County of Provence
His son Louis was a short lasting Holy Roman Emperor who despite being crowned in 901 was twice expelled from Italy and on the second time was blinded and returned to Provence which was now effectively governed by his cousin, Hugh of Arles.
He named a number of counts of Burgundian origin,[2] one of whom Rotbald founded a new dynasty who would control the county for the next century and a half.
Despite unsuccessful attempts by Louis and Hugh to expel them, partially because they had been occupied in Italy, the Muslim Saracens had established a base on the coast of Provence called Fraxinetum, near modern-day Saint-Tropez.
From here they controlled the mountains of the Massif des Maures and the coast between modern Fréjus and Hyères,[3] and raided throughout Provence getting as far east as the Italian Riviera and north to the alpine valleys of Piedmont.
[4] During this long period of wars and banditry in Provence, the population retreated to walled cities, maritime trade was rare, and little new art or architecture, other than fortification, was created.
[5] The German Emperor Conrad the Salic forced the childless King of Burgundy, Rudolph III, to name him as successor which in 1032 led to Provence becoming a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire, which it remained until 1246.
A new city built on the Petit-Rhône, Saint-Gilles, became a transit point for cloth from Flanders and spices and the products of the eastern Mediterranean.
Marseille went farther than the others, establishing a confrerie or charitable and religious organization of the one hundred leaders of the professions, crafts and businesses in the city, which drew up a code of justice and municipal regulations.
The Pope accused Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse of supporting the Cathars, excommunicated him, and invited an army of French knights on a crusade to cleanse the south of France of the heresy.
King Louis VIII of France decided to intervene, and a French royal army marched down the valley of the Rhône and laid siege to Avignon.
The ambitions of Ramon Berenguer were energetically resisted by the new Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII, who had lost most of his own territory to France.
A prolonged struggle took place between Raymond VII and his allies, the cities of Marseille and Avignon, against Ramon Berenguer for authority in Provence.
Raymond VII was forced to abandon his quest, and Ramon Berenguer was able to appoint his own candidate as bishop of Avignon and to subdue the rest of eastern Provence.
When Ramon Berenguer died in 1245, not quite forty years old, he controlled all of Provence between the Rhône and Italian border except the rebellious city of Marseille.
Provence benefitted from population growth and economic expansion, and René was a generous patron of the arts, sponsoring painters Nicolas Froment, Louis Bréa, and other masters.
