What Was In That Will?? (Day 1 - Time Travel for the 4 Queens)

Since we visited Forcalquier a year ago and discovered the amazing story of the four sisters in medieval Provence who all became queens - big queens (France, England etc), I've been dying to go back.

Go back to this area we do for three days - June 8-10, 2025. I am super excited to see what I could unearth, especially in Sisteron.

Guess what I find?

A plaque.

That is it.

And a plaque that pisses me off.

Why? Watch this.

What else do I find?

NOTHING!

I'm shocked. This is a huge saga of how France became France - how Europe became Europe - and the impact these women had.

I adore old maps. This shows how most of France was independent "counties."

Not to mention the love story between the four of them. This is no "Succession." Not the Kardashians. Their loyalty and love survive - mostly - despite continent-wide warfare.

But this lacuna is an opportunity for me!

To offer this amazing story to the world in dramatic form.

(Hopefully, with music.)

Little niggle of fear as I write this: I don't want someone to steal my story. But as they say in all the writers' schools, no one will tell it the way I tell it.

Back to the Sister Saga - I'm short on time with lots to tell - so here goes.

Sisteron is where the sisters' father, Raymond Berenger, Comte de Provence and Barcelone, executed his will. It's 1238, and he's about to gallop off to Brescia to fight alongside the Holy Roman Emperor. He doesn't think he'll come back.

The goal of his will: to keep Provence independant - not part of France or England (England occupied a whole lot of Franc then).

Now, it's common back then to split an estate equally among the heirs. Even women. Surprisingly, women can inherit in Provence (though not in the north, in "France" - basically Paris and its region).

Does he leave it to all four? NO! He leaves them money - though not even enough to fully pay for the dowry he promised to pay (he overpromised...oops). And he says kinda harshly the three oldest, Marguerite and Eleanor and Sancia, have no claim to anything else. Nada.

Why???

Independence. He wants Provence to stay - Provence.

His two older daughters are already married: Marguérite to King Louis IX of France, and Eleanor to King Henry III of England. So Raymond believes - rightly - their husbands would absorb Provence into their kingdoms.

Sanchia, the third daughter, is not yet married in 1238. Why doesn't he split it between her and Beatrix, the youngest?

Is it because he loves Beatrix the best? That's the scuttlebutt. Now THAT would make for some internal family brouhaha.

Anyway. Raymond goes off to war. He doesn't die. He doesn't do that until 1245. Sanchia does marry in 1243 - Henry's bro Richard of Cornwall. So turns out Raymond had ESP about leaving Sanchia out.

Or maybe he did really favor baby Beatrice...

Though leaving it all to her didn't make things safer. In fact, it led to a huge fight - literally - for Beatrice's hand after his death. Frederick of Germany threatened to invade, as did Raymond of Toulouse (three times her age). There was someone else, too.. who I forget.

Ultimately, she marries Louis IX's brother, Charles D'Anjou. An incredibly arrogant, grasping man. He loves as ugly outside as in (though I'm sure there are people who love him, he's one my bad guys.)

Yeah, he fights for and wins Naples - provoking a legendary tragedy in Sicily (whose name I forget)

Charles proceeds to do the opposite of what Raymond wanted - curbing Provençal freedoms. Eventually, his actions let France absorb Provence.

Provence - dies. (though it lives on in Peter Mayle and the hearts of the Provençals).

Worst of all, Charles takes away the income from the province Raymond promised to his wife. Beatrice wife stirs up an insurrection against her son-in-law - and her daughter. (now that's dramatic!)

And where is Baby Beatrice in all this? With her husband, against her mother - and sisters?

The history doesn't really say.

What I can tell you: baby Beatrice dies very young. In childbirth. But still, I wonder...did this family upset weaken her, expedite her death?

Of course, history doesn't tell us!

THAT'S MY JOB.

STAY TUNED.