Fulk Bertrand IHis name appears as Fulco or Fulcho and Bertrannus in contemporary documents. It is Foulques in modern French. His ordinal is a reference to a second Bertrand, his son, who later reigned in Provence. (died 27 April 1051) was the joint

Count of Provence The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

with his elder brother William IV from 1018 and with his younger brother Geoffrey I from at least 1032 if not earlier. After William's death, Fulk assumed the title of

margrave Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...

, indicating headship of the dynasty. They were the sons of William II, count of Provence. Provence was during this time part of the Kingdom of Arles, and in 1033 also became part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. With Geoffrey, Fulk made a donation to the

Abbey of Cluny Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with ...

on 26 May 1037 and to Saint Victor at

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 16 January 1040. Fulk Bertrand was a major proponent of the renewed monasticism of early eleventh-century Provence. He called together a council of clergy and noblesse to found the abbey of Saint Promasius near Forcalquier and to restore Bremetense near Gap, which had been destroyed by the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

Fraxinetum Fraxinetum or Fraxinet ( or , from Latin ''fraxinus'': " ash tree", ''fraxinetum'': "ash forest") was the site of a Muslim stronghold at the centre of a frontier state in Provence between about 887 and 972. It is identified with modern La Garde- ...

. He and his brother gave up control of much of the royal fisc, which had been under the control of the counts of Provence since the time of William the Liberator. It was mostly parcelled out as

allod Allod, deriving from Frankish language, Frankish ''alōd'' meaning "full ownership" (from ''al'' "full, whole" and ''ōd'' "property, possession"; Medieval Latin ''allod'' or ''allodium''), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was ...

s to

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s and the weakening of the county of Provence as a united polity can be dated from their reign. Despite the generosity of him and his brother to Fulk, viscount of Marseilles, Fulk Bertrand made war on him in 1031, damaging

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

Family

He married Hildegard and they had two sons, William Bertrand and Geoffrey II, plus one daughter, Gerberge.

Notes

Sources

*Lewis, Archibald R. ''The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050''. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965. *The Plantagenet Ancestry by William Henry Turton, Page 11. Counts of Provence People from the Kingdom of Arles Year of birth unknown 1051 deaths {{Europe-noble-stub