Gerberga
Countess of Provence
Bornc. 1060
Died1115
Noble familyBosonids
Spouse(s)Gilbert I of Gévaudan
IssueDouce I, Countess of Provence
FatherGeoffrey I of Provence
MotherEtiennette

Gerberga (1045/65–1115), also spelled Gerberge or Gerburge, was the Countess of Provence for more than a decade, until 1112. Provence is a region located in the southeastern part of modern-day France that did not become part of France until 1481 (well after Gerberga's time).

Countess Gerberga was a daughter of Geoffrey I of Provence and his wife Etiennette.[1] She became Countess of Provence upon the death of her brother, Bertrand II, in 1093.

She and her husband, Gilbert I of Gévaudan, were considered virtuous.[2] He participated in the Crusades, donating many relics from the Middle East to churches in Provence.[3] Gilbert later died in 1108. Gerberga then took control of the government, and is said to have ruled wisely.[4] In 1112, her eldest daughter Douce was married to Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona at which point Provence was ceded to him.[5] Her second daughter, Stephanie, would lay claim to the county and thus precipitate the Baussenque Wars in 1144.

References

Sources

  • Cheyette, Fredric L. (1999). "Women, Poets, and Politics in Occitania". In Evergates, Theodore (ed.). Aristocratic Women in Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 138-.
  • de Manteyer, Georges (1908). La Provence du premier au douzième siècle (in French). Vol. 2. Librairie Alphonse Picard et Fils.
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