings.
1.stillborn son (1220)
2.Margaret of Provence (1221–1295), wife of Louis IX, King of France
3.Eleanor of Provence (1223–1291), wife of Henry III, King of England
4.stillborn son (1225)
5.Sanchia of Provence (1228–1261), wife of Richard, King of the Romans
6.Beatrice of Provence (1231–1267), wife of Charles I, King of Sicily

His daughters were all educated and literate.

Death and legacy[edit]

Ramon Berenguer IV died in Aix-en-Provence. At least two planhs (Occitan funeral 
laments) of uncertain authorship (one possibly by Aimeric de Peguilhan and one falsely 
attributed to Rigaut de Berbezilh) were written in his honour.

Giovanni Villani in his Nuova Cronica had this to say about Raymond:


Count Raymond was a lord of gentle lineage, and kin to them of the house of Aragon, 
and to the family of the count of Toulouse, By inheritance Provence, this side of the 
Rhone, was his; a wise and courteous lord was he, and of noble state and virtuous, 
and in his time did honourable deeds, and to his court came all gentle persons of 
Provence and of France and of Catalonia, by reason of his courtesy and noble estate, 
and he made many Provençal coblas and canzoni of great worth.[9]

Parents
OF ARAGON Alfonso II (1174 - Feb 1209)
DE SABRAN Garsenda (ABT 1180 - ABT 1242)

Siblings
BERENGER Raimund V (IV) (ABT 1195 - 19 Aug 1245)

Marriage To DE SAVOY Beatrice (ABT 1198 - Dec 1266)
    m. Dec 1220 Dez

Notes

Parents
____ Thomas I (20 Mar 1177 - 1 Mar 1233)
DE GENEVA AND FAUCIGNY Margaret (Marguerite) (Beatrix ) (Nicole) (ABT 1175 - 8 Apr 1257)

Children by DE SAVOY Beatrice ABT 1198 - Dec 1266
DE PROVENCE Margaret (Marguerite) (1221 - 21 Dec 1295)
OF PROVENCE Eleonore (Leonor) (ABT 1222 - 25 Jun 1291)
DE PROVENCE (DE SAVOY) Beatrice (1234 - 23 Sep 1267)

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