County of Carcassonne

The County of Carcassonne (Occitan: Comtat de Carcassona) was a medieval fiefdom controlling the city of Carcassonne, France, and its environs. It was often united with the County of Razès.

The origins of Carcassonne as a county probably go back to the Visigothic period in Septimania, but the first count known by name is Bello of the time of Charlemagne. Bello founded a dynasty, the Bellonids, which would rule many honores in Septimania and Catalonia for the centuries.

Bello was a loyal Carolingian follower and his successor in the county were Carolingian appointees down to about the time of Oliba II, at which point the counties in the outlying regions were beginning to become hereditary possessions in the hands of locally well-endowed families. After Oliba, who ruled both Carcassonne and Razès, his patrimony was ruled jointly by his sons and grandsons. On the death of Acfred II in 933, Carcassonne passed to a woman and, by marriage, to the Counts of Comminges.

The Counts of Comminges continued the practice, extensive in the Midi, of associating brothers, sons, grandsons, and nephews in the government. In 1068, however, Carcassonne was divided among the three daughters of Peter II. In 1069, they sold their comital rights to Raymond Berengar I of Barcelona. The county of Carcassonne was subsumed within Barcelona thereafter, though a viscounty was created in 1082 by Raymond Berengar II.

Counts of Carcassonne

Bellonid Dynasty

Guilhemides (Williami)

Visigoth rulers

House of Rouergue

Hunfridings

Bellonid Dynasty

  • 865 872 Oliba II, son of Oliba I

Guilhemides (Williami)

Bellonid Dynasty

House of Comminges

  • 957 1012 Roger I, son of Arsenda of Carcassonne and Arnold of Comminges
    • until 1010 Raymond II Roger, son of Roger I
    • until 1010 Peter I Roger, son of Roger I
  • 1012 1034 William I, nephew of Roger I
    • 1012 1034 Peter II
  • 1034 1068 Raymond II, second time
    • 1034 1059 Peter II, second time
    • from 1034 Peter III
    • from 1034 Bernard II
  • 1068 1069 Garsenda, Ermengarde, and Adelaide, daughters of Peter II
Sold to County of Barcelona.

Viscounts of Carcassonne and Razès

In 1069, Garsenda, Ermengarde, and Adelaide sold their comital rights to Carcassonne to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona. At some point, Ermengarde married Raymond Bernard of Nîmes, a member of the Trencavel family. Their son, Bernard Ato IV, retook Carcassonne in 1125.

Trencavels

House of Montfort

Annexed to Crown of France between 1226 and 1240 and from 1247 permanently.
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