View source for Gaucelm

{{for|the troubadours|Gaucelm Faidit|Raimon Gaucelm de Bezers}}
{{no footnotes|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Bera.png | thumb | right | alt=A historical map of northeastern Iberia around 801–820. The counties ruled by Gaucelm (Rosselló and Empúries) are shaded pink. Neighboring counties ruled by Berà are shaded in green. | Gaucelm was the count of Rosselló and Empúries, both of which are highlighted in pink on this map. The image visually contextualizes the extent of his rule within the region of early medieval Catalonia.]]
'''Gaucelm''' (died 834) was a [[Franks|Frankish]] count and leading magnate in [[Septimania|Gothia]] during the reign of [[Louis the Pious]]. He was initially the [[Count of Roussillon]] from about 800, but he received [[Count of Empúries|Empúries]] in 817 and was thenceforward the chief representative of imperial authority in that region.

He was the son of [[William of Gellone]] and his first wife, Gunegunde (Cunegonde), a Frankish lady. It was from his father, sometime after 790, that he received the county of Roussillon to govern within his father's vast holdings in [[Septimania]], centered on [[Toulouse]]. At that time, Roussillon included [[Vallespir]]. Gaucelm, thoroughly Frankish, supported ongoing war with the [[Moors]] and was supported by his brother, Bernard of Septimania. Bera, the Visigothic Count of Razès and Conflent since 790, and Count of Barcelona since 801, supported the local Goth population who desired peace with the Moors to their south.

In January 820, at an assembly in [[Aachen]], [[Sanila (lieutenant)|Sanila]], Gaucelm's Gothic lieutenant, probably on orders from Gaucelm, accused Bera of infidelity and perfidy. Bera was deposed, but Gaucelm did not receive his ''honores'' as he had wanted. However, he did later obtain two of them (Barcelona and [[Besalú]]) for his brother Bernard (February 826). The third, [[Girona]], went either to Bernard or Gaucelm himself, but which is unclear. After taking part in the defeat of the son of Bera, [[Guillemundus]], and his lieutenant, [[Aisso]], in Barcelona and Girona (to 827), he received the counties of [[Razès]] and [[Conflent]] (both previously ruled by Guillemundus). While Bernard was absent from Septimania (April to April, 829 &ndash; 830), Gaucelm also ruled his ''[[Honours (fief)|honores]]'': [[Uzès]], [[Nîmes]], [[Melguelh]], [[Agde]], [[Béziers]], [[Narbonne]], Besalú, and Barcelona.

In Autumn 831, [[Pepin I of Aquitaine]] revolted against his father, Emperor Louis the Pious. Bernard and Gaucelm supported Pepin. Subsequently invading royal forces quickly occupied Bernard's lands. In another assembly at Aachen in February 832, the whole region was assigned to [[Charles the Bald]], while Gaucelm and Bernard were deposed later that same year. Gaucelm tried to resist and held out in Ampurias. Finally, in 833, after mediation with [[Ansegisus|Ansegisus, Abbot of Fontanelle]], he resigned and retired with Sanila to some familial properties in [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]].

Gaucelm and Sanila were killed in the battle of [[Chalon-sur-Saône]] the next year, while fighting for Louis the Pious against his son [[Lothair I|Lothair]].

==Sources==
*Lewis, Archibald R. ''[http://libro.uca.edu/lewis/index.htm The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718&ndash;1050]''. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|rows=1|before=none}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Count of Roussillon]]|years=800–832}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Berengar the Wise]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|rows=1|before=[[Ermengar]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[County of Empúries]]|years=817–832}}
|-
{{end}}

[[Category:834 deaths]]
[[Category:Nobility of the Carolingian Empire]]
[[Category:Counts of Roussillon]]
[[Category:Counts of Empúries]]
[[Category:8th-century births]]
[[Category:9th-century counts in Europe]]