Constance of France by Myra Miranda Bom;

Author:Myra Miranda Bom;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783031104299
Publisher: Springer Nature

Conclusion

Constance married Count Raymond V of Toulouse in response to the political situation in Western Europe in the 1150s. Once a countess, Constance became a vital and physical link between the County of Toulouse and the Crown of France. Raymond used his marriage to the sister of the King of France to increase his power in the South while Louis similarly extended royal influence in the same region through his sister and brother-in-law. Both rulers benefitted. Constance was an active participant in this process: She assumed the title regina to emphasize her royal birth and consistently applied “sister of the King of France” to her title. In order to influence local politics, she wrote letters to her brother inviting him to intervene or to make judgements. Yet she did not always follow up on his judgement, as hers was a balancing act. When the interests of the king conflicted with the interests of the count of Toulouse, Constance was forced to take sides with either her family of birth or her family of marriage, in particular after the birth of her eldest son, the future count of Toulouse.

Within the marriage, Constance also needed to balance her own advantages against her husband’s. Charters bearing Constance’s name from this period seem to show a wife who had little more influence than someone consenting to her husband’s decisions. Yet, on closer examination we find that, in some instances, Constance was able to turn her husband’s need for her consent to her own financial benefit and she derived personal income from her consent to the alienation of lands and rights. Some negotiation must have taken place between the couple, although admittedly it is impossible to make an assessment of the relative power in their relationship. It is clear, however, that when it came to alienating lands, Raymond needed his wife’s cooperation. Constance may have had little to no influence upon her brother’s decision to marry her to Raymond of Toulouse other than giving her consent, but once married, she was an active participant in her marriage and its resulting politics.

In Occitania, like in other areas of France outside the royal demesne, Louis positioned himself in the role of peace-maker, defender, and higher judge in order to expand Capetian power. By supporting towns against lords, Church against laymen, and lesser nobles against lords, he attempted to create a sphere of royal influence. One of his methods was to use his connection with his sister and her family, and even after Constance had left her husband, Louis reached out to her children: when his niece Adelaide, Constance and Raymond’s only daughter, married Roger of Béziers in 1171, he wrote to his amico carissimo (beloved friend) Roger and offered him and his niece the castle of Minerve as a wedding gift.120 However, the effectiveness of Louis’ alliance with Toulouse had diminished and his relationship with Raymond eventually soured. As a consequence, King Henry II of England saw a chance to use the political void left behind to his advantage and in 1174, Raymond paid homage to the English king.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.