Folquet de Marselha
Encyclopedia
Cathar
Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
bishop of Toulouse.
Troubadour
Initially famed as a troubadour, he began composing songs in the 1170s and was known to Raymond Geoffrey II of MarseilleRaymond Geoffrey II of Marseille
Raymond Geoffrey, viscount of Marseille, usually called Barral of Marseille, was the third son of Hugh Geoffrey of Marseille and his wife Cécile of Aurons. Barral of Marseille was a patron of troubadours, including Folquet of Marseille and Peire Vidal....
, Richard Coeur de Lion
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...
, Raymond V of Toulouse
Raymond 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....
, Raimond-Roger of Foix
Raimond-Roger of Foix
Raimond Roger was the fifth count of Foix from the House of Foix. He was the son and successor of Roger Bernard I and his wife Cécilia Trencavel....
, 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...
and William VIII of Montpellier
William VIII of Montpellier
William VIII of Montpellier was Lord of Montpellier, the son of William VII.He married Eudoxie or Eudokia Komnene, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. A condition of the marriage was that the firstborn child, boy or girl, would succeed to the lordship of Montpellier on...
. He is known primarily for his love songs, which were lauded by Dante; there are 14 surviving cansos, one tenson, one lament, one invective, three crusading songs and possibly one religious song (although its authorship is disputed). Like many other troubadours, he was later credited by the Biographies des Troubadours to have conducted love affairs with the various noblewomen about whom he sang (allegedly causing William VIII to divorce his wife, Eudocia Comnena), but all evidence suggests that Folquet's early life was considerably more prosaic and in keeping with his status as a wealthy citizen. A contemporary, John of Garlande
Johannes de Garlandia (philologist)
Johannes de Garlandia or John of Garland was a philologist and university teacher. His dates of birth and death are unknown, but he probably lived from about 1190 to about 1270...
, later described him as "renowned on account of his spouse, his progeny, and his home," all marks of bourgeois respectability.
Bishop
Folquet's life and career abruptly changed around 1195 when he experienced a profound religious conversion and decided to renounce his former life. He joined the strict Cistercian Order, entering the monastery of Thoronet (Var, France), and appears to have placed his wife and two sons in monastic institutions as well. He soon rose in prominence and was elected abbot of Thoronet which allowed him to help found the sister house of Géménos to house women, quite possibly including his wife.He was elected Bishop of Toulouse in 1205, after two Cistercian Papal legates had been sent to the region to reform it. Pope Innocent III was particularly concerned by the prevalence of both heresy and episcopal corruption in the Languedoc and used the Cistercians to combat both. The legates had deposed the previous Bishop, Raimon de Rabastens, and were probably instrumental in arranging Folquet's nomination for the position.
As Bishop of Toulouse, Folquet (now traditionally referred to by his proper name, Foulques, Fulk, or Folc, instead of the diminutive Folquet) took a very active role in combatting heresy. Throughout his episcopal career he sought to create and encourage outlets for religious enthusiasm that were Catholic in an effort to woo believers away from preachers of heresy (primarily Cathar
Cathar
Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
and Waldensian). In 1206 he created what would become the convent of Prouille
Prouille
Prouille or Prouilhe , "cradle of the Dominicans", where the first Dominican house, a convent, was founded in late 1206 or early 1207, is a hamlet in Languedoc, France, lying between Fanjeaux and Bram , at the point where the road from Castelnaudary to Limoux crosses the road from Bram to...
to offer women a religious community that would rival (and, where necessary, replace) those of the Cathars. He participated in the initial preaching mission of Saint Dominic
Saint Dominic
Saint Dominic , also known as Dominic of Osma, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán was the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers , a Catholic religious order...
that was led by Dominic's superior, Bishop Diego of Osma. He continued to support this new form of preaching after Bishop Diego's death by backing Dominic and his followers, eventually allotting the nascent Dominicans
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
property and a portion of the tithes of Toulouse to ensure their continued success.
Figure of the Albigensian Crusade
Bishop Foulques had tumultuous relations with his diocese, primarily on account of his support of the Albigensian Crusade, which was popularly perceived as a war of aggression against the region. Hated by many Toulousains and by Count Raymond VI of ToulouseRaymond VI of Toulouse
Raymond VI was count of Toulouse and marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.-Early life:...
he left Toulouse on 2 April 1211, after the crusaders laid siege to Lavaur
Lavaur
Lavaur is the name of several communes in France:* Lavaur, Dordogne, in the Dordogne département* Lavaur, Tarn, in the Tarn département...
. Soon afterwards he instructed all clerics to leave the city. He was present at the siege in April-May 1211; he then travelled north to France, where he preached the Crusade alongside Guy of les Vaux-de-Cernay. He then returned to the south, participating in the Council of Pamiers in November 1212, in the Council of Lavaur in January 1213, in the meeting with Peter II of Aragon
Peter II of Aragon
Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.He was the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile...
on 14 January 1213, at the Battle of Muret
Battle of Muret
At the Battle of Muret on 12 September 1213 the Crusading army of Simon IV de Montfort defeated the Aragonese and Catalan forces of Peter II of Aragon, at Muret near Toulouse.-Background:...
on 12 September 1213, and at the Council of Montpellier in January 1215. There he was instructed by the Papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
, Peter of Benevento
Peter of Benevento
Peter of Benevento was an Italian canon lawyer, papal legate and Cardinal.He was closely associated with Pope Innocent III, and produced in 1209/10 a collection of his decretals, the Compilatio tertia, as an active editor and competing with that of Bernard of Pavia..He was sent in 1214 by ...
, to take possession of the Château Narbonnais, the Count's residence, at Toulouse; thus he finally returned to the city in February 1215.
In July 1215 Foulques issued a diocesan letter instituting Dominic's brotherhood of preachers (which eventually became the Dominican Order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
). In November 1215 he and Dominic, with Guy of Montfort
Guy de Montfort, Lord of Sidon
Guy de Montfort was the younger son of Simon III de Montfort and Amicia, sister of Robert FitzPernel, Earl of Leicester.-Crusade:...
, were in Rome at the Fourth Lateran Council.
After the Toulousains revolted in August 1216 against their new ruler, Simon IV de Montfort, and Foulques' negotiated settlement led to further violence, he tried to relinquish his position, claiming that it was impossible to manage the diocese, but his requests to the pope were refused. In October 1217, when Simon was besieging Toulouse once more, he sent a group of sympathisers to Paris to plead for the help of king Philippe-Auguste
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
. This group included Simon's wife, the countess Alix de Montmorency
Alix de Montmorency
Alix de Montmorency, died February 24, 1220-1221. Her parents were Bouchard IV/V de Montmorency and Laurette, daughter of Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut and Alice of Namur.-Life:...
, as well as Foulques. They began their journey clandestinely, "through the forest", to avoid attacks by faidit
Faidit
A faidit is a lord dispossessed of his land and title. Commonly used in historical works in reference to lords in the Languedoc who ran afoul of the Catholic Church during the Albigensian Crusade, who were accused of heresy and had their properties confiscated by the church...
s. They returned more flamboyantly, in May 1218, bringing a party of new Crusaders including the dashing Amaury de Craon.
Foulques spent much of the following decade outside his diocese, assisting the crusading army and the Church's attempts to bring order to the region. He was at the Council of Sens
Sens
Sens is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.Sens is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.-History:...
in 1223.
After the Peace of Paris finally ended the crusade in 1229, Foulques returned to Toulouse and began to construct the institutions that were designed to combat heresy in the region. He helped to create the University of Toulouse
University of Toulouse
The Université de Toulouse is a consortium of French universities, grandes écoles and other institutions of higher education and research, named after one of the earliest universities established in Europe in 1229, and including the successor universities to that earlier university...
and administered the newly created Episcopal Inquisition. He died in 1231 and was buried, beside the tomb of William VII of Montpellier
William VII of Montpellier
William VII of Montpellier was the eldest son of William VI and of his wife Sibylle.Aged around 15, he inherited the lordship of Montpellier from his father in 1146 under the tutelage of his grandmother, Ermessende of Melgueil...
, at the abbey of Grandselves, near Toulouse, where his sons, Ildefonsus and Petrus had been abbots.
Folquet's works
- Stanislaw Stronski, Le troubadour Folquet de Marseille. Krakow: Académie des Sciences, 1910.
- Texts of Folquet's poems (in Occitan)
- His diocesan letter of 1215 approving Dominic's brotherhood of preachers (French translation of the Latin original)