History & Culture

The weight of centuries of scholarship, culture, and romance lies heavy upon the Tribunal. From the ghosts of Roman glory to the strange magics of the Dark Ages, the echoes of a glorious past reach out to the turmoil of the present.

The Provençal Tribunal comprises an area that Celtic tribes inhabited in antiquity. In what is now Gascony they were the Aquitanians, a Basque people. Greek traders, the Massalians, founded the cities of Marseilles and Trinquetaille as ports and traded upriver with the Celtic tribes of the eastern region, Arelat.

The coming of the Romans in 125 BC saw the division of the region that they called the Provincia in to two provinces. Novempopulania ("the Nine Peoples") looked to the Atlantic in the west, and Narbonensis formed the eastern district, looking south to the Mediterranean. Both regions were culturally and economically vibrant for the five centuries of Roman rule.

Only one major revolt marred the peace and abundance of Narbonensis. Tolosa (Toulouse) was the ancient capital of the Volques tribe of Celts. The Tolosates worshiped by sacrificing treasures sunk within the sacred lake on whose shores the city was built. In 106 BC, the Roman governor drained the lake to steal the golden treasures. The Tolosates were outraged, and a major uprising followed, assisted by the invasion of a Germanic migratory people: the Cimbri. The Romans suffered a series of defeats, and the treasures of the lake were lost after the Romans were defeated in battle at Arausio on the Rhone in 105 BC. The Romans returned in force and pacified the region, but they never found the treasure.

In 419 AD the Romans fell back from the area in defense of Rome against the barbarian incursions, and the Visigoths swept down in to the region and established it as part of their kingdom. Arles held out for decades, the city only surrendering in 472, when it was overrun by the Visigoths. Even today. Roman remains litter the landscape, mingled with monuments built by faeries and giants.

The first followers of Christ brought the faith to the region. Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary landed at Saintes Marie-de-la-Mer in the years following the crucifixion, and many churches hold relics relating to them. Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead by Christ, accompanied the Holy Virgin and became the first Bishop of Marseilles.

The area remained mainly loyal to the

Roman religion however until the great Bishop Sernin of Toulouse (Saint Saturnin) suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Roman priests, being dragged to death by a bull around the streets of the city in 257. After his inspirational death the power of the Cult of Mercury was broken in the city, and Toulouse converted to the new religion, becoming a flourishing center of Christianity.

As the Roman Empire declined, the Visigoths settled the region. Arian heretics, the Visigoths served as Imperial foederati: barbarian troops stationed in defense of the empire. In return for military service, they were granted rights to settle in Narbonensis in 462. In 475 they relinquished their rights to Narbonensis east of the Rhone in exchange for recognition of their full independence. The Visigothic Kingdom was named Septimania, in honor of its seven cities. Toulouse became its capital and the

Rumors of golden treasures are common throughout the Tribunal. As well as the lost treasure of the lake of Toulouse, another treasure brought to the city and then lost to history was the riches seized in the Sack of Rome in 410. This included the legendary wealth and holy items taken from the Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70. Some of the holiest artifacts in the world may still lie hidden somewhere in the dusty lands around the city. There are also stories of the aurum Tolosanum containing treasures from the sack of Delphi in 279 BC. Whatever the truth, all the legends agree that gold is still hidden somewhere in the region, and protected by a deadly curse.

When an ancient Visigothic tomb is moved during church renovations, a mysterious scroll is brought to the magi. It seems to contain encoded directions to a great treasure. Dare they investigate this ancient secret, and why is someone trying to stop them?

whole region continued to bask in prosperity even as the Roman Empire collapsed.

In 507, at the Battle of Vouillé, the Franks, under the great King Clovis, defeated the Visigoths, starting the decline of Septimania as border areas fell to the new invaders. The Ostrogoths from Italy now intervened, halting the Frankish advance, and Visigothic kings continued to hold portions of Septimania (the region now called the Narbonne) until the 720s, even as the center of Gothic power passed to Barcelona.

The Visigoths converted to mainstream Christianity by the middle of the sixth century. However the influence of the old Roman religion and the remnants of the Cult of Mercury remained strong. Church councils condemned the persistence of local paganism, focusing on the custom of not working on Thursdays in honor of Jupiter. It was these pagan remnants and the last Roman priests (flamen) whose secrets Priamitus and Apromor were to seek, and whose legacy forms the basis of the Hermetic Cult of Mercury at Aedes Mercurii (see Chapter 6: Pyrenees, Aedes Mercurii) today.

By the middle of the sixth century, the Franks, a northern people, had largely defeated the Visigoths. Only in Narbonnais did the Visigothic Kingdom of Septimania survive. The Merovingian Frankish dynasty suffered from endless usurpation and royal murders, and a dark age of anarchy, pestilence, and famine descended upon the region. In Arelat, many of the former Roman cities fell to ruin and were abandoned, with only Marseilles prospering; and as drainage works fell into disrepair marshes took back land long cultivated. Local rebellions were common, and the local lords of Toulouse became increasingly independent, one eventually declaring himself Duke and becoming effectively independent of the Frankish throne.

In 719 the Moors attacked Septimania and took the capital Narbonne before proceeding north to Toulouse. The Franks sent no assistance, and yet in 721 Duke Odo, ruler of Gascony and Toulouse, defeated the Moors' advance. This bought time for Charles Martel and the Franks to prepare, setting the scene for the great victory at Tours (732) and ending the Moors' advance into Europe.

The Franks conquered Septimania in 759, and the Pyrenees region of the Tribunal by the close of the eighth century. Frankish power now embraced the whole region, yet the Frankish dukes in the region craved autonomy. They rebelled frequently, and suffered devastating raids, pillaging, and burning of towns and crops from their northern overlords in response.

With the foundation of the Order of Hermes, magi traveled to Durenmar for the First Tribunal meeting. As the population of the order grew, regional Tribunals were established in 773. These regions had no definite borders, but were instead composed of covenants located in more or less the same parts of the world.

Much of the Hermetic activity in the Val-Negra Tribunal at this time focused on the Founder Flambeau's war against the Moors in Iberia. He was the only Founder to live at Val-Negra, though Trianoma and Mercere would often visit. Other legends of Hermes who lived and practiced magic in the region included:

Apromor of Flambeau. Flambeau's first apprentice, he grew apart from his master and became the first Primus of the House in 820. He encouraged non-Hermetic wizards to join the Order, accepting pagans and worked with Priamatus to recreate the Cult of Mercury.

Kaeso, follower of Flambeau, founder of Castra Solis and member of the Legion of Mithras. Many consider him the first Hoplite. He died honorably in battle.

Elaine of Flambeau. Flambeau's second apprentice. She served as a Hoplite under Kaeso and also belonged to the Legion of Mithras, and wrote many excellent books.

Priamitus of Mercere. Mercere's first apprentice, founder of the Cult of Mercury. He and his followers established a temple to Mercury near Val-Negra, and with Apromor's blessing restored much of the lost knowledge of the Order of Mercury.

Maugris of Diedne, one of Diedne's original followers. A solitary magus raised by faeries, he was cousin to Renaud de Montebaun, a paladin of Charlemagne's court, for whom he tamed the magical horse Bayard.

Gelon of Verditius. Verditius' first apprentice. He became Primus of the House in 801, though he lived at Val-Negra for decades. He was known for his many enchanted swords, and his followers established the Confraternity of Roland.

Val-Negra, home to the Founder Flambeau, dominated the region politically. It was the largest covenant and included magi from many different Houses. The majority of the other covenants in the region belonged to House Diedne. Located deep in the Pyrenees, Val-Negra was an ideal location for Flambeau to train and quarter his wizardly army. Apromor expanded the covenant, establishing other Hermetic outposts at sites throughout the Pyrenees.

In the middle of the ninth century, Vikings established camps all along the western shores of France. Outmatched and outsmarted, and even outmaneuvered, the Franks suffered when the Vikings negotiated an alliance with King Pepin II of Aquitaine, who was seeking independence from the Frankish King Charles the Bald. In 844 Pepin was accused of apostasy after he allied with a Viking adventurer named Jarl Oscar and allowed him to raid up the Garonne as far as Toulouse.

Initially, the magi of the Tribunal avoided the struggle, until tales of strange rune magicians forced them to act against the Norse wizards. The Vikings were not the only threat, for Marseilles was looted and burned by Arab pirates in 838, by Byzantine freebooters in 849, and later by a rapacious

The Frankish Carolingian dynasty faced constant rebellion from the southern lords, and King Charlemagne crushed the resistance in 770 en route to Spain. On his return from campaigning against the Moors in 778, the great tragedy of the Pass of Roncevaux occurred. Moors ambushed and slaughtered Charlemagne's rear guard in the mountain passes, and this still forms the basis of many of the great romances told by the troubadours. The death of Roland, Bishop Turpin, and the others is a tragic tale every child knows.

group of Normans who began raids from a base deep in the Camargue.

There were many Diedne covenants in Gascony, but in the struggle against the Norse rune wizards much resentment developed in House Flambeau at what was perceived as the passive role House Diedne had taken in the defense of the Tribunal.

Fraxinetum and the Founding of the Coenobium (889–975)

Two rogue Tytalan magi, who specialized in war magic and led a band of raiding Andalusian Moors, caused the most bitter and defining struggle in the east of the Tribunal by leading attacks across the Arelat region. Their covenant, Fraxinetum, lay in the bleak basalt Massifs de Maures near the south coast and they provoked a series of disputes regarding the Peripheral Code and interference with mundanes. Fraxinetum was destroyed in 975 by a Wizard's War declared by the newly formed covenant of Coenobium Rhodanien. This alliance of Arelat covenants banded together to resist the incursions and remains a potent force in the region to this day. (See Chapter 8: Arelat, The Coenobium Rhodanien)

In 865 the Grand Tribunal defined seven regional Tribunals. Val-Negra officially became part of the Iberian Tribunal, which also included the Pyrenees and the northern Basque country. Most of France became part of the West Franks Tribunal, except for the small strip of land from Friesland down through Burgundy and Arelat called the Lotharingian Tribunal. Over time the borders of the Tribunal shifted again, with Normandy and the Rhineland subsuming the northern half of Lotharingia as covenants located there began attending one or the other Tribunal instead. This left the remnant, now known as the Provençal Tribunal, as a Mercer House covenant at Arles, a powerful autumn Diedne covenant at Lyon, and a few other covenants nestled in the Rhone valley and along the Mediterranean coast.

Once the Schism War began, much fighting took place in Gascony as Diedne covenants fell to massed attacks from Val Negra. There was a great deal of activity among covenants in the Pyrenees whose magi attended the Iberian Tribunal. Val-Negra fell in the conflict, with survivors joining Aedes Mercurii and declaring themselves a Provençal covenant; many other covenants chose to join Provence at this time, partly to resist Tytalan expansion south into the region to claim the spoils of the fallen Diedne covenants. (See The Lion & The Lily, 16)

The terrible cost of the battles against Diedne covenants scarred the region and many once great covenants perished, their ruins littering the landscape, often all but forgotten today. The great tension between House Flambeau and House Tytalus forced a redrawing of the Tribunal maps, and resulted in the Normandy, Iberian and Provençal Tribunals as we know them today.

Askelarre (945–1011): A covenant founded by a coven of Hermetic sorginak or Basque witches spread throughout the Basque country and destroyed in the Schism War.

Bentalone (1106–1207): A summer covenant destroyed during the crusade by the armies of Simon de Montfort when the castle they inhabited was mistaken for a Cathar stronghold and overrun in a surprise attack.

Berinor (1089–1210): A small Jerbiton covenant in the County of Toulouse that served as patron to many troubadours and troubairitz, and fell in 1210 after de Montfort's men dispossessed the lord who held the castle for the covenant. The survivors joined the Toulouse covenant.

The Birds of Camargue (901–970): A Bjornaer covenant in the swamp at the mouth of the Rhone. The magi merged with the greater grouping of Coenobium Rhodanien in response to the threat of Fraxinetum.

Campus Elysii (843–1009): A small group of spirit masters dwelling in the Alyscamps driven out by the expansion of the Coenobium. Although the group retreated to the Verdun Gorge, attempting to refound their home under the new name of Portus Termini, the settlement failed before the next Tribunal and was never officially registered as a Provençal covenant.

Donjon Leyre (955–1008): An early vassal of Montverte, at the fork of the Leyre river in the Landes, it was originally established as a forward base for raiding into the Basque-held Pyrenees. Its founding magi all perished fighting in the Schism War.

Filii Sinapis (1063–1215): A covenant established by Flambeau of the abandoned Normandy Liege of Sinapis (see Lion and the Lily, page 28), the site was abandoned in the wake of the crusade.

Fraxinetum (889–975): Founded by a band of Andalusian raiders and two aggressive Tytalus magi, this settlement provoked a series of disputes regarding the Peripheral Code and interference with mundanes. It was destroyed soon after the defeat of the Saracens in 973 in a Wizard's War declared by the newly formed covenant of Coenobium Rhodanien. (See Chapter 8: Arelat, The Legacy of Fraxinetum)

Lapurdum (822–858): Founded around a mithraeum at the site of an old Roman camp at the mouth of the Adour in Gascony, this Flambeau covenant was abandoned under repeated pressure from Viking raids and internal dissension in the mid ninth century. Its ruins lie somewhere within the contemporary city of Bayonne.

Lariander (1192–1211): A Tremere Spring covenant in a faerie forest at Montgey, Toulouse, destroyed during the crusade. The magi were mistaken for a community of Cathars after a party of German crusaders was murdered by rebels while in the vicinity of the covenant.

Mistridge (1050–1209): This covenant occupied a magical tower situated in the Val du Bosque. A Wizard's War led by the magus Tres with his magical siege engines destroyed it, spurring a major Tribunal case. (See later)

Portus Cottiae (821–906): The original Mercer House and a Mercurian covenant controlling the old Roman pass from the Piedmont into Gaul, this multi-site settlement in the tradition of the Greater Alps was abandoned after repeated attacks by Berber mercenaries in the late ninth century.

Val-Negra (774–1012): Former residence of Flambeau the Founder and domus magna of his House, it is believed to have been destroyed in the last days of the Schism War. There is considerable mystery as to the reason for its abandonment, and even its exact location is now forgotten. (See Chapter 9: Val-Negra)

Windgraven (1060–1197): A covenant

famed for its cruelty and the necromantic prowess of its magi, it was destroyed by Mistridge after declining far into Winter. Few mourned the passing of its reclusive magi, who were widely suspected of diabolism, though this action may have inspired Tres' destruction of Mistridge shortly thereafter.

Yf (821–911): A Diedne covenant off the coast of Arelat, this site fell long before the Schism War to the depredations of Fraxinetum. One of its members joined the efforts of Coenobium Rhodanien in revenge but her line faded away just before the Schism War.

Little is known today of the fate of Val-Negra, once the most powerful covenant of the Tribunal. The destruction of the covenant in the Schism War is known, but the reason it never rose again is not. Given the glorious place the covenant holds in the history of the Order, the evacuation of the covenant and its replacement as domus magna of House Flambeau by Castra Solis might be expected to be better chronicled, but it is not. Curiously, even the exact location of the covenant somewhere in the far south of the Tribunal appears to be lost. The reasons for this are discussed in Chapter 9: Val-Negra.

From the ninth century the counts of Toulouse were once again effectively independent of the distant Frankish

The troubled history of the Tribunal has left many abandoned sites and Hermetic ruins which may hold forgotten magical resources or provide sites for future covenants. As well as those listed here, nine or more other former Diedne covenant sites exist, stricken from the records in the aftermath of the Schism War by the Quaesitores. Members of the Order are forbidden to seek them out, but now few magi know where they are not supposed to look. There are several other non-Diedne covenants that fell in the Schism War and have been lost to history, though their names can be found in old books and Tribunal records.

throne. Their fortunes waxed and waned but reached their zenith with the rule of Raimond IV, count of St. Gilles and marquisate of Arelat (1093-1105). This period saw the flowering of Occitanian literature and the troubadour culture for which the region was to become famous.

The counts of Toulouse constantly warred and conspired against their great political rivals: the counts of Foix in the Pyrenees, and the Trencavel of Carcassonne and Béziers. They often clashed with the bishops of Toulouse, who share judicial powers in the city, and sometimes ineffectively with the rising power of the capitouls (See Chapter 4: Toulouse). Generally the counts sought popular support and generously granted privileges and exemptions from feudal dues. As a result, the county of Toulouse has hundreds of knights (and some ladies) holding their own castles on rocky outcrops and fighting interminable wars with their neighbors, while sometimes becoming involved in the larger struggles between the Trencavel, Foix, the king of Aragon, and counts of Toulouse.

Troubadours

Troubadours originated in Aquitaine and Gascony before spreading their tradition into Provence and later both Italy and Iberia. Early troubadours came from the nobility, but over time, troubadours sprang from every walk of life.

Troubadours write cansos, love songs, and sirventes, political songs, as well as courtly love poetry. Cansos revolve around themes of courtly love, where a noble knight expresses his devotion to another lord's wife, and yearns for her attention. She rejects his advances at first, but later grants him her favor, all according to the well understood rules of fin amors. Whether the romance was consummated carnally or not depended upon the individuals concerned, and certainly the ideal pursued a chaste, almost spiritual love, not a mere series of adulterous liaisons. (See Lords of Men, page 61).

Troubadours travel across the countryside, not as wandering entertainers, but seeking the patronage of a lord and residing for a while as a part of a court retinue when successful. Troubadours are rarer in Toulouse and Gascony since the Albigensian Crusade began; crusaders often consider the itinerant artists likely spies or Cathar sympathizers.

The troubadour tradition often encounters opposition from the Church, from irate husbands, and from those who believe it leads to moral decline. In the Provençal Tribunal, it has a vast weight of tradition and custom on its side, although the recent crusade has damaged this. Many of the roaming troubadours who spread stories and news and once enjoyed the hospitality of southern nobles have been killed in the fighting, or seen the great ladies who patronized them forced into exile or killed by the crusaders. Both sides in the conflict have their troubadours; their French counterparts are known as trouvert, but the tradition is most strongly associated with the south, and much of the poetry is composed in the Occitan tongue.

There are also many minstrels and wandering players who perform the works composed by the troubadours, and who have also suffered from the poor fortunes of their former patrons. These patrons, often the great ladies of the isolated castles, the chatelaines, were just as important as the musicians and poets. Many have developed considerable influence and power in their sponsorship of the troubadours, and the webs of intrigue they can spin through cunning use of their infatuated lovers.

It should not be assumed all troubadours are sympathetic to the heretics (who are extreme opponents of sexuality) or are male. Female troubadours called trobairitz also exist, one famous example being the Cathar-hating Gormonda de Monpeslier ("Monpeslier" is the Occitan name for Montpellier).

Notaries

An outgrowth of the remnants of Roman law, notaries appeared primarily in Narbonnais in the 1140s, drafting contracts and charters, developing concurrently with the consular governments common in communes. Notaries were first self-proclaimed, but later appointed by both secular and religious leaders as a means of creating a public office which helped develop the community through the authentication of agreements and documents which could be used in legal proceedings if needed. Their services helped stabilize communities and later notaries were prohibited from becoming clergy; those who took the tonsure gave up their membership to the notariate.

Because of disputes between Normandy and the newly-extended Provençal Tribunal, the 1129 Grand Tribunal ruled the border between Provençal and Normandy Tribunals would be defined by where the people spoke Occitan. Although initially unpopular, this distinguishing characteristic of the Tribunal has been adopted by all of the magi of the area, to solidify their claims to its vis and other magical resources. In fact, they have so embraced this legal point that many Hermetic documents are written in both Latin and Occitan, including Tribunal minutes and proclamations.

In 1197 the covenant of Windgraven, situated in the south of the County of Toulouse was destroyed by magi from Mistridge in a justly declared Wizard's War. Windgraven had long had a dark reputation, and the necromancers who lived there had few allies. The covenant consisted of a selection of squat stone towers situated on a rocky plateau in the remains of a Visigothic fortress. The Mistridge magi magically bombarded it with giant rocks, almost leveling the site, in a grim foreshadowing of their own fate a few years later.

Held at Aedes Mercurii, this Tribunal spent a whole day discussing the implications of the Church's attempts to suppress Catharism. Ultimately no firm decision was made, although Oxioun of Tytalus, leader of Aedes Mercurii, spoke at length about the need to avoid interfering in mundane affairs. Oxioun and the large bloc of Mercurian magi were content to wait out developments from their

mountain sanctuary despite the misgivings of the lowland covenants of the Toulousain, Narbonnais, and the Rhone Valley.

A few months after the Tribunal closed, the papal legate was murdered near St Gilles and Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the heretics of southern France. Shortly thereafter Protantus, the Traditionalist Chief Quaesitor, died and was replaced by the more flexible Tibaut, a Transitionalist without Mercurian affiliations. The coincidence passed unnoticed to most magi, although the deaths marked the beginning of great changes in the mundane and Hermetic politics of Provençal.