Folquet de Marselha

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"Folquet de Marseilla" in a 13th-century chansonnier, depicted in his episcopal robes.

Folquet de Marselha (alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse; c. 1150 – 25 December 1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a

bishop of Toulouse
.

Troubadour

Painting from Teruel Cathedral of musician clergy, possibly Folquet de Marseille.[1]

Initially famed as a troubadour, he began composing songs in the 1170s and was known to

John of Garlande
, later described him as "renowned on account of his spouse, his progeny, and his home," all marks of bourgeois respectability.

Bishop

Folquet's life and career abruptly changed around 1195 when he experienced a profound religious conversion and decided to renounce his former life. He joined the strict

Thoronet
which allowed him to help found the sister house of Géménos to house women, quite possibly including his wife.

He was elected

Bishop of Toulouse
in 1205, after two Cistercian Papal legates had been sent to the region to reform it. Pope Innocent III was particularly concerned by the prevalence of both heresy and episcopal corruption in the Languedoc and used the Cistercians to combat both. The legates had deposed the previous Bishop, Raimon de Rabastens, and were probably instrumental in arranging Folquet's nomination for the position.

As Bishop of Toulouse, Folquet (now traditionally referred to by his proper name, Foulques, Fulk, or Folc, instead of the diminutive Folquet) took a very active role in combatting heresy. Throughout his episcopal career he sought to create and encourage outlets for religious enthusiasm that were Catholic in an effort to woo believers away from preachers of heresy (primarily

Diego of Osma. He continued to support this new form of preaching after Bishop Diego's death by backing Dominic and his followers, eventually allotting the nascent Dominicans
property and a portion of the tithes of Toulouse to ensure their continued success.

Figure of the Albigensian Crusade

Crusade alongside Guy of les Vaux-de-Cernay (the abbot of the Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey).[2] He then returned to the south, participating in the Council of Pamiers in November 1212, in the Council of Lavaur in January 1213, in the meeting with Peter II of Aragon on 14 January 1213, at the Battle of Muret on 12 September 1213, and at the Council of Montpellier in January 1215. There he was instructed by the Papal legate, Peter of Benevento, to take possession of the Château Narbonnais, the Count's residence, at Toulouse; thus he finally returned to the city in February 1215.[3]

In July 1215 Foulques issued a diocesan letter instituting Dominic's brotherhood of preachers (which eventually became the

Fourth Lateran Council
.

After the Toulousains revolted in August 1216 against their new ruler, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, and Foulques' negotiated settlement led to further violence, he tried to relinquish his position, claiming that it was impossible to manage the diocese, but his requests to the pope were refused. In October 1217, when Simon was besieging Toulouse once more, he sent a group of sympathisers to Paris to plead for the help of king Philippe-Auguste. This group included Simon's wife, the countess Alix de Montmorency, as well as Foulques. They began their journey clandestinely, "through the forest", to avoid attacks by faidits (knights dispossessed by the Crusaders)[4][5] They returned more flamboyantly, in May 1218, bringing a party of new Crusaders including the dashing Amaury de Craon. When, on 25 June 1218, Simon de Montfort was killed on the battlefield, Foulques was among the clerics who received his body.[6]

Foulques spent much of the following decade outside his diocese, assisting the crusading army and the Church's attempts to bring order to the region. He was at the Council of Sens in 1223.

After the Peace of Paris finally ended the crusade in 1229, Foulques returned to Toulouse and began to construct the institutions that were designed to combat heresy in the region. He helped to create the

Grandselves
, near Toulouse, where his sons, Ildefonsus and Petrus had been abbots.

Notes

  1. ^ "The roof of the Cathedral of Teruel, Painted decoration and meaning". almendron.com. Yarza has interpreted it as a symbol of the licentious clergy ...Moralejo has proposed to identify him with a well-known troubadour bishop of the time, Folquet de Marseille...
  2. Historia Albigensis 286. It was perhaps during this preaching campaign that he met Jacques de Vitry; cf. Guillaume de Puylaurens, Chronica
    28.
  3. ^ Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, Historia Albigensis 549; Guillaume de Puylaurens, Chronica 23.
  4. ^ Jonathan Sumption (1978) The Albigensian Crusade
  5. Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise laisse 194. Guillaume de Puylaurens describes Foulques' meeting with Philippe-Auguste but does not date it (Chronica
    32).
  6. ^ William of Tudela and an Anonymous Continuator, The Song of the Cathar Wars Laisse 205

Folquet's works

Historical sources

References
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