Baussenque Wars The Baussenque Wars ( from French " Guerres Baussenques " , meaning " wars of Baux " ) were a series of armed conflicts ( 1144 – 1162 ) between the House of Barcelona , then ruling in Provence , and the House of Baux . They are held up in Provence as the idealistic resistance of one of her native families against the Catalan " occupation . " In reality , they were the first of many successful expansions of Catalan power and influence in the Mediterranean world . Causes . Three major factors played into the eruption of such a conflict : the competition between the counts of Toulouse and those of Barcelona for influence in the region of Provence , the succession crisis of the first ruling dynasty of the county of Provence , and the ambitions of the Baux family . Due to a lack of success in the " Reconquista " on their southern frontier , the Catalans turned towards the Mediterranean littoral and northwards . They coveted the region between the Cévennes and the Rhône , then under the control of Toulouse . In 1112 , the count of Barcelona , Ramon Berenguer III , married the heiress of Provence , Douce , who was the daughter of the Countess Gerberga of Provence , Gévaudan , Carlat , and part of Rodez . The marriage was probably taken at the urging of the church , which was then in conflict with house of Toulouse . In 1076 , Count Raymond IV was excommunicated , but he still lent his support to Aicard , the deposed archbishop of Arles ( since 1080 ) . With the count away on the First Crusade , the church took the opportunity to seize the balance of power in the region . This marriage effectively put Provence under Catalan control . In 1125 , Raymond ' s heir , Alfonso Jordan , signed a treaty whereby his family ' s traditional claim to the title of " Margrave of Provence " was recognised and the march of Provence was defined as the region north of the lower Durance and on the right of the Rhône , including the castles of Beaucaire , Vallabrègues , and Argence . The region between the Durance , the Rhône , the Alps , and the sea was that of the county and belonged to the house of Barcelona . Avignon , Pont de Sorgues , Caumont , and Le Thor remained undivided . Innternally , Provence was racked by uncertainties over the rights of succession . Douce and Ramon Berenguer signed all charters jointly until her death in 1127 , after which he alone appears as count in all charters until his death in 1131 . At that time , Douce ' s younger sister , Stephanie was married to Raymond of Baux , who promptly laid claim to the inheritance of her mother , even though Provence had peacefully passed into the hands of her nephew , Berenguer Ramon I . Opening moves . Resultant of these crises , the Midi was divided into two clans . The one , supporters of Berenguer Ramon , are supported by his elder brother , Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona , and the viscounts of Carcassonne , Béziers , Nîmes . The other , supporters of Stephanie and Raymond , have the support of Toulouse , the county of Foix , Arles ( until 1150 ) , and even the Republic of Genoa , to whom can be attached the attack on Melgueil in 1144 , during which Berenguer Ramon died . He was succeeded in his claim by his young son Ramon Berenguer II . According to the historian Louis Mathieu Anibert , a man of Arles , his city appointed a consulate to prepare for the occasion of war ( 1131 ) : At the opening of the conflict , Raymond of Baux made an appeal to Conrad III , who was technically the King of Burgundy , though this title meant more in theory than in practice . Provence being , legally at least , a fief of the Burgundian kingdom , Raymond begged for his sovereign ' s recognition of the rights of Stephanie as heir to the possessions of Gerberga . By an act of 4 August 1145 , with little precision of wording , Conrad validated the right of Stephanie and Raymond to their titles and granted them the power of coining money at Arles and at Trinquetaille . The latter was a great aid to their aspirations . War . The conflict itself , which had been ongoing since the succession of Berenguer Ramon , accelerated after his death . The rest of the war can be seen as three successive armed conflicts . The first began in 1144 , with Berenguer Ramon ' s war with Genoa , and continued until an accord was signed in 1150 . The second lasted a short while ( 1155 – 1156 ) . The third and final war was most short - lived . It lasted less than a year and saw the house of Barcelona put away the claims of the House of Baux forever . In the end , despite the royal approval of both Conrad and subsequently his nephew , might made right . Despite Conrad ' s proclamation , the war gained pace in 1147 , generally in favour of Barcelona , for the count of Toulouse was away on the Second Crusade . In view of his impotence , with only the backing of Arles , Raymond entered into negotiations and made submission to the house of Barcelona . He left for Spain , where he died before the peace could be concluded . Stephanie ' s four sons — Hugh , William , Bertrand , and Gilbert — were recompensed for relinquishing their rights to the counties of Gerberga and a treaty was signed at Arles in 1150 . The truce did not last and Stephanie and her sons renewed the conflict in 1155 in alliance with the counts of Toulouse . Hugh achieved a diplomatic victory with his confirmation by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa , but like that of Conrad years earlier , it meant nothing to the Catalans . This second war , too , did not go differently for the house of Baux . Humiliatingly , in 1156 , they were forced to relinquish the castle of Castillon and other fortified places . They did retain Baux itself and its outer defences , like the castle of Trinquetaille . In August 1161 , Ramon Berenguer travelled to Turin with his uncle , the count of Barcelona , to obtain the confirmation of his countship in Provence from the emperor . There he met Richeza of Poland , the daughter of the exiled Polish high duke , Ladislaus II . He married her on 17 November and on the return journey , his uncle died . In 1162 , open war erupted again . Baux was razed and its environs ravaged . Ramon Berenguer was recognised as victor by the of the Empire , but Hugh made a last attempt to salvage victory by reminding the emperor of the two chrysobull - attended letters issued on his behalf , one of Conrad the other of Frederick himself . Barbarossa wisely kept silent about his reasons for a change of heart . In 1166 , Ramon Berenguer renewed the war with Genoa which his father had waged . He died besieging Nice in that year .