Bello of Carcassonne
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Carcassonne
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Bello was Count of Carcassonne from 790 to 810, appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne. He established a hereditary dynasty: whereas previously the Emperors had appointed whoever they wished, from Bello on they appointed his family heirs.
The County of Carcassonne was part of the Visigothic Kingdom which stretched along the Mediterranean coast from around Marseilles to south of Barcelona.
As we shall see later, Bello's descendants eventually became rulers of Barcelona. But for centuries the family maintained its interest in this whole region of South-west France and North-eastern Spain, straddling the Pyrenees mountains.
As the photo shows us, the medieval fortress of Carcassonne is still one of the features of the city, and a great tourist attraction. And it is the centre of the Rugby-playing regions of France!
The Visigoths were a tribe of people from what is now Roumania, who invaded the southern parts of Western Europe at the end of the Roman Empire and took over from the Romans as they withdrew their forces from the region described above.
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The entrance to Carcassonne medieval city
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