Background
Raymond Berengar was the fifth son of Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary. He was born in Provence during a brief return of his father to take command of a fleet there.
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Raymond Berengar
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His homeland is evidenced in his Provençal name and the name of his nurse, Adelasia of Aix-en-Provence. He was known to have been born after Robert and no document of the time places him in Naples for many more years. Consequently, he spent his childhood under the guardianship of William de Manoir in the cities of Aix, Sisteron, Street Victor, near Marseilles, and Baryols.
He was ill at the time and did not get sent to Catalonia until the next year (23 February 1289).
The three princes were treated with the honour due their status and they carried an entourage of a hundred young noblemen. Raymond invited Pierre de Jean-Olieu to visit him in prison, but received only a letter of consolation.
The brothers were finally released on 7 June 1295 in accordance with the stipulations of the Treaty of Anagni. Upon his release, he travelled to Naples and visited the Castel dell"Ovo.
In December 1300, Raymond received the honours of Monte Sant"Angelo, Capaccio, Eboli, Isernia, Atri and Vieste, and Altamura, the counties of Gravina and Andria, and the castellanies of Vairano, Lesina, and Terra di Muro.
In 1302, he lost Gravina. On 13 December 1304, he was invested with the Countship of Piedmont. Piedmont appears as his brother"s in 1307, so his possession of this fief was probably theoretical and not actual.
A little later he was created Vicar General of the Regno and in August 1305 grand seneschal.
Raymond Berengar"s participation in the politics of the Regno was limited. He fought the Aragonese in Sicily in 1301 and did initiate a grant of land near Gravina to the Knights Templar.
This time it was Sancha, daughter of James II of Majorca.
