Another part of the agreement was that, if Charles and Beatrice had no heirs, her counties would go to the king of Aragon, currently James I, whose army currently surrounded Beatrice's residence at Aix-en-Provence, and who had made claims to Provence previously.
Not everyone was happy about this.
The mother of Beatrice, Beatrice of Savoy, had not long before arranged for a loan of 4000 marks from Henry III of England for her husband, Ramon Berenguer V. Some castles in Provence had been put up as collateral. Henry felt he should have been part of the negotiations, since there were castes in Provence that potentially could become his. Also, Beatrice's older sister Eleanor had married Henry 10 years earlier, and Henry had still not received all the promised dowry.
The immediate problem was Aragon, however. Charles took 500 knights and rode to Provence, encountering Raymond VII of Toulouse along the way. Raymond also wanted to marry Beatrice, but his retinue was smaller than Charles' and so was easily turned away.
Once Charles reached Aix-en-Provence, after a brief clash James accepted the terms agreed upon, that Aragon might get those counties anyway, and returned home.
Beatrice and Charles were married at Aix-en-Provence on 31 January 1246, with soldiers guarding the ceremony.
Then Charles brought his own team of advisors to Provence and cut his mother-in-law off of involvement in government. He also started taking management of castles away from the local nobles. This made him unpopular. Marseilles threw Charles' officials out of their city. Charles' wife supported him, but Beatrice of Savoy "exiled herself" to Forcalquier.
Charles was only 20 years old, and not even knighted yet. This was a swift elevation from youngest son destined for the Church to Count of Provence and Forcalquier, two large territories on. the continent...and this was only the beginning.
See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.