- Almodis de la Marche
Almodis de la Marche (990 or c. 1020 –
16 October 1071 ) was the daughter of Bernard I, Count of Marche and wife Amélie. She marriedHugh V of Lusignan around 1038 and they had two sons and one daughter:
*Hugh VI of Lusignan (c. 1039-1101)
* Jordan de Lusignan
* Mélisende de Lusignan (b. bef. 1055), married before 1074 to Simon I "l'Archevêque", Vidame de ParthenayAlmodis and Hugh of
Lusignan divorced due toconsanguinity , and Hugh arranged for her to marry CountPons of Toulouse in 1040. Together they produced several children, including:
*William IV of Toulouse
*Raymond IV of Toulouse
* Hugh, Abbot ofSaint-Gilles
* Almodis of Toulouse, married CountPierre of Melgueil She was still Pons' wife in April 1053, but shortly thereafter Almodis was abducted by
Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona . He kidnapped her from Narbonne with the aid of a fleet sent north by his ally, the Muslim emir ofTortosa . They married immediately (despite the fact both of her previous husbands were still alive) and they appear with their twin sons in a charter the next year. Pope Victor II excommunicated Almodis and Ramon for this illegal marriage until 1056. Together they produced four children:
*Berenguer Ramon II, Count of Barcelona
*Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona
* Inés of Barcelona, married CountGuigues I of Albon
* Sancha of Barcelona, married CountGuillermo Ramon I of Cerdagne Almodis maintained contact with her former husbands and many children, and in 1066/1067 she traveled to Toulouse for her daughter's wedding. A few years before, in 1060,
Hugh V of Lusignan had revolted against his lord, DukeWilliam VIII of Aquitaine , in support of Almodis' sonWilliam IV of Toulouse . Her sons supported one another in military campaigns;Hugh VI of Lusignan ,Raymond IV of Toulouse , and Berenguer Ramon all took the Cross.Her third husband Ramon had a son from a previous marriage, Pedro Ramon, who was his heir. Pedro apparently resented Almodis' influence and was concerned she was trying to replace him with her own two sons. He murdered her in October 1071. Pedro was disinherited and exiled for his crime, and fled the country. When his father died in 1076, Barcelona was split between Berenguer Ramon and Ramon Berenguer, Almodis' sons. The family history of murder did not end with Pedro Ramon, as Berenguer Ramon earned his nickname "The
Fratricide " when he killed his own twin brother.ources
* Chronicles of the abbey of St. Maixent (pub. 1886 by A. Richard)
* Reilly, B.F. "The Conquest of Christian and Muslim Spain", 1992
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