Gaucelm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gaucelm (died 834) was a Frankish count and leading magnate in Gothia during the reign of Louis the Pious. He was initially the Count of Roussillon from about 800, but he received Ampurias in 817 and was thenceforward the chief representative of imperial authority in that region.

He was the son of William of Gellone and his second wife, a Frankish lady. It was from his father, sometime after 790, that he received the county of Roussillon to govern within his father's vast holdings in Septimania (centred around Toulouse). At that time, Roussillon included Vallespir. Gaucelm's elder half-brother, Bera, Count of Barcelona, governed the lands which would become Catalonia from about the same time. While Gaucelm, thoroughly Frankish, supported ongoing war with the Moors, Bera, son of a Gothic woman, supported the local Goth population and their desired peace with the Moors to their south. In this, Gaucelm was supported by his brother Bernard.

In February 820, at an assembly in Aachen, Sanila, Gaucelm's Gothic lieutenant, probably on orders from Gaucelm, accused Bera of infidelity and perfidy. Bera was deposed, but Gauclem did not receive his honores as he had wanted. However, he did later obtain two them (Barcelona and Besalú) for his brother Bernard (February 826). The third, Girona, went either to Bernard or Gaucelm himself, but which is unclear. After taking part in the defeat of the son of Bera, Guillemundus, and his lieutenant, Aisso, in Barcelona and Girona (to 827), he received the counties of Rasez and Conflent (both previously ruled by Guillemundus). While Bernard was absent from Septimania (April to April, 829 – 830), Gaucelm also ruled his honores: Uzès, Nîmes, Melguelh, Agde, Béziers, Narbonne, Besalú, and Barcelona.

In Autumn 831, Pepin I of Aquitaine revolted against his father the emperor and Bernard and Gaucelm lent him their support. Subsequently invading royal forces quickly occupied Bernard's lands. In another assembly at Aachen in February 832, the whole region was assigned to Charles the Bald, while Gaucelm and Bernard were deposed later that same year. Gaucelm tried to resist and held out in Ampurias. Finally, in 833, after mediation with Angenis, Abbot of Fontanelle, he resigned and retired with Sanila to some familial properties in Burgundy.

Gaucelm and Sanila were killed in the battle of Chalon-sur-Saone the next year, while fighting for Louis the Pious against his son Lothair. Gerberga, sister of Gaucelm and a nun, was also executed after the battle.