In regno Septimanie, in comitatu et territorio biterrensi. The region of Beziers and its aristocracy from the end of the ninth century to the end of the tenth century.
In the neighborhood of Narbonne, between the counties of Carcassonne and Substantion, the Beziers region occupied an original position in the geopolitical entity of Gothie and Septimanie during the ninth and tenth centuries. In this small clearly Mediterranean land, composed of mostly fertile soil, on the path between Italy and Spain, the weight of the Gallo-Roman heritage is decisive. Archeology now better reveals the richness of its ancient domanial centers which often served as the matrix for the organization of the habitat and the land in the upper Middle Ages. This study attempts to describe this area around Beziers during the years 870-980, just before the domination by lords, when written sources open the way to a rush of names of men, places, lands and domains. Reclassifying this documentation allows one to evoke the first sketches of great aristocratic, lay, ecclesiastic and monastic patrimonies. It also leads one to reflect upon the words used to designate the city’s zone of influence and power, but also upon the men who were associated with the exercise of the power of the first Beziers viscounts.