Provence. It was during the journey to Turin, where he
was to meet the emperor, that Ramon Berenguer IV met
his death in Borgo San Dalmazzo, on 6 August 1162.
The work of Ramón Berenguer IV was fundamental
on institutional and administrative levels. During his
youth, in order to oppose the revolt of the Catalan aris-
tocracy, he convened the Assemblies of Peace and Truce.
He organized the management of his domain in such
a way as to increase his fi nancial resources, which he
needed for his expansionary policy. An inspection car-
ried out by Bertran of Castellet in Old Catalonia in 1151
furnished him with a precise inventory of the revenues
of his domains; these were administered by bailiffs
(batlles) or by creditors who accepted them as pay-
ment. His vicars (vicaris) mainly brought him the fi nes
imposed by tribunals, the tolls levied, and the parias
(tributes) of the Muslim chiefs. Justice was henceforth
carried out by specialists in law, who applied the Usatges
de Barcelona, a Roman legal code that he had just pro-
mulgated. The Usatges established the monopoly of the
count as regards certain royal rights; castles, mint, and
organization of the peace were under his control. The
ecclesiastical map was redrawn; the bishoprics of Tor-
tosa and of Lérida (Lleida) were reestablished instead
of Roda-Barbastro. In 1154, the metropolitan province
of Tarragona, including all the Catalan and Aragónese
bishoprics, was also reestablished. Cistercian monks
from Grandselve and from Fontfroide founded Santes
Creus and Poblet in New Catalonia; the Templars and
Hospitalers, who had received indemnities for their re-
nunciation of Alfonso I’s will, were also given domains
on the frontier. The count welcomed to his court the fi rst
Catalan troubadours, Berenguer of Palol and Guerau of
Cabrera. In 1162 he was praised in the fi rst version of the
Gesta comitum barchinonensium, drawn up at Ripoll.
In 1157, on the death of Alfonso VII of Castilla-León,
Ramón Berenguer IV had become the most important
of the Iberian kings, and the arbiter of their struggles;
he had a preponderant role in Occitania. His reign laid
the basis for the great Mediterranean expansion of the
Catalano-Aragónese confederation.
Further Reading
Aurell, M. “L’expansion catalane en Provence au XIIe siècle.” In
La formació i expansió del feudalisme català. Ed. J. Portella.
Girona, 1985. 175–197.
Bisson, T. N. Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia under the Early
Count-Kings (1151–1213). Berkeley, 1984.
———. The Medieval Crown of Aragón: A Short History. Ox-
ford, 1986.
Schramm, P. E., J. F. Cabestany, and E. Bagué. Els primers com-
tesreis; Ramon Berenguer IV. Alfons el Cast, Pere el Catòlic.
Barcelona, 1963.
Soldevila, F. Història de Catalunya. 2nd ed. Barcelona, 1963.
Martí Aukell i Cardona
RAOUL DE HOUDENC (fl. 1210–20)
Radulfus de Hosdenc, miles, of Hodenc-en-Bray
(Beauvaisis), was the author of an Arthurian romance
of 5,938 octosyllabic lines, Meraugis de Portlesguez,
and three short didactic poems, the Songe d’enfer,
the Roman des eles, and a Dit. A second Arthurian
romance, the Vengeance Raguidel (6,182 lines), whose
author names himself as “Raols” is probably also by
Raoul de Houdenc. Raoul is one of the most talented
of the Chrétien epigones, and Meraugis de Portlesguez,
concerned with the rivalry of two friends for the love
of the fair Lidoine, is one of the best examples of the
genre. Both Meraugis and the Vengeance Raguidel,
which is concerned with the avenging of a murdered
knight called Raguidel, can best be seen as the work of
an author coming to grips with the specter of Chrétien de
Troyes. All kinds of humor abound in the two romances,
as well as in the short didactic pieces. The Songe d’enfer
is a vision of Hell notable for a particularly gruesome
banquet and some allegorical heraldry; the Roman des
eles is a guide to courtoisie. Raoul was acknowledged,
along with Chrétien, to be one of the greatest French
poets by Huon de Méry in the Tournoiement Antécrist
(ca. 1230).
See also Chrétien de TroyesFurther Reading
Raoul de Houdenc. “Li dis Raoul Hosdaing,” ed. Charles H.
Livingston. Romanic Review 13 (1922): 292–304.
——. The Songe d’enfer of Raoul de Houdenc, ed. Madelyn
Timmel Mihm. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1984.
——. “Le roman des eles”: The Anonymous “Ordene de Cheval-
erie,” ed. Keith Busby. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1983.
——. Sämtliche Werke, ed. Mathias Friedwagner. 2 vols. Halle:
Niemeyer, 1897–1909, Vol. 1: Meraugis de Portlesguez; Vol.
2: La vengeance Raguidel.
Schmolke-Hasselmann, Beate. Der arthurische Versroman von
Chrestien bis Froissart. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1980, pp.
106–15, 117–29.
Keith BusbyRAOUL GLABER (ca. 985–ca. 1046)
Born in Burgundy, perhaps out of wedlock, Raoul en-
tered the monastery of Saint-Germain of Auxerre when
he was about twelve. By nature restive and averse to
discipline, he wandered from monastery to monastery,
where, thanks to his literary talents, he was welcomed.
From ca. 1015 to 1031, he was the traveling compan-
ion of William of Volpiano, abbot of Saint-Bénigne of
Dijon and one of the foremost monastic reformers of
the day. At William’s command, he began a history of
the prodigies and wonders surrounding the advent of
the year 1000, which he kept with him and added to for
the rest of his life. After William’s death, Raoul spentRAMÓN BERENGUER IV, COUNT OF BARCELONA