New Analysis of Pallars Countesses
Todd A. Farmerie
addressing several of the early countesses of Pallars, and since it
touches on several relationships that have been discussed here (and a
few that haven't) I thought I would give a quick once over.
He starts with a brief discussion of the origins of the family. The
first Count of Pallars, Raymond I, is now generally accepted as a son of
a Count Loup by his wife, a daughter of Raymond I of Toulouse. This
Loup is often said to be son of Donat Loup, Count of Bigorre and wife
Faquilene. However, the latter was contemporary with Raymond I of
Pallars, suggesting that Donat Loup was brother and not grandfather of
Raymond. (Donat Loup was father of Count Dat Donat, who married Lupa
Sanchez of Navarre and was father of Raymond, Count of Bigorre.)
Unfortunately, Stasser names the wife of Raymond I as Guinigente,
daughter of Aznar Dato, citing the Codice de Roda. The text of that
document is ambiguous, stating "Raymond married _____ and had Bernard,
Miro, Loup, and Isarno. This person married Giniguenta, daughter of
Aznar Dato." That this is meant to refer to Raymond is far from certain
(and comparing with other entries, his wife should have been named
before his children). In light of a surviving contemporary charter in
which Isarno's wife is named Senegunda, it would seem that it was Isarno
who was married to "Giniguenta". (And just in case anyone out there is
looking at Royalty For Commoners, whoever Raymond's wife was, there is
absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that she was a member of
the Banu Qasi).
Stasser next addresses the wife of Count Loup, son of Raymond I. Named
Goltregode, she has previously been identified with a daughter of Miro,
Count of Cerdagne of that name. Stasser argues that based on both
nomenclature and geography, she was more likely daughter of Suniaire,
Count of Barcelona by his wife Richilde, who Vajay probably correctly
identified as daughter of Ermengaud, Count of Rouergue. This would make
husband and wife second cousins once removed, based on a shared descent
from Raymond I of Toulouse. In discussing this relationship, he also
lays to rest the proposed marriage of Adelaide, daughter of Suniaire, to
her uncle Suniefred. Suniefred's wife Adelaide and his niece Adelaide
were clearly different individuals.
In the next generation, Count Borrell married an Ermengarde, who has
previously been identified as daughter of Raymond I of Rouergue and his
wife Bertha of Arles. This was based on the use of the name Ermengaud
in the next generation. However, if Stasser is right about her
mother-in-law Goltregode being granddaughter of Ermengaud of Rouergue
(or even if you reject Vajay's identification of Richilde, Sunieire had
a son named Ermengaud, who would thus be Borrell's uncle), there is no
reason to place Ermengarde in that family. Looking at the other names
given Borrell and Ermengarde's children, they all are names which appear
elsewhere among the descendants of Raymond of Pallars. Stasser then
puts together an onomastic hypothesis deriving Ermengarde through
Cerdagne and Roussillon from Bernard of Ribagorza, but this would make
Borrell's wife his first cousin, twice removed. While not impossible,
there are other explanations for the shared names that do not require
such an odd linkage. (For example, the names Ava and William appear in
the lineages of three different sons of Raymond I - might they represent
names of his wife's family? They bring to mind the family of the first
Dukes of Aquitaine.)
Next comes a brief discussion of the wives of Sunieire, brother of
Borrell. His first wife, Ermentrude, is nothing more than a name, and
her parentage is not discussed. Later he married Toda, heiress of
Raymond II, Count of Ribagorza, but this was a political marriage, later
in life, and did not produce any children. It did provide the context
for a marriage in the next generation.
Raymond III, son of Sunieire and Ermentrude married as his first wife,
Mayor of Castile, daughter of Count Garcia Fernandez and niece of Toda
of Ribagorza. In discussing her family, Stasser includes the following
statment about her brother Gonzalo Garces - "cite de 972 a 1011, marie a
la fille de Munio Fernandez de Somiedo et de Jimena" - information which
appears to match that found in the Vajay charts. Mayor disappears after
January 1027, and Raymond is next found with wife Ermessinde, daughter
of Guisla, a marriage which is said to have allied Pallars with Urgel.
Since Ermengaud I of Urgel married as his second wife a Guisla, who was
mother of his son and heir Ermengaud II, it would appear that Ermessinde
was daughter of that count.
So, I have mixed opinions of the work as a whole. With Goltregode and
Ermessinde I suspect that he has it right, while regarding the placement
of Giniguenta and the identity of Ermengarde I have a more negative
view.
taf