Almodis de la Marche

(See also Genealogical Table(s): 3 , 5 , 6 .) Almodis was the daughter of Bernard, count of La Marche, and Amelia. She had two sisters, Rangard, who married Peter Raymond of Carcassonne, and Lucia, who married Artau, count of Pallars. Almodis was married three times, first to Hugh of Lusignan, a marriage annulled because of consanguinity, then to Pons, count of Toulouse, in 1040, and finally to Raymond/Ramon Berengar/Berenguer, count of Barcelona, in 1052, while the first two husbands were still alive. It is not clear whether she left Pons to marry Raymond or Pons was complicit, but Raymond repudiated his second wife, Bianca, to marry her and she gained prestige and power through the marriage.[1] A Muslim historian, al-Bakri, gives a romantic reading of the event, reporting that Raymond had hired the Saracen fleet of Tortosa to spirit Almodis away from her then husband (Bonnassie, La Catalogne , 353), having met her in Narbonne during a trip to Rome. Bonnassie (353-54 and 510) reports that she conducted her own correspondence and diplomacy with Muslim rulers, and that the emir of Denia, Ali ben Mochehid called her a “glorious queen,” and declared himself her “faithful friend,” but unfortunately only a fragment remains. Bonnassie also notes that Almodis was involved in Languedoc to ensure the heritage of her sons with Pons (510). As the mother of William IV of Toulouse, Almodis was the great great grand-mother of Eleanor of Aquitaine: William's daughter Philippa was the mother of Guillaume X of Aquitaine, Eleanor's father. Although the several marriages drew sharp criticism from some, [2] they did not inhibit her activities. Cheyette describes her as “one of the many powerful female politicians of this eleventh-twelfth century Mediterranean world” (“The Sale,” 839) and Bonnassie says the development of the state of Barcelona was mainly the work of Raymond and Almodis, who should be ranked among the principal figures (“les plus hautes figures”) of the 11th century (878). After her marriage to Raymond, oaths of fidelity were taken to Almodis as well as to her husband, many if not most acts of sale or exchange named both of them, and a substantial number were in her name alone. Both Raymond and Almodis were concerned with the law, indeed they are presented as models of legislating princes in the 12th century Gesta Comitum Barcinonensium , and their policies are reflected in the first codification of laws in the Usatici Barchinone. Bonnassie (719) notes that Almodis borrowed a manuscript of the Liber Iudicum from the cathedral for her own use, which the bishop later asked her to return. Almodis’ dower from Raymond included the city and bishopric of Girona, with its abbeys, and what his grandmother Ermessenda had held (and still administered) in counties of Osona and Barcelona (HGL 3.319). Ermessenda, who did not approve of Raymond’s repudiation of his second wife and did not want to give up her lands, appealed to pope Victor II, who had Raymond and Almodis excommunicated; Ermessenda eventually gave in, in 1057, for a payment of 1000 gold ounces, swore fidelity to them, and asked the pope to lift the excommunication (LFM 1.225, 215). Almodis’ dower from Pons probably included St. Gilles, which she continued to hold with their son Raymond, after her remarriage (HGL 3.351). She acted with both sons from that marriage (e.g., a record of the document which the countess and count William of Toulouse had made about their donation to St. Peter of Moissac, HGL 5.544-46, 277, dated 1067 and one to the abbey of S. Gilles with Raymond , HGL 5.542-44, 276.); she also arranged the marriage of her daughter from that marriage, Almodis, to the count of Melgueil and Substantion (B0nassie, 861-62). Almodis had children in each marriage: a son with Hugh; with Pons, three sons, Guillaume IV of Toulouse, Raymond of St. Gilles, and one who died young, HGL 3.339) and a daughter, Almodis; with Raymond Berengar, twin sons, Raymond Berengar II (who marrie