Raimond
de Trencavel II) 
At
the time of the suspicious death of his twenty-four year
old father, Raimond Trencavel was still an infant. Although
he was not guilty of heresy or anything else he was deprived
of his patrimony and contrary to all feudal law his titles
and lands were awarded to Simon
de Montfort.
Raymond sought exile in Aragon, returning during the course of the later Cathar Wars in attempts to reclaim his rightful lands and titles. The most notable attempt occurred in 1240. he led a revolt with his loyal vassals, fellow faidits, Catalan and Aragonese troops, and fellow Occitan nobles in liberating Limoux, Alet, Montreal, and other towns. Then he tackled his late father's strongest fortress, Carcassonne, now in the hands of the French invaders. On 17th September 1240 an offensive was launched reinforced with mines and catapults with the support of the inhabitants of the Carcassonne suburbs of Saint-Michel and Saint-Vincent. The defense led by Guillaume des Ormes leading Louis IX's royal troops, drove Raymond back on October 12. The offensive had failed after a month. Raymond was then himself besieged at Montreal. Raymond VII of Toulouse stayed neutral and mediated a truce under which his cousin Raymond Trencavel returned to Aragon. Towns that had supported their dispossessed lord were treated with the customary brutality.
Raymond
was forced to renounce his rights to his four Viscounties
in 1246. A year later he smashed his seal as a sign of submission
to Louis IX, the King of France. Breaking a ruler's seal
was something that normally happened only on the death of
its owner. Raymond's vassals, like the Lord of Termes,
were released from their feudal allegiance and the family
of Trencavel was destined to disappear from history, another
victim of the rapacious aggression of the French Catholic
crusaders.
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