Countess Douce of Gévaudan I of Provence

  General Notes:

In 1112, she inherited the county of Provence through her mother.

In 1113, Douce ceded her rights in Provence, Gévaudan, and the viscounty of Millau to her husband. According to a once prevailing opinion, "Provençal troubadours ... entered Catalonia at the time" and even the Catalan language was imported from Provence. According to nationalist historians it was the beginning of l'engrandiment occitànic (the Occitan aggrandisement): a great scheme to unite various lands on both sides of the Pyrenees.

In reality the marriage gave the House of Barcelona extensive interests in Occitania and put it in conflict with the Counts of Toulouse, with whom a partition of Provence was signed in 1125, shortly before Douce's death. Her death inaugurated a period of instability in Provence. A cadet branch of the House of Barcelona was set up to rule, but a disputed succession opened up the Baussenque Wars (1144\endash 1162), which terminated in Provençal victory. Douce and Ramon Berenguer's descendants continued to rule Provence until the death of Beatrice of Provence in 1267.

Douce married Count Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona, the Great, son of Count Ramon Berenguer II of Barcelona and Mahalta of Apulia, in 1112. (Count Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona, the Great was born in 1082 and died in 1131.)