Editing Alphonse, Count of Poitiers

{{short description|13th-century French nobleman}}
{{Self-contradictory|about=the place of death|date=August 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Alphonse
| image        = Alphonse Poitiers.png
| succession   = Count of Poitiers
| reign        = 1225–1271
| birth_date   = 11 November 1220
| birth_place  = [[Poissy]]
| death_date   = 21 August 1271
| death_place  = [[Tarquinia]] 
| burial_place = [[Basilica of Saint-Denis]]
| spouse       = [[Joan, Countess of Toulouse]]
| house        = [[House of Capet|Capet]]
| father       = [[Louis VIII of France]]
| mother       = [[Blanche of Castile]]
| succession1  = [[Count of Toulouse]]
| reign1       = 1249–1271
| predecessor1 = [[Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse|Raymond VII]]
| reg-type1    = Co-Ruler
| regent1      = [[Joan, Countess of Toulouse|Joan]]
}}

'''Alphonse''' (11 November 1220{{snd}}21 August 1271) was the '''[[Count of Poitou]]''' from 1225 and [[Count of Toulouse]] (as such called '''Alphonse II''') from 1249. As count of Toulouse, he also governed the [[Marquisate of Provence]].

==Birth and early life==
Born at [[Poissy]], Alphonse was a son of King [[Louis VIII of France]] and [[Blanche of Castile]].{{sfn|Richard|1983|p=xxiv}} He was a younger brother of King [[Louis IX of France]] and an older brother of Count [[Charles I of Anjou]]. In 1229, his mother, who was [[regent]] of [[Kingdom of France|France]], forced the [[Treaty of Paris (1229)|Treaty of Paris]] on Count [[Raymond VII of Toulouse]] after his rebellion.{{sfn|Jackson|1999|p=64}} It stipulated that a brother of King Louis was to marry [[Joan of Toulouse|Joan]], daughter of Raymond VII of Toulouse, and so in 1237 Alphonse married her.{{sfn|Fawtier|1960|p=123}} Since she was Raymond's only child, they became rulers of [[Toulouse]] at Raymond's death in 1249.{{sfn|Jordan|1999|p=299}}[[File:Alphonse de Poitiers 01.jpg|thumb|Alphonse, as Count of Toulouse, recognised the autonomy of the [[Medieval commune|commune]] of the town of [[Agen]]. In this illustration he takes an oath before the consuls with his right hand on the town ordinances, while sitting on a pedestal. The consul administering the oath is forced to go on his knees, symbolising Alphonse's lordship and the town's loyalty.]]

[[File:Medieval harness pendant (FindID 977289).jpg|thumb|Arms of Alphonse on a 13th-century harness pendant, found in [[West Berkshire]], England.]]

By the terms of his father's will Alphonse received an ''[[appanage]]'' of [[Poitou]] and [[Rulers of Auvergne|Auvergne]].{{sfn|Wood|1966|p=23}} To enforce this Louis IX won the [[battle of Taillebourg]] in the [[Saintonge War]] together with Alphonse against a revolt allied with King [[Henry III of England]], who also participated in the battle.{{sfn|Wolfe|2009|p=41}}

== Crusades ==
Alphonse took part in two crusades with his brother, Louis IX, in 1248 (the [[Seventh Crusade]]) and in 1270 (the [[Eighth Crusade]]). For the first of these, he raised a large sum and a substantial force, arriving in [[Damietta]] on 24 October 1249, after the town had already been captured.{{sfn|Strayer|1969|pp=496–497}} He sailed for home on 10 August 1250.{{sfn|Strayer|1969|p=505}} His father-in-law had died while he was away, and he went directly to Toulouse to take possession.{{sfn|Hallam|1980|p=218}} There was some resistance to his accession as count, which was suppressed with the help of his mother Blanche of Castile who was acting as regent in the absence of Louis IX.{{sfn|Hallam|1980|p=258}}

== Later life ==
In 1252, on the death of his mother, Blanche of Castile, Alphonse was joint regent with [[Charles of Anjou]] until the return of Louis IX. During that time he took a great part in the campaigns and negotiations which led to the [[Treaty of Paris (1259)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1259, under which King [[Henry III of England]] recognized his loss of continental territory to [[France]] (including [[Normandy]], [[Maine (province of France)|Maine]], [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], and [[Poitou]]) in exchange for France withdrawing its support for English rebels.{{sfn|Clanchy|1983|p=274}}

[[File:Arms of Alphonse de Poitiers.svg|thumb|upright|Alphonse's [[coat of arms]] was formed of those of France (left) and Castile (right), representing his father and mother respectively: ''Per pale azure semé-de-lis or dimidiating gules semé of castles or'']]

Aside from the crusades, Alphonse stayed primarily in Paris, governing his estates by officials, inspectors who reviewed the officials' work, and a constant stream of messages.{{sfn|Petit-Dutaillis|1936|pp=299–300}} His main work was on his own estates. There he repaired the effects of the [[Albigensian Crusade|Albigensian war]] and made a first attempt at administrative centralization, thus preparing the way for union with the crown. On 8 October 1268, Alphonse had all Jews throughout his lands arrested and their property confiscated.{{sfn|Benbassa|2001|p=19}}

When Louis IX formed the [[Eighth Crusade]], Alphonse again raised a large sum of money and accompanied his brother.{{sfn|Strayer|1969|p=511}} This time, however, he did not return to France, dying while on his way back, at [[Savona]] in Italy, on 21 August 1271.{{sfn|William of Puylaurens|2003|p=122}}

==Death and legacy==
Alphonse's death without heirs raised some questions as to the succession to his lands. One possibility was that they should revert to the crown, another that they should be redistributed to his family. The latter was claimed by Charles of Anjou, but in 1283 [[Parlement]] decided that the County of Toulouse should revert to the crown, if there were no male heirs.{{sfn|Hallam|1980|p=258}} Alphonse's wife [[Joan, Countess of Toulouse|Joan]] (who died four days after Alphonse) had attempted to dispose of her lands in a will to her nearest female relative [[Philippa de Lomagne]]. However, Joan was the only surviving child and heiress of [[Raymond VII]], Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Marquis of Provence, so under Provençal and French law, the lands should have gone to her nearest male relative. Her will was invalidated by Parlement in 1274.{{sfn|Hallam|1980|p=258}} One specific bequest in Alphonse's will, giving his wife's lands in the [[Comtat Venaissin]] to the [[Holy See]], was allowed, and it became a [[Papal States|papal territory]], a status which it retained until 1791.{{sfn|Kolla|2013|p=718}}

==See also==
* {{Portal inline|Biography}}
* {{Portal inline|France}}
* [[Abraham of Aragon]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Benbassa |first=Esther |year=2001 |title=The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Princeton University Press }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Clanchy |first1=M. T. |year=1983 |title=England and Its Rulers 1066–1272 |publisher=Fontana Press |isbn=1405106506 }}
* {{Cite book |first=Robert |last=Fawtier |year=1960 |title=The Capetian Kings of France |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-312-11900-3 |translator-first1=Lionel |translator-last1=Butler |translator-first2=R.J. |translator-last2=Adam}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hallam |first=Elizabeth M. |year=1980 |title=Capetian France, 987-1328 |publisher=Longman |isbn=0-582-48909-1}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kolla |first=E. J. |date=November 2013 |title=The French Revolution, the Union of Avignon, and the Challenges of National Self-Determination |journal=Law and History Review |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=717–747 |doi=10.1017/S0738248013000448 |s2cid=145185352 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Guida M. |year=1999 |title=Women Rulers Throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide |publisher=ABC-CLIO }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=William Chester |year=1999 |chapter=The Capetians from the Death of Philip II to Philip IV |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Abulafia |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=5: ''C. 1198–C. 1300'' |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{Cite book |last=Petit-Dutaillis |first=Charles |year=1936 |title=The Feudal Monarchy in France and England from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century |translator-last=Hunt |translator-first=E .D.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richard |first=Jean |year=1983 |editor-first=Simon |editor-last=Lloyd |title=Saint Louis: Crusader King of France |translator-first=Jean |translator-last=Birrell |publisher=Fayard}}
* {{Cite book |last=Strayer |first=Joseph R. |year=1969 |chapter=The Crusades of Louis IX |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.CrusTwo |editor=R. L. Wolff |editor2=H. W. Hazard |title=A History of the Crusades |volume=II: ''The Later Crusades, 1189–1311'' |pages=486–518}}
* {{Cite book |last=William of Puylaurens |year=2003 |title=The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: The Albigensian Crusade and Its Aftermath |translator-last1=Sibly |translator-first1=W. A. |translator-last2=Sibly |translator-first2=M. D. |publisher=Boydell Press}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wolfe |first=M. |year=2009 |title=Walled Towns and the Shaping of France: From the Medieval to the Early Modern Era |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Charles T. |year=1966 |title=The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy: 1224–1328 |publisher=Harvard University Press}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline|Alphonse de Poitiers}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
|-
{{s-vac| last= [[John, King of England|John Lackland]] }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [[Count of Poitiers]]
       | years  = 1225–1271 }}
{{s-vac| next = [[Philip V of France|Philip the Tall]] }}
|-
{{s-bef| before = [[Raymond VII of Toulouse|Raymond VII]] }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [[Count of Toulouse]]
       | with   = [[Joan of Toulouse|Joan]]
       | years  = 1249–1271 }}
{{s-vac|reason=Royal domain}}
{{s-end}}
{{Poitou Counts}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfonso, Count Of Poitiers}}
[[Category:1220 births]]
[[Category:1271 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century peers of France]]
[[Category:Children of Louis VIII of France]]
[[Category:Christians of the Eighth Crusade]]
[[Category:Christians of the Seventh Crusade]]
[[Category:Counts of Poitiers]]
[[Category:Counts of Toulouse]]
[[Category:People from Poissy]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]
[[Category:Jure uxoris counts]]