Editing Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (section)

==The First Crusade==
{{See also|Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Apamea}}

[[File:Map of First Crusade.png|thumb|left|The routes of the First Crusade leaders.]]
[[File:Raymond IV of Toulouse.jpg|thumb|19th-century depiction of Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse by [[Merry-Joseph Blondel]]. Raymond was one of the leaders of the [[First Crusade]].]]
[[Image:Adhemar of Le Puy.png|thumb|right|200px|19th-century painting on display at [[Versailles, Yvelines|Versailles]] depicting Raymond IV along with [[Adhemar of Le Puy]]]] 
Raymond was deeply religious, and wished to die in the Holy Land, and so when the call was raised for the [[First Crusade]], he was one of the first to take the cross. He is sometimes called "the one-eyed" (''monoculus'' in Latin) after a rumour that he had lost an eye in a scuffle with the doorkeeper of the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] during an earlier pilgrimage to Jerusalem.{{sfn|Duncalf|1969|p=272}} The oldest and the richest of the crusaders, Raymond left Toulouse at the end of October 1096, with a [[Army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles|large army and company]] that included his wife [[Elvira of Castile, Countess of Toulouse|Elvira of Castile]], his infant son (who would die on the journey) and [[Adhemar of Le Puy|Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy]], the [[papal legate]]. He ignored requests by his niece, Philippa (the rightful heiress to Toulouse) to grant the rule of Toulouse to her in his stead; instead, he left Bertrand, his eldest son, to govern.

According to [[Raymond of Aguilers]]'s ''[[Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem]]'', after Raymond's forces took the route through the Alps and Northern Italy,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ilieva |first1=Annetta |last2=Delev |first2=Mitko |date=1998 |chapter=Sclavonia and Beyond: The Gate to a Different World in the Perception of Crusaders (c. 1104-c. 1208) |editor=[[Alan V. Murray]] |title=From Clermont to Jerusalem: The Crusades and Crusader Societies 1095-1500 |location=Turnhout |publisher=Brepols |page=153–171 |doi=10.1484/M.IMR-EB.3.4786 |isbn=978-2-503-50667-8}}</ref> they reached ''Sclavonia'' ([[Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)|Kingdom of Croatia]]) in winter of 1096. Described in biblical terms, for some 40 days passed through the mountains, forests and fog without trade and guide from native population who also attacked army's rear (at the time was a succession crisis in Croatia<ref name="Budak">{{cite book |last=Budak |first=Neven |author-link=Neven Budak |date=2022 |chapter=Crusades and Crusading in High Medieval Dalmatia and Croatia - Failed, Abused, Imaginery |editor=Kersken, Norbert; Srodecki, Paul |title=The Expansion of the Faith: Crusading on the Frontiers of Latin Christendom in the High Middle Ages |chapter-url= |publisher=Turnhout: Brepols |page=93 |isbn=978-2-503-58880-3 |doi=10.1484/M.OUTREMER-EB.5.127515}}</ref>).<ref name="Hill1968">{{cite book |author=Raymond of Aguilers |translator=John Hugh Hill, Laurita I. Hill |date=1968 |title=Historia Francorum Qui Ceperunt Iherusalem |url=https://archive.org/details/raymond-of-aguilers/page/n1/mode/2up?q=sclavonia |location=Philadelphia |publisher=American Philosophical Society |page=16–18 |access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref> To discourage their attacks, he ordered mutilation of six captive Slavs,<ref name="Hill1968"/> and [[Peter Tudebode]] in ''Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere'' wrote that Raymond "lost many noble knights while passing through ''Sclavonia''".<ref name="Budak"/>

After "strenuous passage across Sclavonia", they entered [[Shkodër]] the capital of the kingdom of [[Duklja]] where Raymond "affirmed brotherhood and bestowed many gifts upon the king of the Slavs" ([[Constantine Bodin]]), but once again were attacked by the Slavs.<ref name="Hill1968"/> Then they marched to [[Durrës|Dyrrhachium]],<ref name="Hill1968"/> and then east to [[Constantinople]] along the same route used by [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond of Taranto]]. Along the route they confronted [[Pecheneg]] and Byzantine mercenaries, capturing cities of Roussa and [[Tekirdağ|Rodosto]].<ref name="Hill1968"/>

At the end of April 1097, he was the only crusade leader not to swear an oath of fealty to [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Alexios I Komnenos]]. Instead, Raymond swore an oath of friendship, and offered his support against Bohemond, mutual enemy of both Raymond and Alexios.

He was present at the [[siege of Nicaea]] and the [[Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)|Battle of Dorylaeum]] in 1097, but his first major role came in October 1097 at the [[siege of Antioch]].{{sfn|Edgington|Sweetenham|2011|p=391}} The crusaders heard a rumour that [[Antioch]] had been deserted by the [[Seljuk Turks]], so Raymond sent his army ahead to occupy it, offending Bohemond of Taranto who wanted the city for himself. The city was, however, still occupied, and was taken by the crusaders only after a difficult siege in June 1098. Raymond took the ''palatium Cassiani'' (the palace of emir [[Yaghi-Siyan]]) and the tower over the Bridge Gate. He was ill during the second siege of Antioch by [[Kerbogha]] which culminated in a controversial rediscovery of the [[Holy Lance]] by a [[monk]] named [[Peter Bartholomew]].

The "miracle" raised the morale of the crusaders, and to their surprise they were able to rout Kerbogha outside Antioch.  The Lance itself became a valuable relic among Raymond's followers, despite Adhemar of Le Puy's skepticism and Bohemond's disbelief and occasional mockery. Raymond also refused to relinquish his control of the city to Bohemond, reminding Bohemond that he was obligated to return Antioch to the court of Emperor Alexios, as he had sworn to do. A struggle then arose between Raymond's supporters and the supporters of Bohemond, partly over the genuineness of the Lance, but mostly over the possession of Antioch.