Raymond I Trencavel

Raymond I Trencavel (also Raimond) (died 1167) was the Viscount of Agde and Béziers from 1130 and Viscount of Albi, Carcassonne, and Razès from 1150. He was a member of the Trencavel family, ruling the lands of the elder branch.

He was the second son of Bernard Ato IV and Cecilia of Provence. When his father died in 1129, he redistributed his six viscounties between his three sons. The eldest, Roger I received Carcassonne, Albi, and Razès; Raymond received Béziers and Agde; while the youngest, Bernard Ato V, received Nîmes. In 1132 Roger and Raymond agreed that in the event of Roger's death without heirs, Carcassonne would pass to Raymond. In 1150 Roger died and his three viscounties all passed to Raymond. After a series of disputes, the viscounty of Agde was divided between Raymond and Bernard Ato, with the latter holding the title.

In November of the same year that he inherited his brother's viscounties, Raymond made a treaty with Raymond Berengar IV, Count of Barcelona whereby he swore fealty to the count of Barcelona and agreed to hold Carcassonne, Razès, and Lautrec from the count as a vassal. The sixteenth-century historian, Gerónimo Zurita, wrote in the Anales de la Corona de Aragón ("Annals of the Crown of Aragon") that Raymond Beregar IV marched an army to Narbonne to intimidate Raymond to submit, but there is no primary contemporaneous source which verifies this. However, Raymond Berengar IV had been at Arles in September to negotiate a truce with Raymond des Baux to put an end to the Baussenque Wars and was probably accompanied by an armed host, so it is at least probable that he had an army present in the region at the time when he made the treaty with Raymond. In 1151 Raymond made a mutual defence treaty with Ermengard of Narbonne, but he included a clause which prohibited him from being required to wage war on Toulouse. That Raymond was still trying to maintain his rapidly disintegrating alliance with Toulouse following his submission to Barcelona may imply that his submission had not been voluntary. In 1152 Raymond acquired Mèze in a purchase from his nephew Gerald de Roussillon. In 1158 the agreement with Raymond Berengar was renewed.

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