SABRAN, Countess Gersinde de b. 1181 Basses, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France d. Abt 1242 Labbaye De La Celle, France

1181 - Abt 1242 (61 years)

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Name	SABRAN, Gersinde de
Prefix	Countess
Birth	1181	Basses, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France
Gender	Female
Death	Abt 1242	Labbaye De La Celle, France
WAC	7 Dec 1933	MANTI
_TAG	Request Submitted for Permission
_TAG	Temple
Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
Person ID	I46128	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

Father	SABRAN, Lord Raimond Reinier de , b. 1154, Sabran, Gard, Languedoc-Rousillon, France Sabran, Gard, Languedoc-Rousillon, Franced. 1224, Sabran, Gard, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (Age 70 years)
Mother	FORCALQUIER, Countess Garsinde , b. Abt 1156, Forcalquier, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France Forcalquier, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Franced. 1224 (Age 68 years)
Marriage	1178
Family ID	F24081	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family PROVENCE, Count Alfonso II , b. Abt 1174, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Barcelona, Catalonia, Spaind. Feb 1209, Palermo, Sicily, Italy (Age 35 years)

Marriage Jul 1193 Aragon, Spain

Children 1 son and 1 daughter

+	1. PROVENCE, Count Raimund Berenger IV , b. 23 Sep 1198, Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Franced. 19 Aug 1245, Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France (Age 46 years)
	2. PROVENCE, Countess Gersinde , b. Abt 1200, Aix-En-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France Aix-En-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Franced. 1263, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France (Age 63 years)

Family ID F24077 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 24 Jan 2022

Photos At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

Notes

BIO: died a nun.

** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/PROVENCE.htm#GersendeSabranMAlfonsoIIProvence as of 6/1/2016
GERSENDE de Sabran . Ctss de Forcalquier. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the wife of "Sanctio [frater rege Petro de Arragonum" [presumably an error for "Alfonso"] as "neptem…comitis de Forcalcarie"[740]. Rodrigo of Toledo´s De rebus Hispaniæ records that "Aldefonso" married "neptem comitis Folocalquerii"[741]. A Brevis historia comitum Provinciæ records that "Idelfonsus...comes Provinciæ" married "Gersendem neptem comitis Folocalquerii"[742]. “Garsendis uxor quondam Ildefonsi comitis Provinciæ” donated her rights “in comitatu Forcalqueriensi”, granted by “Guillelmo quondam comite Forcalqueriensi avo meo”, to “Raymundo Berengario filio meo” with “filiæ meæ sororis tuæ Garsendis” as substitute should he die, with the consent of “patre meo Raines de Castelar”, by charter dated 30 Nov 1209[743]. Nun at Celle 1222. m (Aix-en-Provence Jul 1193) Infante don ALFONSO BERENGUER de Aragón, son of ALFONSO II King of Aragon & his wife Infanta doña Sancha de Castilla ([1180]-Palermo Feb 1209). He succeeded his father in 1195 as ALFONSO II Comte de Provence, Millau & Razès.

** from Wikipedia listing for Garsenda, Countess of Forcalquier as of 6/1/2016
Garsenda (French: Garsende de Sabran; c. 1180 – c. 1242) was the Countess of Provence as the wife of Alfonso II from 1193 and the Countess of Forcalquier in her own right from 1209. She brought Forcalquier to the House of Barcelona and united it to Provence. She was also a patron of Occitan literature, especially the troubadours, and herself wrote some lyric poetry and is counted among the trobairitz as Garsenda de Proensa or Proença. She was, in the words of her most recent editors, "one of the most powerful women in Occitan history".[1]

Early life and marriage
Garsenda was the daughter of Rainou (or Rénier), lord of Caylar and Ansouis of the Sabran family, and Garsenda, daughter of William IV of Forcalquier. She was named after her mother, who was the heiress of William IV, but predeceased him. Garsenda therefore inherited Forcalquier from her grandfather. She was only thirteen years of age when, in 1193, her grandfather William IV and Alfonso II signed the Treaty of Aix whereby Garsenda would inherit William's county and would marry Alfonso, who was in line to become Count of Provence. The marriage took place at Aix-en-Provence in July 1193. They had at least two children, Raymond Berengar IV and Garsenda, who married Guillermo II de Montcada, and bore him two children, including Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn.[2][3][4]

Regency and patronage
In 1209 both William IV and Alfonso died and Garsenda became the natural guardian of their son and heir, Raymond Berengar IV. Initially her brother-in-law, Peter II of Aragon, assigned the regency of Provence to his brother Sancho, but when Peter died in 1213 Sancho became regent of Aragon and passed Provence and Forcalquier to his son Nuño Sánchez. Dissension broke out between the Catalans and the partisans of the countess, who accused Nuño of attempting to supplant his nephew in the county. The Provençal aristocracy originally took advantage of the situation for their own ambitious ends, but eventually they lined up behind Garsenda and removed Nuño, who returned to Catalonia. The regency was passed to Garsenda and a regency council was established consisting of the native nobles.

It was probably during her tenure as regent (1209/1213–1217/1220) that Garsenda became the focus of a literary circle of poets, though the vida of Elias de Barjols refers to his patron as Alfonso. There is a tenso between a bona dompna (good lady), identified in one chansonnier as la contessa de Proessa,[7] and an anonymous troubadour. The two coblas of the exchange are found in two different orders in the two chansonniers, called F and T, that preserve them. It cannot be known therefore who spoke first, but the woman's half begins Vos q'em semblatz dels corals amadors. In the poem the countess declares her love for her interlocutor, who then responds courteously but carefully. Under some interpretations the troubadour is Gui de Cavaillon, whose vida repeats the rumour (probably unfounded) that he was the countess' lover. Gui, however, was at the Provençal court between 1200 and 1209, pushing the date of the exchange forward a bit. Elias de Barjols apparently "fell in love" with her as a widow and wrote songs about her "for the rest of his life", until he entered a monastery. Raimon Vidal also praised her renowned patronage of troubadours.
Retirement and later life

In 1220 Guillaume II de Sabran, a nephew of William IV, who claimed Forcalquier and had been in revolt in the region of Sisteron, was neutralised in part through the mediation of the Archbishop of Aix, Bermond le Cornu. By 1217 or 1220 Garsenda had finally ceded Forcalquier to her son and handed the reins of government over.

Garsenda retired to the monastery of La Celle around 1225. In 1242, she went to visit her newly born great-granddaughter, Beatrice of England, and her parents in Bordeaux. As the father, Henry III of England, was engaged in a war in France at the time, she brought 60 knights to his service.[8] Garsend may have been alive as late as 1257, when a certain woman of that name made a donation to a church of St-Jean on the condition that three priests be kept to pray for her soul and that of her husband.

Poetry
Vos que.m semblatz dels corals amadors,
ja non volgra que fossetz tan doptanz;
e platz me molt quar vos destreing m'amors,
qu'atressi sui eu per vos malananz.
Ez avetz dan en vostre vulpillatge
quar no.us ausatz de preiar enardir,
e faitz a vos ez a mi gran dampnatge;
que ges dompna no ausa descobrir
tot so qu'il vol per paor de faillir.

You're so well-suited as a lover,
I wish you wouldn't be so hesitant;
but I'm glad my love makes you the penitent,
otherwise I'd be the one to suffer.
Still, in the long run it's you who stands to lose
if you're not brave enough to state your case,
and you'll do both of us great harm if you refuse.
For a lady doesn't dare uncover
her true will, lest those around her think her base.[9]

Notes
Bruckner, Shepard & White 1995, p. 163.
Shideler 1983, p. 192.
Miret i Sans 1902, p. 281.
Cirera i Prim 1954, p. 102.
Blancard 1860, p. 56, nos. 1 & 2 (plate 28).
Constable 1957, p. 150.
Variously spelled comtessa or contesa.
Cox 1974, p. 118.
Bogin 1976, pp. 108–09.

Sources
Blancard, Louis (1860). Iconographie des sceaux et bulles conservés dans la partie antérieur à 1790 des archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhone 1. Paris: J.-B. Dumoulin.
Bogin, Meg (1976). The Women Troubadours. Scarborough: Paddington. ISBN 0846701138.
Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn; Shepard, Laurie; White, Sarah (1995). Songs of the Women Troubadours. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0815308175.
Cirera i Prim, Jaume (1954). "Filiación de los Montcada que asistieron a la conquista de Mallorca". Memòries de la Reial Acadèmia Mallorquina d'Estudis Genealògics, Heràldics i Històrics 2 (1–4): 101–12.
Constable, Giles (1957). "The Disputed Election at Langres in 1138". Traditio 13: 119–52.
Cox, Eugene L. (1974). The Eagles of Savoy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691052166.
Miret i Sans, Joaquim (1902). "La casa de Montcada en el Vizcondado de Bearn". Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona 1 (6): 280–303.
Shideler, John C. (1983). Medieval Catalan Noble Family: The Montcadas, 1000–1230. University of California Press. ISBN 0520045785.

Garsende de Sabran, née vers 1180, morte vers 1242, est l'héritière des comtes de Forcalquier. Elle est comtesse de Provence par mariage et une trobairitz connue sous les noms de Garsenda de Proensa, Garsende de Provence ou Garsende de Forcalquier.

Biographie

Elle est la fille de Rainier de Sabran, seigneur du Caylar et d'Ansouis, et de Garsende de Forcalquier, petite-fille de Guillaume IV de Forcalquier, comte de Forcalquier. En 1193, elle est âgée de treize ans lorsque son grand-père et son grand-oncle sont contraints de signer le traité d'Aix, qui stipule qu’elle doit devenir l'héritière du comté de Forcalquier et épouser Alphonse II de Provence, second fils du roi Alphonse II d'Aragon, destiné à devenir comte de Provence. Elle l'épouse, en 1196 à Aix-en-Provence. Elle est la mère, à 18 ans, de Raimond Bérenger IV de Provence (1198 † 1245), comte de Provence et de Forcalquier et, par la suite, de Garsende, mariée à Guillaume II de Moncade, vicomte de Béarn et de Béatrice, mariée à Guigues-André, Dauphin de Viennois.

Elle a 29 ans quand, en 1209, son mari Alphonse II de Provence et son grand-père meurent. Par son testament du 11 septembre 1209 Alphonse II lègue le Comté de Provence à son fils Raymond Bérenger et à Garsende. Pendant 4 ans la tutelle de Raimond Bérenger IV de Provence, qui n'a que onze ans, est assurée par le roi Pierre II d'Aragon comte de Barcelone et marquis de Provence de 1195 à 1213. Pendant ces quatre ans, il délègue la régence du comté de Provence à son oncle Sanche. Très vite, le 30 novembre 1209, Garsende de Forcalquier cède ses droits sur le comté de Forcalquier à son fils10, qui réunit ainsi les deux tiers de la Provence.

Le 14 septembre 1213, Pierre II est tué à Muret et Sanche, qui prend en charge la régence d'Aragon, laisse celle de Provence à son fils Nuno. Des dissensions éclatent au sein des Catalans de Provence, entre les partisans de Garsende qui semble vouloir prendre la place du jeune prince et ceux de Nuno. La noblesse provençale en profite pour s'agiter. Elle prend finalement le parti de Garsende, évince Nuno, place Raymond-Bérenger sous la tutelle de sa mère et crée un conseil de régence. En 1220, Guillaume de Sabran, un neveu du comte Guillaume IV de Forcalquier, revendiquant le comté de son oncle, profite des troubles pour s'emparer de la région de Sisteron. Il est neutralisé, grâce à un arbitrage de l'archevêque d'Aix.

Garsende de Sabran, comtesse de Provence, était la dame du troubadour Elias de Barjols, ainsi que du troubadour Gui de Cavaillon. Elle se retira en 1225 à l'abbaye de La Celle, près de Brignoles.

Œuvre

On connaît d’elle un couplet adressé vraisemblablement à Gui de Cavaillon.

Vos que m semblatz d'els corals amadors,
Ja no volgra que fosses tan doptans;
E platz mi molt que vos destreing amors,
Qu'atressi sui eu per vos malananz.
E avetz dan en vostre vulpilhage,
Quar no us ausas de preiar enhardir,
E faitz a vos e a mi gran damnage;
Que ges dompna non ausa descobrir
Tot so qu'il vol per paor de faillir.

Vous qui me paraissez (du nombre) des sincères amants,
Ah ! Je voudrais que vous ne fussiez si timide.
Je me réjouis que l'amour vous captive,
Car moi-même je souffre pareillement à cause de vous.
Vous recevez dommage de votre timidité.
Quand vous n'osez vous enhardir jusqu'à la prière;
Et vous faites grand mal et à vous et à moi;
(D'autant) que jamais une femme n'ose découvrir
Tout ce qu'elle désire, par crainte de faillir.

BIO: died a nun.

** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/PROVENCE.htm#RainonSabrandied1209, as of 11/11/2014
GERSENDE de Sabran . Ctss de Forcalquier. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the wife of "Sanctio [frater rege Petro de Arragonum" [presumably an error for "Alfonso"] as "neptem…comitis de Forcalcarie"[582]. Rodrigo of Toledo´s De rebus Hispaniæ records that "Aldefonso" married "neptem comitis Folocalquerii"[583]. A Brevis historia comitum Provinciæ records that "Idelfonsus...comes Provinciæ" married "Gersendem neptem comitis Folocalquerii"[584]. The primary source which confirms her precise parentage has not yet been identified. Nun at Celle 1222. m (Aix-en-Provence Jul 1193) Infante don ALFONSO BERENGUER de Aragón, son of ALFONSO II King of Aragon & his wife Infanta doña Sancha de Castilla ([1180]-Palermo Feb 1209). He succeeded his father in 1195 as ALFONSO II Comte de Provence, Millau & Razès.

** from Wikipedia listing for Garsenda, Countess of Forcalquier, as of 11/11/2014
Garsenda or Garsende (II) de Sabran (c. 1180 – c. 1242) was the Countess of Provence as the wife of Alfonso II from 1193 and the Countess of Forcalquier in her own right from 1209. She brought Forcalquier to the House of Barcelona and united it to Provence. She was also a patron of Occitan literature, especially the troubadours, and herself wrote some lyric poetry and is counted among the trobairitz as Garsenda de Proensa or Proença. She was, in the words of her most recent editors, "one of the most powerful women in Occitan history".[1]

Early life and marriage
Garsenda was the daughter of Rainou (or Rénier), lord of Caylar and Ansouis of the Sabran family, and Garsenda, daughter of William IV of Forcalquier. She was named after her mother, who was the heiress of William IV, but predeceased him. Garsenda therefore inherited Forcalquier from her grandfather. She was only thirteen years of age when, in 1193, her grandfather William IV and Alfonso II signed the Treaty of Aix whereby Garsenda would inherit William's county and would marry Alfonso, who was in line to become Count of Provence. The marriage took place at Aix-en-Provence in July 1193. They had at least two children, Raymond Berengar IV and Garsenda, who married Guillermo II de Montcada, and bore him two children, including Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn.[2][3][4]

Regency and patronage
In 1209 both William IV and Alfonso died and Garsenda became the natural guardian of their son and heir, Raymond Berengar IV. Initially her brother-in-law, Peter II of Aragon, assigned the regency of Provence to his brother Sancho, but when Peter died in 1213 Sancho became regent of Aragon and passed Provence and Forcalquier to his son Nuño Sánchez. Dissension broke out between the Catalans and the partisans of the countess, who accused Nuño of attempting to supplant his nephew in the county. The Provençal aristocracy originally took advantage of the situation for their own ambitious ends, but eventually they lined up behind Garsenda and removed Nuño, who returned to Catalonia. The regency was passed to Garsenda and a regency council was established consisting of the native nobles.
Coat-of-arms of the Sabran family, as used by William and Rostaing, hereditary constables of the County of Toulouse (late 12th century)[5][6]

It was probably during her tenure as regent (1209/1213–1217/1220) that Garsenda became the focus of a literary circle of poets, though the vida of Elias de Barjols refers to his patron as Alfonso. There is a tenso between a bona dompna (good lady), identified in one chansonnier as la contessa de Proessa,[7] and an anonymous troubadour. The two coblas of the exchange are found in two different orders in the two chansonniers, called F and T, that preserve them. It cannot be known therefore who spoke first, but the woman's half begins Vos q'em semblatz dels corals amadors. In the poem the countess declares her love for her interlocutor, who then responds courteously but carefully. Under some interpretations the troubadour is Gui de Cavaillon, whose vida repeats the rumour (probably unfounded) that he was the countess' lover. Gui, however, was at the Provençal court between 1200 and 1209, pushing the date of the exchange forward a bit. Elias de Barjols apparently "fell in love" with her as a widow and wrote songs about her "for the rest of his life", until he entered a monastery. Raimon Vidal also praised her renowned patronage of troubadours.

Retirement and later life
In 1220 Guillaume II de Sabran, a nephew of William IV, who claimed Forcalquier and had been in revolt in the region of Sisteron, was neutralised in part through the mediation of the Archbishop of Aix, Bermond le Cornu. By 1217 or 1220 Garsenda had finally ceded Forcalquier to her son and handed the reins of government over.

Garsenda retired to the monastery of La Celle around 1225. In 1242, she went to visit her newly born great-granddaughter, Beatrice of England, and her parents in Bordeaux. As the father, Henry III of England, was engaged in a war in france at the time, she brought 60 knights to his service.[8] Garsend may have been alive as late as 1257, when a certain woman of that name made a donation to a church of St-Jean on the condition that three priests be kept to pray for her soul and that of her husband.

Poetry
Vos que.m semblatz dels corals amadors,
ja non volgra que fossetz tan doptanz;
e platz me molt quar vos destreing m'amors,
qu'atressi sui eu per vos malananz.
Ez avetz dan en vostre vulpillatge
quar no.us ausatz de preiar enardir,
e faitz a vos ez a mi gran dampnatge;
que ges dompna no ausa descobrir
tot so qu'il vol per paor de faillir.

You're so well-suited as a lover,
I wish you wouldn't be so hesitant;
but I'm glad my love makes you the penitent,
otherwise I'd be the one to suffer.
Still, in the long run it's you who stands to lose
if you're not brave enough to state your case,
and you'll do both of us great harm if you refuse.
For a lady doesn't dare uncover
her true will, lest those around her think her base.[9]

Notes
Bruckner, Shepard & White 1995, p. 163.
Shideler 1983, p. 192.
Miret i Sans 1902, p. 281.
Cirera i Prim 1954, p. 102.
Blancard 1860, p. 56, nos. 1 & 2 (plate 28).
Constable 1957, p. 150.
Variously spelled comtessa or contesa.
Cox 1974, p. 118.
Bogin 1976, pp. 108–09.

Sources
Blancard, Louis (1860). Iconographie des sceaux et bulles conservés dans la partie antérieur à 1790 des archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhone 1. Paris: J.-B. Dumoulin.
Bogin, Meg (1976). The Women Troubadours. Scarborough: Paddington. ISBN 0846701138.
Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn; Shepard, Laurie; White, Sarah (1995). Songs of the Women Troubadours. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0815308175.
Cirera i Prim, Jaume (1954). "Filiación de los Montcada que asistieron a la conquista de Mallorca". Memòries de la Reial Acadèmia Mallorquina d'Estudis Genealògics, Heràldics i Històrics 2 (1–4): 101–12.
Constable, Giles (1957). "The Disputed Election at Langres in 1138". Traditio 13: 119–52.
Cox, Eugene L. (1974). The Eagles of Savoy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691052166.
Miret i Sans, Joaquim (1902). "La casa de Montcada en el Vizcondado de Bearn". Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona 1 (6): 280–303.
Shideler, John C. (1983). Medieval Catalan Noble Family: The Montcadas, 1000–1230. University of California Press. ISBN 0520045785.

Garsende de Sabran, née vers 1180, morte vers 1242, est l'héritière des comtes de Forcalquier. Elle est comtesse de Provence par mariage et une trobairitz connue sous les noms de Garsenda de Proensa, Garsende de Provence ou Garsende de Forcalquier.

Elle est la fille de Rainier de Sabran, seigneur du Caylar et d'Ansouis, et de Garsende de Forcalquier, petite-fille de Guillaume IV de Forcalquier, comte de Forcalquier. En 1193, elle est âgée de treize ans lorsque son grand-père et son grand-oncle sont contraints de signer le traité d'Aix5, qui stipule qu’elle doit devenir l'héritière du comté de Forcalquier et épouser Alphonse II de Provence, second fils du roi Alphonse II d'Aragon, destiné à devenir comte de Provence. Elle l'épouse, en 1196 à Aix-en-Provence6. Elle est la mère, à 18 ans, de Raimond Bérenger IV de Provence (1198 † 1245), comte de Provence et de Forcalquier et, par la suite, de Garsende, mariée à Guillaume II de Moncade, vicomte de Béarn et de Béatrice, mariée à Guigues-André, Dauphin de Viennois.

Elle a 29 ans quand, en 1209, son mari Alphonse II de Provence et son grand-père meurent. Par son testament du 11 septembre 1209 Alphonse II lègue le Comté de Provence à son fils Raymond Bérenger et à Garsende9. Pendant 4 ans la tutelle de Raimond Bérenger IV de Provence, qui n'a que onze ans, est assurée par le roi Pierre II d'Aragon comte de Barcelone et marquis de Provence de 1195 à 1213. Pendant ces quatre ans, il délègue la régence du comté de Provence à son oncle Sanche. Très vite, le 30 novembre 1209, Garsende de Forcalquier cède ses droits sur le comté de Forcalquier à son fils, qui réunit ainsi les deux tiers de la Provence.

Le 14 septembre 1213, Pierre II est tué à Muret et Sanche, qui prend en charge la régence d'Aragon, laisse celle de Provence à son fils Nuno. Des dissensions éclatent au sein des Catalans de Provence, entre les partisans de Garsende qui semble vouloir prendre la place du jeune prince et ceux de Nuno. La noblesse provençale en profite pour s'agiter. Elle prend finalement le parti de Garsende, évince Nuno, place Raymond-Bérenger sous la tutelle de sa mère et crée un conseil de régence. En 1220, Guillaume de Sabran, un neveu du comte Guillaume IV de Forcalquier, revendiquant le comté de son oncle, profite des troubles pour s'emparer de la région de Sisteron. Il est neutralisé, grâce à un arbitrage de l'archevêque d'Aix.

Garsende de Sabran, comtesse de Provence, était la dame du troubadour Elias de Barjols, ainsi que du troubadour Gui de Cavaillon. Elle se retira en 1225 à l'abbaye de La Celle, près de Brignoles.