Editing Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse

{{Short description|French noble (c. 1041–1105)}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name          = Raymond IV
| image = Raymond_St_Gilles.jpg
| caption = Sketch of Raymond's seal
| succession    = [[Count of Tripoli]]
| reign         =  1102 – 1105
| successor     = [[Alfonso Jordan]]
| succession1   = [[Count of Toulouse]]
| reign1        = 1094 – 1105
| predecessor1  = [[William IV, Count of Toulouse|William IV]]
| successor1    = [[Bertrand, Count of Toulouse|Bertrand]]
| regent        = 
| spouse        = Daughter of Godfrey I of Arles<br/>Matilda of Sicily<br/>[[Elvira of Castile, Countess of Toulouse|Elvira of Castile]]
| issue         = [[Bertrand, Count of Toulouse|Bertrand]]<br/>[[Alfonso Jordan]]
| house         = [[House of Toulouse]]
| house-type    =
| father        = [[Pons, Count of Toulouse|Pons of Toulouse]]
| mother        = [[Almodis de la Marche]]
| birth_date    = {{circa}} 1041
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 28 February {{death year and age|1105|1041}}
| death_place   = [[Citadel of Tripoli|Citadel]] of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]], [[County of Tripoli]]
| burial_place  = 
| religion      = [[Roman Catholic]]
| signature     =
}}
'''Raymond of Saint-Gilles''' ({{circa}} 1041 &ndash; 28 February 1105), also called '''Raymond IV of Toulouse''' or '''Raymond I of Tripoli''', was the [[count of Toulouse]], [[duke of Narbonne]], and [[margrave of Provence]] from 1094, and one of the leaders of the [[First Crusade]] from 1096 to 1099. He spent the last five years of his life establishing the [[County of Tripoli]] in the [[Near East]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911||first=Ernest|last=Barker|wstitle=Raymund of Toulouse|volume=22|pages=934-935}}</ref><ref>Bréhier, Louis (1911). "[[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Raymond IV, of Saint-Gilles|Raymond IV, of Saint-Gilles]]". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''12'''. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>{{sfn|Duncalf|1969|p=272}}

==Early years==
Raymond was a son of [[Pons of Toulouse]] and [[Almodis de La Marche]].{{sfn|Edgington|Sweetenham|2011|p=391}} He received [[Saint-Gilles, Gard|Saint-Gilles]] with the title of "count" from his father and displaced his niece [[Philippa, Countess of Toulouse|Philippa, Duchess of Aquitaine]], his brother [[William IV of Toulouse|William IV]]'s daughter, in 1094 from inheriting Toulouse.

In 1094, [[William Bertrand of Provence]] died and his margravial title to [[Provence]] passed to Raymond. A bull of Urban's dated 22 July 1096 names Raymond ''comes nimirum Tholosanorum ac Ruthenensium et marchio Provintie Raimundus'' ("Raymond, count of Toulouse and Rouergue, margrave of Provence").

==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.

==Extending his territorial reach==
Many of the minor knights and foot soldiers preferred to continue their march to [[Jerusalem]], and they convinced Raymond to lead them there in the autumn of 1098. Raymond led them out to [[Siege of Ma'arra|besiege Maarat al-Numan]], although he left a small detachment of his troops in Antioch, where Bohemond also remained. As Adhemar had died in Antioch, Raymond, along with the prestige given to him by the Holy Lance, became the new leader of the crusade. Bohemond however, expelled Raymond's detachment from Antioch in January 1099. Raymond then began to search for a city of his own. He [[March from Antioch to Jerusalem during the First Crusade|marched]] from Maarat, which had been captured in December 1098, into the emirate of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]], and began the siege of [[Arqa]] on 14 February 1099, apparently with the intent of founding an independent territory in Tripoli that could limit the power of Bohemond to expand the [[Principality of Antioch]] to the south.

The siege of Arqa, a town outside Tripoli, lasted longer than Raymond had hoped. Although he successfully captured Hisn al-Akrad, a fortress that would later become the important [[Krak des Chevaliers]], his insistence on taking Tripoli delayed the march to [[Jerusalem]], and he lost much of the support he had gained after Antioch. Raymond finally agreed to continue the march to Jerusalem on 13 May, and after [[siege of Jerusalem (1099)|months of siege]] the city was captured on 15 July. Raymond was offered the crown of the new [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], but refused, as he was reluctant to rule in the city in which Jesus had suffered. He said that he shuddered to think of being called "King of Jerusalem". It is also likely that he wished to continue the [[siege of Tripoli]] rather than remain in Jerusalem. However, he was also reluctant to give up the [[Tower of David]] in Jerusalem, which he had taken after the fall of the city, and it was only with difficulty that [[Godfrey of Bouillon]] was able to take it from him.

Raymond participated in the [[battle of Ascalon]] soon after the capture of Jerusalem, during which an invading army from [[Egypt]] was defeated. However, Raymond wanted to occupy Ascalon himself rather than give it to Godfrey, and in the resulting dispute Ascalon remained unoccupied. It was not taken by the crusaders until 1153. Godfrey also blamed him for the failure of his army to capture [[Arsuf]]. When Raymond went north, in the winter of 1099–1100, his first act was one of hostility against Bohemond, capturing [[Latakia|Laodicea]] from him (Bohemond had himself recently taken it from Alexios). From Laodicea he went to [[Constantinople]], where he allied with Alexios I, Bohemond's most powerful enemy. Bohemond was at the time attempting to expand Antioch into Byzantine territory, and blatantly refused to fulfill his oath to the [[Byzantine Empire]].

==Crusade of 1101, siege of Tripoli, and death==
[[File:Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles 2009.jpg|thumb|[[Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles|Mons Peregrinus]]]]
Raymond was part of the doomed [[Crusade of 1101]], where he was defeated at the [[Battle of Mersivan]] in [[Anatolia]]. He escaped and returned to Constantinople. In 1102, he travelled by sea from Constantinople to Antioch, where he was imprisoned by [[Tancred, Prince of Galilee|Tancred]], regent of Antioch during the captivity of Bohemond, and was only dismissed after promising not to attempt any conquests in the country between Antioch and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]]. He immediately broke his promise, attacking and capturing [[Tartus]], and began to build a castle on the [[Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles|Mons Peregrinus]] ("Pilgrim's Mountain") which would help in his [[siege of Tripoli]]. He was aided by Alexius I, who preferred a friendly state in Tripoli to balance the hostile state in Antioch.

The ''[[qadi]]'' of Tripoli, [[Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar]], led an attack on Mons Peregrinus in September 1104 and set a wing of the citadel on fire. Raymond himself managed to escape across a rooftop, but was badly burned and spent his final months in agony.{{sfn|Maalouf|1983|p=75}} He died of his injuries on February 28, 1105, before Tripoli was captured.

==Spouses and progeny==
Raymond IV of Toulouse was married three times, and twice excommunicated for marrying within forbidden degrees of [[consanguinity]]
by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 and in 1078. These excommunications were lifted in 1080, on the death of his first wife.<ref>Jean-Luc Déjean, The Counts of Toulouse (1050–1250), Fayard, 1979 (reprinted 1988) {{ISBN|2-213-02188-0}}, pp. 31–32.</ref>
 
His first wife was the daughter of [[Geoffrey I of Provence|Godfrey I, Count of Arles]]. Married in 1066, she was repudiated in 1076. Their son was [[Bertrand of Toulouse|Bertrand]].{{sfn|William of Puylaurens|2003|p=17}} 
 
His second wife was Matilda (Mafalda), the daughter of Count [[Roger I of Sicily]].{{sfn|Jansen|Drell|Andrews|2009|p=428}} Married in 1080, Mafalda died in 1094.

Raymond's third wife was [[Elvira of Castile, Countess of Toulouse|Elvira]],{{sfn|Oviedo|2000|p=88 note91}} the illegitimate daughter of King [[Alfonso VI of León]]. They married in 1094. Together they had [[Alfonso Jordan]].{{sfn|Graham-Leigh|2005|loc=table 5}}

Following Raymond's death, his nephew [[William-Jordan]] in 1109, with the aid of King [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem]], finally captured Tripoli and established the [[County of Tripoli]]. William was deposed in the same year by Raymond's eldest son Bertrand, and the county remained in the possession of the counts of Toulouse throughout the 12th century.

Raymond of Toulouse seems to have been driven both by religious and material motives. On the one hand he accepted the discovery of the Holy Lance and rejected the kingship of Jerusalem, but on the other hand he could not resist the temptation of a new territory. [[Raymond of Aguilers]], a clerk in Raymond's army, wrote an account of the crusade from Raymond's point of view.

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years |year=1969 |title=The First Crusade: Clermont to Constantinople]|url=https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?type=article&did=History.CrusOne.i0023&id=History.CrusOne&isize=M |first=Frederic |last=Duncalf |pages=253–79 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |editor-first=Marshall W. |editor-last=Baldwin }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first = Susan |editor1-last = Edgington |editor2-first=Carol |editor2-last=Sweetenham |title=The Chanson D'Antioche: An Old French Account of the First Crusade |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade |first=Elaine |last=Graham-Leigh |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2005 }}
*{{cite book |title = Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation |editor-first1=Katherine L. |editor1-last = Jansen |editor2-first=Joanna |editor2-last = Drell |editor3-first = Frances |editor3-last = Andrews |translator1-first = G.A. |translator1-last = Loud |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2009 }}
*{{cite book|title=The Crusades Through Arab Eyes|author-first=Amin|author-last=Maalouf|year=1983|publisher=JC Lattes|isbn=0-8052-0898-4}}
*{{cite book |chapter=Chapter II:Chronicon Regum Legionensium |last=Oviedo |first=Bishop Pelayo |title=The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest |translator-first1=Simon |translator-last1=Barton |translator-first2=Richard |translator-last2=Fletcher |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2000 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: The Albigensian Crusade and its Aftermath |last=William of Puylaurens |translator1-first = W.A. |translator1-last = Sibley |translator2-first = M.D. |translator2-last = Sibley |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2003 }}
{{refend}}

{{Clear}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef |before = [[William IV of Toulouse|William IV]] }}
{{s-ttl |title  = [[Count of Toulouse]] |years  = 1094–1098 }}
{{s-aft |after  = [[Philippa, Countess of Toulouse|Philippa]] }}
{{s-end}}
{{Toulouse Counts}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1040s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:1105 deaths]]
[[Category:Counts of Tripoli]]
[[Category:Counts of Toulouse]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Dukes of Narbonne]]
[[Category:Margraves of Provence]]
[[Category:Occitan nobility|Toulouse, Raymond IV of]]
[[Category:Christians of the First Crusade|Toulouse, Raymond IV of]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusade of 1101]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:French royalty and nobility with disabilities]]
[[Category:House of Rouergue]]