Na Cavaers, coseigneur de Fanjeaux, la dame qui jouait le double jeu
Authors: Nelli Suzanne 
Published: June 2024

The archives of southern France, dealing with the end of the 12 th, and beginning of the 13 th centuries, hold documents that have kept the traces of three female characters bearing the same uncommon name of "Na Cavaers”. The two lattermost, mother and daughter, are linked up with the history of the seigneury of Fanjeaux ; and it is precisely this daughter, contemporary with the events concerning the French conquest of the South, and the passing of open Catharism into clandestineness, who is the subject of this study.

Of the first “Na Cavaers”, it is only known that her husband was named Barbasta, and her son Raimond ; and that, round about 1179, she owned property in the Razès region, near Limoux : this last point is the only detail that lets us believe she probably belonged to the same family as the other two “Na Cavaers”, and had ties with Fanjeaux.

What these three women had in common were their names and their titles, which equally meant their social positions ; and indeed, every document is a witness to the fact that they played prominent parts, in comparison with their husbands, if they did have any. As an introduction to Madame Nelli's article, it is precisely the riddle tied to this curious mane : "Na Cavaers”, that I intend to study, for to it are attached quite à number of connotations that go far enough to reach the domains of sociology and ethnology.

In those years, the term "Na", from the latin domina/lady, always pointed to a female character of a certain social rank : either noble, or high middleclass at the very least. As for "Cavaers”, we have here a common Occitanian noun which means : "knight”, always masculin gender, and used in the singular, as a subject case. This precise sense was still in the minds of people at the end of the 12 th century, for in certain acts, written, in, latin, and concerning the mother : "Na Cavaers” of Fanjeaux, the scribe thought it necessary to write down the lady's name literally : "Domina Miles”. In our modern French we would say : "Lady-knight”, Dame chevalier.

The first thought that comes to the mind is this : is "Cavaers” a family-name ? Or a first-name ? Or a surname linked to some kind of function or state ? Indeed, the common noun "cavaers” is the origin of the patronymic surname "Cavaillé-Caballé”. In the present case, however, "Cavers” is undoubtedly used as a first name, and we must recall, if need be, the prime importance of first names during the Middles-Ages. The term "Na” was, so to say, never placed before a family-name. The Occitanian mediaeval scribe knew no equivalent of "Madame Vidal” : he would always write : "Na Segura Vidal", and even more often : "Na Segura'',... or : "Na Guillelma", etc...

"Cavaers” would be a singular first-name. And yet, the fashion of the day proffered female first-names that belonged to no saint in the Roman Calendar. Next to "Orbria”, and "Braïda” there even appeared names that really meat something : Marquesia / the Marquise ; Corba / The Curve ; Gaia / the Gay one” : "Segura / The Sure One " : "Flors / The Flower”. These were "surnamed-first-names” maybe chosen because of a god-mother's whim, or because they well-fitted some quality that characterised the little girl.

"Cavaers" must be joined to these surnamed. first-names. In other events, it could have construed rots of a patronymic name. But in the specific case of the "Na Cavaers" of Fanjeaux, I would rather be tempted to find the virtual roots of a matronymic surname. During the 12 th or 13 th cen¬ turies it was neither unseemly, nor discourteous to call a lady "a knight”, especially as the fantasy of the times was even more enriched by the verbal play of the troubadours. A lady from Laurac, a near-neighbour of the "Na Cavaers" of Fanjeaux, is known to us by no other name than "Bel Arquier”, ("the fair Archer") bestowed upon her by Peire Vidal. "Knight” dit not offend the ear in those days, even if "Cavaers" was not exactly a corteous senhal.

But we are left with the whyfore of the choice concerning such a name. I can't help thinking (even though all this remains within the limits of pure hypothesis), that the title : "knight” had something to do with the social positions, and the real parts played by these two ladies, (mother and daughter), in the administration of the seigneury of Fanjeaux, and that, with the help of no man. Pierre de la Redorte, the husband of the first "Cavaers” of Fanjeaux was always second to her.

I was she the heiress, and owner of the rights over Fanjeaux ; and after her, came her daughter.

Cavaers, the lady who hreld the place of a knight, of Lord of the land !... She personified a military function, this lady called "Domina Miles" and during the Middle-ages, power was always thought of in military terms. If she hab been given another name on her baptism-day, it was soon wiped out, as, too, was the name of her lineage. A matriarcal lineage could have established itself if the last "Na Cavaers” had had descendants still attached to the dominance of Fanjeaux. But this was not the case.

However, every document known to us, up to this day, attests, (and this cannot simply be by mere chance), that the three ladies who bore the name of "Cavaers / knight" have, without any possible doubt, been true female-lords.

(trad. G. M.)