Gaston IV, Viscount of Béarn

Gaston IV of Béarn ( * before 1074, † 1131 in Valencia) was 1090-1131 Viscount of Béarn, and later Lord of Barbastro and Zaragoza. He was known as the Crusaders ( " le Croisé " ) due to its participation in the First Crusade. He is considered the first Crusaders, who entered Jerusalem.

Life

The year of his birth is not known, but it must have been before 1074, because this year his parents' marriage was dissolved.

1085 married Gaston Talesa of Aragon, Viscountess of Montaner, a granddaughter of the Aragonese King Sancho Ramírez and cousin of King Alfonso I of Aragon. Gaston was also politically closely linked with the adjacent, then a similar sized Kingdom of Aragon.

Gaston followed in 1090 his father Centulle V as Viscount of Béarn in today's southern France to. The only surviving document of his reign before the first crusade is a Church Foundation from October 1094th His younger brother was Count Centulle the neighboring region of Bigorre.

First crusade

Gaston took in 1095 in the army of Raymond IV of Toulouse in the First Crusade. He was one of the poorer knights, but still had his own men there.

At the siege of Antioch, he led one of the divisions in the decisive battle against Kerbogha. During the struggle for power after the conquest of Antioch Raymond Gaston left and Godfrey of Bouillon joined in his train to Jerusalem. Gaston and Tancred were sent ahead to conquer Bethlehem, and during the siege of Jerusalem Gaston was responsible for Godfrey's siege engines. On July 15, 1099 Gaston was the first crusader who entered the city.

Gaston's experience of the Reconquista taught him that Muslims could live under Christian rule as Mudejar. He preferred negotiations and dialogues senseless massacres. Tancred and he tried to protect some Muslims from Jerusalem in the al -Aqsa mosque, but were killed as well as the others. In August Gaston led a part of the central line of the Crusader army at the Battle of Ascalon. After the victory, he returned like most other crusaders returned home.

At the latest in 1101 he was back in Béarn. He organized his rule and its territories and left numerous buildings on the routes of the Camino that ran through its territory, build, including the Cathedral of Lescar, churches in Oloron and Morlaàs, the capital of its territory, as well as Pilgerhospitäler.

Reconquista

1113 it received as Lord of Barbastro, a town in the north of present-day Spanish Aragon, called. His most significant collaboration with Alfonso I of Aragon was his participation in the conquest of the city of Zaragoza during the Reconquista in 1118. Alfonso I named him Señor de Zaragoza (Eng. "Lord of Saragossa " ), and said to the lands, Gaston of Bearn vassals awarded.

Gaston was a pious man who led the construction of many churches on his return to Béarn on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela where pilgrims could find accommodation. On April 6, 1128, he founded with his wife Talesa the monastery Sauvelade.

Gaston was involved in other campaigns, including the conquest of Tudela, Borja, Tarazona and Soria in 1119 and at the Battle of Cutanda on June 18, 1120 involved in a Christian army repulsed recapture efforts of the Almoravids and Calatayud and Daroca occupied. In 1124 he was involved in a first attempt towards Andalusia, in the short-term Peña Cadiella was taken. 1125/26 he took part in the great campaign Alfonso Andalusia in part, during which, among other things ended the battle of Lucena with a clear victory of the Christian armies of the rich booty took in the north. While other campaigns in the region of Valencia, whose background is not sufficiently narrated, he fell into an ambush and was killed. The Muslim historian Ibn Idhari describes his death:

" In this same year (the year 534 of the Hegira ) died Mohamad Yidar, ruler of Valencia. Yintan Ben Ali ruled over Valencia by the assurance of God. He defeated the Christians and the head of their leader, Gaston was placed in the second month of Yumada ( May 24, 1131 ) to Granada. He was on the tip of a lance carried accompanied by drum rolls through the streets. This gave the Emir of the Muslims, Ali ben Yusuf, who was in Marrakech, returned his smile. "

As Viscount of Béarn was succeeded by his three year old son Centulle VI. after, regent was his wife Talesa. His lands in Aragon bequeathed Gaston to the Knights Templar. His descendants Gaston VI. and Gaston VII participated in the Albigensian Crusade or the Seventh Crusade.

Aftermath

In 1847, first performed in Paris opera by Giuseppe Verdi Jérusalem Gaston of Béarn one of the main characters.