Raymond of Baux, Lord of Marignane, born about 1075 to 1085 or 1095 died in 1149 in Barcelona, is a Lord of Baux, who played a political and military role in Provence in the first half of the twelfth century. He is the son of William Hugh, 3rd Lord of Baux, and Vierna (perhaps) of Pasquiere.
During the First Crusade, in 1104 he accompanied his brother William in the Holy Land, January 31, 1105, is among the witnesses to the will of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, Count of Toulouse.
Returning to Provence in 1110, on December 13, 1112 he accepted arrangement to marry the heiress of Provence from Raymond Berenger III, Count of Barcelona, his future brother in law.
In 1114, he equipped galleys September to cooperate with the Raymond Berenger, Comte de Provence in the expedition against the Saracens, who had seized the Balearic Islands, and to take Majorca. Many christian slaves there were recovered and set free.
To show his gratitude, Raymond Berenger granted him the stronghold of Berre the following year. He intervened thereafter for the Count of Barcelona at the beginning of the war to support him against Alphonse Jourdain, Count of Toulouse. It was during this struggle,in 1116, he received the hand of Étiennette (Stephanie) of Provence, sister of the Douce, wife of the Count of Barcelona.
During the struggle for possession of Provence between Berenger and Alphonse Jourdain, Count of Toulouse (1109-1125), Raymond rebelled and ravaged the region of Saint-Gilles, which led to his being excommunicated June 22, 1121. Peace was signed October 16, 1125 between the two Counts (Alphonse Jourdain get the Venaissin County). It was only be after the death of his brother in law (1131) that Raymond des Baux took up arms against the new Count of Provence, the young Raymond Berenger.
He then rebelled again with the support of the Count of Toulouse, Sabran, and a large number of Provençal barons. This is the beginning of a series of wars that ravaged Provence for over 50 years.The Baussenque Wars (from French Guerres Baussenques, meaning "wars of Baux") were a series of armed conflicts (1144–1162) between the House of Barcelona, then ruling in Provence, and the House of Baux. They are held up in Provence as the idealistic resistance of one of her native families against the Catalan "occupation." In reality, they were the first of many successful expansions of Catalan power and influence in the Mediterranean world.
After Berengar Raymond's death in 1144, Raymond des Baux went to Würzburg to the Emperor Conrad III to get himself the nomination for the throne of Provence. Conrad, in ambiguous words, gave it to him 4 August 1145 and he was attributed the right to mint coins in Arles, Aix and at their castle Trinquetaille with the power to circulate them freely throughout the kingdom of Provence. Armed with this decree, he continued the fight against the elderly Raymond Berenger , uncle Raymond Berenger II.
War raged in Arles whose towers were razed and reached its peak around 1145. At that time, Raymond Berenger came to Provence, defeated or won to his side a good number of lords of Provence, who submitted to Tarascon in February 1146, when Alphonse Jourdain left on crusade in 1148, leaving Raymond of Baux isolated, forcing him to submit to Raymond Berenger.
Having lost most of his holdings, Raymond des Baux was isolated and abandoned by his allies; in 1149 Raymond decided to go to Barcelona to submit and obtain restitution of the castle Trinquetaille and shortly afterwards he died. His son Hugh II succeeded him.
Genealogy of this family can be found at:
http://genealogy.euweb.cz/baux/correctbaux.html
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