Bernard Ato VI (born c. 1159Kastner, 41.) was the posthumous son and successor of

Bernard Ato V Bernard Ato V (died 1163) was the Viscount of Nîmes of the Trencavel family from 1129 to his death. He was then succeeded by his son and successor Bernard Ato VI. In 1138, Bernard Ato swore an oath of fidelity to Alfonso Jordan, Count of Toulo ...

, Viscount of Nîmes and

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Hérault. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. It is situated on an ancient basalt volcano, hence the name "Black Pearl of the Mediterranée". Location Agde is locate ...

. He reigned from 1163 until 1214, when he surrendered his fiefs to

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester ( – 4 August 1265), also known as Simon V de Montfort, was an English nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the baronial opposition to the rule of ...

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...

and leader of the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade (), also known as the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted pri ...

. Bernard Ato was not connected with

Catharism Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi- dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a he ...

nor were his lands, but his relationship to

Raymond Roger Trencavel Raymond Roger Trencavel (also Raimond, ; 1185 – 10 November 1209) was a member of the noble Trencavel family. He was viscount of Béziers and Albi (and thus a vassal of the count of Toulouse), and viscount of Carcassonne and the Razès (an ...

(his first cousin) may have marked him off as an enemy of the Crusade by default, for he was a

Trencavel The Trencavel family was an important French noble family in Languedoc between the 10th and 13th centuries. The name "Trencavel" began as a nickname and later became the family's surname. The name may derive from the Occitan words for "Nutcrac ...

, though he did not carry that name. In 1179,

Roger II Trencavel Roger II Trencavel (died March 1194) was the Viscount of Carcassonne, Béziers, Razès, and Albi from 1167 or 1171 until his death. Until 1177 he used the title proconsul, usually as ''proconsul de Bitteris'' (of Béziers), but he abandoned the usa ...

Raymond V of Toulouse Raymond V (; c. 1134 – c. 1194) was Count of Toulouse from 1148 until his death in 1194. He was the son of Alphonse I of Toulouse and Faydida of Provence. Alphonse took his son with him on the Second Crusade in 1147. When Alphonse died i ...

, and Bernard Ato had all been excommunicated by Pons d'Arsac under the twenty-seventh canon of the

Third Lateran Council The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council. By agreement reached at the Peace of Venice in 1177 the bitter ...

for their lack of strong opposition to heresy. In that same year Bernard Ato did homage to

Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, h ...

for his viscounties and made an alliance with Alfonso against Raymond V. In June 1187, Bernard Ato granted all his lands within the Diocese of Agde (''omnes dominationes vicecomitatus'') to the diocese and was then accepted into the cathedral church as a canon.Cheyette, "The Sovereign and the Pirates," 42–43. In July, the donation was confirmed by Raymond V and in August Bernard Ato also, in an extensive charter. The viscounty was ''de facto'' handed over to the bishop.Cheyette, "''Suum cuique tribuere''," 290. He is also said by some authors to have given over Nîmes to Raymond that year, but this is contradicted by other sources. Bernard Ato swore fealty to

William VIII of Montpellier William VIII (in Occitan: Guilhem; died 1202) was Lord of Montpellier, the son of William VII and Matilda of Burgundy. William VIII married Eudokia Komnene, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. They had one daughter, Marie o ...

for part of his domains in 1189, January 1191, and finally 1195. On 2 May 1214 Bernard Ato and his wife Guillelma signed over their viscounties to

Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester ( – 25 June 1218), known as Simon IV (or V) de Montfort and as Simon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great militar ...

, the leader of the

Notes

References

*Cheyette, Fredric L. ''Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001. *Cheyette, Fredric L
"''Suum cuique tribuere''."
''French Historical Studies'', Vol. 6, No. 3. (Spring, 1970), pp. 287–299. *Cheyette, Fredric L
"The Sovereign and the Pirates, 1332."
'' Speculum'', Vol. 45, No. 1. (Jan., 1970), pp. 40–68. *Graham-Leigh, Elaine. ''The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005. *Kastner, L. E
"Notes on the Poems of Bertran de Born: II. 2. Sirventes."
''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 28, No. 1. (Jan., 1933), pp. 37–49. {{refend 1150s births Trencavel People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Viscounts of Agde Viscounts of Nîmes 13th-century deaths