View source for Ermengarde, Viscountess of Narbonne

{{short description|12th-century French noblewoman}}
{{Infobox noble|title=[[Viscountess of Narbonne]]|name=Ermengarde|birth_date=1127 or 1129|death_date=14 October 1197|death_place=[[Perpignan]]|spouse=[[Bernard IV of Anduze]]|mother=Ermengarde|father=[[Aimery II of Narbonne]]}}

'''Ermengarde''' ([[Occitan language|Occitan]]: '''Ermengarda''', '''Ainermada''', or '''Ainemarda'''; 1127 or 1129 – 14 October 1197) was [[Viscount of Narbonne|Viscountess of Narbonne]] from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of [[Aimery II of Narbonne]] and his first wife, also named Ermengarde.

==Youth==
Aimery II was killed at the [[Battle of Fraga]] on July 17, 1134,{{sfn|Cheyette|2001|p=16}} fighting against the [[Almoravids]] along with [[Alfonso I of Aragon]]. Aimery left only two underaged daughters as his heirs, Ermengarde and her half-sister Ermessinde (daughter of Aimery's second wife, also named Ermessinde). Aimery had at least one son, also called Aimery, attested in numerous [[charter]]s, but this son predeceased him (c. 1130). Thus, the approximately five-year-old Ermengarde inherited the viscounty of [[Narbonne]] upon her father's death, which occupied a strategic place in the politics of [[Languedoc]]: it was desired by the [[counts of Toulouse]], the [[counts of Barcelona]], the [[Trencavel]] viscounts of [[Carcassonne]], and the [[lords of Montpellier]].

[[File:Denier Narbonne Alphonse Jourdain.jpg|thumb|A ''[[French denier|denier]]'' minted by Alphonse at Narbonne during the minority of Ermengarde (1134–1143) bearing the obverse inscription DUX ANFOS and on the reverse CIVI NARBON]]

In 1142, [[Alfonso Jordan]], Count of Toulouse, whose wife Faydid of Uzes had either recently died or been repudiated, attempted to married the now-adolescent Ermengarde.{{sfn|Cheyette|2001|p=16}} In reaction to this prospect, which overturned the balance of power in the region by adding Narbonne to the direct control of Toulouse, a coalition of Occitan lords led by [[Roger II Trencavel|Roger II of Béziers]], viscount of [[Carcassonne]], [[Béziers]], [[Albi]] and [[Razès]], formed to oppose Toulouse,{{sfn|Cheyette|2001|p=20-21}} and arranged the marriage of Ermengarde with a vassal of Roger II, [[Bernard IV of Anduze]].{{sfn|Cheyette|2001|p=21}} Alfonso was defeated by the coalition and taken prisoner, and was forced to make peace with Narbonne and restore Ermengarde and her new husband to the viscounty before being released.{{sfn|Cheyette|2001|p=20-21}}

==Political activity==
In 1177, Ermengarde joined [[Gui Guerrejat]] (the lover of [[Azalais de Porcairagues]]), [[Bernard Ato V]] of Nîmes and Agde, and Gui's nephews [[William VIII of Montpellier]] and Gui Burgundion, in an alliance in opposition to [[Raymond VI of Toulouse]], whose power suddenly increased when he became ruler of [[Mauguio|Melgueil]] as widower of [[Ermessende of Pelet]].

==Cultural activity==
Around 1190, a French cleric named [[Andreas Capellanus|André le Chapelain]] wrote a "Treatise on Courtly Love" ([[Latin]] ''De Arte honeste amandi''). In the second part of the Treatise, "How to maintain love", the author spoke of twenty-one "judgements of love" which had been pronounced by the greatest ladies of the kingdom of [[France]]. Among them, three judgements were attributed to [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]], seven to her daughter [[Marie of France, Countess of Champagne|Marie]], and five to Ermengarde. Although these "judgements" were probably fictional, they attest to the fame acquired by Ermengarde, even in the [[langue d'oïl]] in the north. She corresponded with many [[troubadour]]s, including [[Peire Rogier]], [[Giraut de Bornelh]], [[Peire d'Alvergne]], Pons d'Ortafa, and Salh d'Escola, as well as the [[trobairitz]] [[Azalais de Porcairagues]].

In addition it is believed that she welcomed to her court [[Rognvald Kali Kolsson|Rognvald II]] of [[Orkney]], a [[Viking]] prince that became a saint and poet, who composed [[skald]]ic poetry for her.<ref>Jacqueline Caille, « Une idylle entre la vicomtesse Ermengarde de Narbonne et le prince Rognvald Kali des Orcades au milieu du XIIe siècle ? », dans G. Romestan (dir.), ''Art et histoire dans le Midi languedocien et rhodanien Xe-XIXe siècle''. ''Hommage à Robert Saint-Jean. Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Montpellier'', 21, 1993, p. 229-233</ref>

==Later years==
Without issue, Ermengarde designated as her heir [[Pedro Manrique de Lara]], the second but eldest surviving son of her half-sister Ermessinde (who had died in 1177) by her husband Count [[Manrique Pérez de Lara]] (who was killed in battle in Garcianarro on 9 July 1164). In 1192 Ermengarde abdicated the viscounty in favor of Pedro and retired to [[Perpignan]], where she died five years later.

== Notes ==
<references/>

==Sources==
* {{cite book |first=Fredric L. |last=Cheyette |title=Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours |url=https://archive.org/details/ermengardofnarbo0000chey |url-access=registration |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8014-3952-0 }}
* Jacqueline Caille, ''Medieval Narbonne: A City at the Heart of the Troubadour World'', Ashgate, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 2005.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930190157/http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/baudin/intellectuels/andre/andre.htm André le Chapelain and the Treatise on Courtly Love] (French)
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/french/gene.htm Commercial treaty between Genoa et Narbonne] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814155938/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/french/gene.htm |date=2014-08-14 }} (November 12, 1166) (in Latin)
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/french/testam.htm Testament of Ermengarde] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814160105/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/french/testam.htm |date=2014-08-14 }} (April 30, 1196) (in Latin)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ermengarde Of Narbonne}}
[[Category:1120s births]]
[[Category:1190s deaths]]
[[Category:Occitan nobility]]
[[Category:French patrons of literature]]
[[Category:Viscounts of Narbonne]]
[[Category:12th-century French nobility]]
[[Category:12th-century countesses regnant]]
[[Category:12th-century French women]]