House of Baux

The House of Baux is a French noble family from the south of France. It was one of the richest and most powerful families of medieval Provence, known as the 'Race d’Aiglon'. They were independent lords as castellans of Les Baux and Arles and wielded very considerable authority at the local level. They held important fiefs and vast lands, including the principality of Orange.^[1]

In Old French: baux (and in Provençal-Occitan, li baou) is the word for 'cliffs, escarpment'. In its use as the family name, it refers to the natural fortress on which the family built their castle, the Château des Baux and the village that surrounded it. The escarpment provided a raised and protected mountain valley that protected their food supply; the natural ridge of the Alpilles allowed control of all the approaches to the citadel of Les Baux-de-Provence and the surrounding countryside, including the passage up and down the Rhone, and the approaches from the Mediterranean. Together, these natural advantages made the fortress impervious to the military technology of the time.

The family of des Baux is still thriving today in Naples in the person of several noble families descended from younger sons who followed Charles of Anjou south.^[2] In particular from Bertrand, Lord of Baux and Prince of Orange, derive three cadet branches of the house, which moved to southern Italy, giving rise to the Italianized branches of the "Orsini del Balzo" Counts of Avellino, Dukes of Andria and Princes of Taranto.

After the death of Alix des Baux [fr], the last sovereign of Baux, the chateau and town were seized by King Rene, who gave them to his second wife, Queen Jeanne of Laval. When Provence was united with the crown almost 150 yrs of royal governors followed, including the lords, later counts and princes, de Manville. Les Baux became a centre for Protestantism. Its unsuccessful revolt against the crown led Cardinal Richelieu in 1632 to order that the castle and its walls should be demolished. This was accomplished with the aid of artillery.

The earliest definite ancestor was Pons (Poncius Iuvenis, 'Pons the Younger'). The name may indicate a trader from Greece,^[why?] while his sobriquet, 'the Younger', distinguished him from his father, Pons the Elder. Pons the Younger was mentioned in three legal acts:^[3]

1st in the act of donation of 14 May 971 donating Montmajour to Boson & his wife Folcoare,
2nd in 975 in the act of donation of land to St Etienne d'Arles, now called St. Trophime (Arch. du chap. d'Arles, liv. autent. f. 22)
3rd with his wife Profecte in an act of donation in 981

The family descent then is:

Pons the Younger (born c. 950, fl. 971-1028), father of
Hugh I (born c. 970 – after 1059), father of
William Hugh of Baux [fr] French: Guillaume Hugues or "Guilhem Uc" (after 1030 – 1105), father of
Raymond I (before 1095 – 1150), father of
Hugh II (reigned 1150 – 1167; retired to Sardinia where he died in 1179)
Betrand I (1167–1181), brother of Hugh II
Hugh III (1181–1240), lord of Baux, viscount of Marseille, eldest son of Bertrand I
Barral of Baux (Barral I, 1240–1268), father of
Bertrand III (1268–1305), father of
Raymond II (1305–1322), father of
Hugh IV (1322–1351), father of
Robert (1351–1353)
Raymond III (1353–1372), brother of Robert, father of
John I (1372–1375)
Alice I (1372–1426), sister of John

This branch of the House of Baux was declared extinct in 1426. The domains were inherited by Counts of Provence.

Bertrand II des Baux [fr], second oldest son of Bertrand I des Baux [fr], lord of Berre, Meyragues and Puyricard, and Marignane (1181–1201)
...

From this branch originated the family branches of the Seigneurs de Berre [fr], Lords of Meyrargues and Puyricard, who became extinct in 1349, and lords of Marignane, acquired by House of Valois-Anjou, as well as the Dukes of Andria.

Bertrand I des Baux (1171–1181)
Raymond II of Baux, (1218–1282)
William I, youngest son of Bertrand I des Baux, (1181–1218)
William II, co-Prince (with brothers),1218-1239
Bertrand II, (1281–1314)
Raymond III (1314–1340)
Raymond V (1340–1393)
Mary of Baux-Orange (1393–1417), daughter, married John III of Châlon-Arlay

In 1417, the House of Ivrea or House of Châlon-Arlay succeeded as princes of Orange.

A brother of William I started the branch of the Lords of Courbezon (House of Baux-Courbezon), which became extinct in 1393. Another brother started the line of Lords of Suze, Solerieux and Barri (House of Baux-Suze-Solerieux-Barri), which became extinct and reverted afterwards to the counts of Orange.

Ancestors of the Lords of Baux

The ancestors of the Lords of Baux:^[4]^[5]^{[full citation needed]}

Ancestors of the Lords of Baux

Leibulf de Provence (vers 750–835)
- m. Odda ?
  - Leibulf des Baux (middle of the 9th century).^[6]
    - m. ??
      - Pons d’Arles (end of the 9th century)
        m. Blismodis de Mâcon
        Humbert, Bishop of Vaison-la-Romaine (890–933)
        
        Ison d’Arles (890–942)
        m. Princess ? of Benevento
        Lambert Ursus seigneurs de Reillanne
        m. Galburge de Bénévent
        Seigneurs de Reillanne
        
        Pons de Marseille (910–979),
        m. Judith de Bretagne,^{[lower-alpha 1]} daughter d'Alain II de Bretagne
        Honoratus de Marseille (930–978), Bishop of Marseille
        
        William of Marseille (935–1004)
        
        m. Bellilde, daughter d’Arlulf de Marseille
        Vicomtes de Marseille
        
        m. Belletrude^{[lower-alpha 2]}
        (hyp) Pons de Fos (vers 945–1025)
        m. Profecta de Marignane
        Seigneurs de Fos
        
        (hyp) Hugues des Baux (981–1060)
        m. Inauris de Cavaillon (?)
        Guillaume Hugues de Baux (1060–1095)
        m. Vierne
        Raymond-Raimbaud des Baux (1095–1150)
        m. Étiennette de Gévaudan
        Bertrand des Baux
        m. Thiburge II d'Orange

Simplified Family Tree of the Lords of Baux

The family tree of the lords of Baux:^[3]^{[lower-alpha 3]}

Pons the Younger
"Iuventus"
945-1025

Hugh
981-1060
Lord of Baux

Geoffrey I of Provence, 1013-1062, Count of Provence

William Hugo
c. 1026 - c. 1105
Lord of Baux

William Bertrand
1051-1094
Count of Provence

Gerberga
1094-1118
Countess of Provence

Gilbert
Viscount of Gévaudan
Count of Arles
d.ca. 1110

Raymond I
1095-1150
Lord of Baux

Stephanie
d. c. 1160
The younger daughter.
This marriage was
the start of the
Baussenque Wars over the
succession to Provence

Dulcia
Countess of Provence
c. 1090–1127

Ramon Berenguer III
"the Great"
Count of Barcelona
c. 1082–1131

Hugh II
1150-1170

Iudicarus of Arborea
Sardinia
Vcte. des Baux
to 1384

Bertrand I
Lord of Baux
1130-1181
Count & from 1163
Prince of Orange

Tiburge d'Orange
died 1189
daughter & heiress of
Raimbaud II d'Orange
Count of Orange

Counts of
Provence

Barrale
Viscountess of Marseille
died 1234

Hugh III
1173- 1240
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille

Bertrand II
died 1201
co-Prince of Orange

William I
?-1218
Prince of Orange

Barral I
1217-1270
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille

Raymond II
d.1236
Vcte of Marseille

Bertrand III
Count of Andria, Montescaglioso, and Squillace

Raymond I
1202-1282
co-Prince of Orange

William II
1218-1239
co-Prince of Orange

Bertrand II
1244-1305
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille
1st Count d'Avellino
(Naples) 1278

Bertrand III
Sg Meyrargues
et Puyricard
+1266
Line of
Sg de Meyrargues
et de Puyricard
ended 1352 in
the male line.

Gilbert
Sg de Marignane
Line of
sg de Marignane
line continues to
present in Provence

William I^{[lower-alpha 1]}
Sg de Berre
+1265/1266
dukes d'Andria(Naples)
from whom "del Balzo"
dukes of Capriglianode
dukes of Presenzano

Raymond
Vcte of Berre
No descendants

Francis I
Duke of Andria, Count of Montescaglioso & Squillace

Bertrand IV
died 1314
4th-Prince of Orange

Eléonore
de Genève

William IV
d. 1281
co-Prince of Orange

William III
died 1256/7
co-Prince of Orange
Sg Courthézon

Raymond II
died 1256/7
co-Prince of Orange
sg Courthézon
et Suze, Séguret
Sérignan, Camaret

Raymond I
1268-1321
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille
Count d'Avellino (Naples)
Sénéchal de Provence 1315
Régent de Naples
in 1295

Hugh
assassinated
Milan 1302
Sg de Loriol
Sénéchal of Piémont
Vicaire Général Lombardy
no descendants

Barral II
1301-1331
Sg de Loreto

Agoult
d.1346/7
Sg. de Caromb, Brantes
Le Barroux, St Léger
Sénéchal Beaucaire
and Nimes 1340
Toulouse/Albi 1342
Cap. gén. en Languedoc

James
Prince of Taranta & Achaia
titular Latin emperor of Constantinople

William II
Duke of Andria

Raymond IV
died 1340
5th Prince of Orange

Bertrand III^{[lower-alpha 2]}
died 1305
co-Prince of Orange
Sg Courthézon

Raymond III^{[lower-alpha 4]}
d.ca.1339
co-Prince of Orange
2nd sg de Suze, & Bari

Hugh II
1311-1351
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille
Count d'Avellino (Naples)
Sénéchal de Provence 1343
Grand Admiral of Naples

Bertrand
d. 1355
Seig of Caromb

Dragobert
1327/8-1340
sg de Villefranche

Raymond
1328-1381
Sg of Caromb

Amiel
d. 1375
Sg of Caromb

Francis II
Duke of Andria

Raymond V
died 1393
6th Prince of Orange

Jeanne
de Genève^[7]

Bertrand
d.1380
Sg. of Gigondas
Suze, Condorcet

Guiges
d.1390

Guillaume
d.1390
Sg of Camaret
Travaillan, Condorcet

Antoine
d. 1374
Sg of Aubagne

Robert
d.1354
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille
Count d'Avellino

Raymond II
1331-1372
Lord of Baux
Vcte of Marseille
Count d'Avellino

Francis
d. 1390
Sg of Aubagne

Pirro
Duke of Andria,
Prince of Altamura

Mary
died 1417
7th Princess of Orange

John III
of Châlon
lord of Arlay
died 1418

William
d. 1427
Sg. of St-Roman
de Malegarde

John
1372-1375
posthumous child

Alix
^{[lower-alpha 5]}^[3] 1367-1426
last sovereign
of the indep.
state of Baux
Countess d'Avellino

Frederick
king of Naples

Isabella del Balzo

Châlon & Nassau
Princes of Orange

Line of the dukes d'Andria and Nardo, counts of Squillace, princes of Tarento (in Naples) and Achaïa (Greece). Elder branch ended in 1530 in the male line. A younger branch survives in Naples as the "del Balzo" in multiple branches, as dukes of Capriglianode, another as counts del Balzo (died out 1932) and another as the dukes of Presenzano.del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.
Sg Courthézon, gave his rights to the principality to Raymond IV for this lordship. One male line died out c.1372, the other two lead to the counts d'Alessano, and counts d'Alessano, including the Orsini des Baux, died out by 1550.del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.
(Per the references cited in the Simplified family tree footnote section below, rather than footnote each person, as they are from all these sources)
Gave his rights to his brother. Male line died out c. 1409. del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux". Retrieved 2012-08-28. del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.
She was married to Odon de Villars and Conrad IV de Furstemberg. Her uncle, on her mother's side, Raymond de Turenne used the fortress of Baux to wage war on the counts of Provence. On her death, the lordship of Baux was seized by King Rene, the count of Provence and given to his wife, Jeanne of Laval, thus ending its independence.fr:Alix des Baux

[1]
Grew 1947, p. 5–16
[2]
del Balzo, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux". Retrieved 21 April 2011.
[3]
Paulet, Ladislas (1986). Les Baux et Castillon: Histoire des communes des Baux, de Paradou, de Maussane, et de Mouries. Arles, France: Editions Culture Provencale Méridionale de Marcel Petit. ISBN 978-2866730604.
[4]
Geary, Patrick J. (1994). Phantoms of remembrance: Memory and oblivion at the end of the first millennium. Princeton, N.J., United States: Princeton University Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780691026039.
[5]
d’Hauthuille, Olivier. Héraldique et généalogie. 89.I.160
[6]
- Cook, Theodore Andrea (1905). Twenty-five great houses of France; the story of the noblest French chateaux. London: Country Life. p. 127. The first Count of Les Baux, whose name alone we know, was Leibulf, whose son Pons, or Poncius, owned large lands in Argence Old Provence
[7]
Grew 1947, p. 16.

Grew, Marion Ethel (1947). The House of Orange. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Sources for the Vicomtes de Marseille

Édouard Baratier, Ernest Hildesheimer et Georges Duby, Atlas historique...
and the table of Henry de Gérin-Ricard, Actes concernant les vicomtes de Marseille et leurs descendants...

Sources: Ancestors of the Lords of Baux section

Genealogy works

Georges de Manteyer, La Provence du premier au douzième siècle, études d'histoire et de géographie... (1908),
Juigné de Lassigny, Généalogie des vicomtes de Marseille...,
Fernand Cortez, Les grands officiers royaux de Provence au moyen-âge listes chronologiques...,
Papon, de Louis Moréri, du marquis de Forbin, Monographie de la terre et du château de Saint-Marcel, près Marseille: du Xe au XIXe siècle... ("Monograph of the land and the castle of Saint-Marcel, near Marseille, from the tenth to the nineteenth century ..."), Marseille, 1888
J. Berge, Origines rectifiées des maisons féodales Comtes de Provence, Princes d'Orange ..., France-Riviera, 1952
Poly, Jean-Pierre, La Provence et la société féodale (879–1166), Paris: Bordas, 1976,
Jacques Saillot, Le Sang de Charlemagne...

Sources: Simplified family tree section

Grew 1947
Rowen, Herbert H. (1988). The princes of Orange: the stadholders in the Dutch Republic. Cambridge University Press.
de Pontbriant, A. (1891). Histoire de la principaute d'Orange: suivre de lettres inedites des princes d'Orange, des rois de France, du Cte de Grignan, etc. Avignon: Seguin freres.
Schwennicke, Detlev (1989). Europäiche Stammtafeln, Stammtafeln der Europäichen Staaten, Neue Folge, Volume III, Part 4, Das feudale Frankreich und sein Einfluß auf die Welt des Mittelalters. Marburg: Verlag J.A. Stargardt. pp. 745, 748, 751, & 752.

Genealogy works

Gioacchino del Balzo di Presenzano, http://www.delbalzo.net/genealogia2.htm GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux extensive bibliography
G.Noblemaire, Histoire de la Maison des Baux, Parigi: 1912 and 1975
J.Dunbabin, Charles I of Anjou, London/New York: 1998
E.Leonard,Les Angevins de Naples, Paris: 1954
Almanach of Gotha, 1888-1943
F. Mazel,La Noblesse et l’Eglise en ProvenceFin X – debut XIV siecle, L’Exemple des familles d’Agoult-Simiane, des Baux et de Marseilles, CTHS – Paris: 2002
H.Aliquot et R.Merceron,Armorial d’Avignon et Du Comtat Venaissin, Avignon:1987
Cambridge Medieval History, Volumes I – IX, Cambridge: 1911
Cambridge Medieval History, Vol II, III, IV, Revised Edition 1996 -2003
Cambridge Modern History, Volumes I-XII, Cambridge: 1962-63

[one-7] Line of the dukes d'Andria and Nardo, counts of Squillace, princes of Tarento (in Naples) and Achaïa (Greece). Elder branch ended in 1530 in the male line. A younger branch survives in Naples as the "del Balzo" in multiple branches, as dukes of Capriglianode, another as counts del Balzo (died out 1932) and another as the dukes of Presenzano.del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.

[two-8] Sg Courthézon, gave his rights to the principality to Raymond IV for this lordship. One male line died out c.1372, the other two lead to the counts d'Alessano, and counts d'Alessano, including the Orsini des Baux, died out by 1550.del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.

[9] (Per the references cited in the Simplified family tree footnote section below, rather than footnote each person, as they are from all these sources)

[three-10] Gave his rights to his brother. Male line died out c. 1409. del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux". Retrieved 2012-08-28. del Balzo di Presenzano, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux, with bibliography cited there". Retrieved 2012-08-28.

[four-12] She was married to Odon de Villars and Conrad IV de Furstemberg. Her uncle, on her mother's side, Raymond de Turenne used the fortress of Baux to wage war on the counts of Provence. On her death, the lordship of Baux was seized by King Rene, the count of Provence and given to his wife, Jeanne of Laval, thus ending its independence.fr:Alix des Baux

[1] [1]
Grew 1947, p. 5–16

[2] [2]
del Balzo, Gioacchino. "GENEALOGY Maison del Balzo/des Baux". Retrieved 21 April 2011.

[paulet-3] [3]
Paulet, Ladislas (1986). Les Baux et Castillon: Histoire des communes des Baux, de Paradou, de Maussane, et de Mouries. Arles, France: Editions Culture Provencale Méridionale de Marcel Petit. ISBN 978-2866730604.

[4] [4]
Geary, Patrick J. (1994). Phantoms of remembrance: Memory and oblivion at the end of the first millennium. Princeton, N.J., United States: Princeton University Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780691026039.

[5] [5]
d’Hauthuille, Olivier. Héraldique et généalogie. 89.I.160

[6] [6]
Cook, Theodore Andrea (1905). Twenty-five great houses of France; the story of the noblest French chateaux. London: Country Life. p. 127. The first Count of Les Baux, whose name alone we know, was Leibulf, whose son Pons, or Poncius, owned large lands in Argence Old Provence

[12] Cook, Theodore Andrea (1905). Twenty-five great houses of France; the story of the noblest French chateaux. London: Country Life. p. 127. The first Count of Les Baux, whose name alone we know, was Leibulf, whose son Pons, or Poncius, owned large lands in Argence Old Provence

[11] [7]
Grew 1947, p. 16.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[7]

[lower-alpha 5]