Count of Toulouse

Who he is

Name

Raymond VI

Title

Count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, marquis of Provence

Since

1194 (death of Raymond V, usually dated December 1194)

Born

27 October 1156, Saint-Gilles

Family

House of Toulouse. First cousin of Philip Augustus; widower of Joan of England (died 24 September 1199); father of the boy Raymond, born July 1197.

Confidence

high

See the realm record Toulouse.

Overlord

Philip II of France for the county; the duke of Aquitaine for the Agenais (and perhaps Quercy), Joan's dowry; the archbishop of Arles for Beaucaire and Argence.

What it holds

• Toulouse: the Chateau Narbonnais, the count's courts, tolls and mill rights, shared with the consulate
• The Toulousain: Verdun-sur-Garonne, Grenade, Buzet and the count's castles around the city
• The count's castles and lordships in the Lauragais, side by side with Trencavel fiefs
• Lower Quercy: Montauban (founded by Count Alfonso Jordan in 1144), Castelsarrasin, Moissac (the count's protection of the abbey and town), Lauzerte, Montcuq
• Upper Quercy: overlordship of the barons (Gourdon, Cardaillac, Castelnau and others) and of the bishop's county of Cahors
• The Agenais, Joan's dowry of 1196: Agen beside its bishop, Penne d'Agenais, Marmande, Port-Sainte-Marie and the Lot and Garonne tolls
• Nimes, with its consuls and the knights of the Arenas, held since the Trencavel gave up their viscounty of Nimes in 1185
• Beaucaire and the land of Argence (Fourques, Jonquieres, Bellegarde), held of the archbishop of Arles; the Rhone crossing to Tarascon
• Saint-Gilles: the count's rights beside the great abbey, the old title of the house

How it was acquired

Inherited from Raymond V in 1194. Montauban was founded by Alfonso Jordan in 1144. Nimes came from Bernard Aton VI Trencavel in 1185. The Agenais came as Joan's dowry in October 1196. The Quercy fought over with Richard from 1188 was settled in 1196.

Allies and rivals

Allies: his nephew Raymond Roger Trencavel (when it suits); the count of Foix; the counts of Comminges and the lords of L'Isle-Jourdain in Gascony; Peter II of Aragon since 1198; William IV of Forcalquier, whom he backed about 1199 against Alfonso of Provence. Rivals: the abbey of Saint-Gilles; the consuls of Toulouse; rebel castle lords of the Lauragais; Alfonso of Provence.

How things stand that morning

The count holds his towns and castles through his own viguiers and bayles. In the Lauragais the rising of 1199 against Countess Joan (the siege she laid to a rebel castle, usually named as Les Casses, failed when her knights went over to the defenders) has left at least one castle lord in defiance; whether it is settled by 1 January is not pinned. In the Agenais and Quercy no Angevin officer is recorded against him. Across the Garonne the Comminges hold Muret and the Gascon lords hold the left bank (Gascony researcher).

Wealth

Tolls on the Garonne, the Tarn, the Lot and the Rhone; the Beaucaire crossing and its fair (the great Magdalen fair is usually dated from 1217 and is not yet held); the mints of Toulouse and Melgueil; town rents from Toulouse, Nimes, Montauban, Moissac and Agen; woad and wine of the Toulousain and Quercy (as usually stated).

Military

The count's household and the service of his vassals; the town militias of Toulouse and Montauban; routiers in his pay. Strong places: the Chateau Narbonnais, Beaucaire, Penne d'Agenais, Montauban, Castelsarrasin. No numbers are given by the sources read.

Threats

• Defiance in the Lauragais
• Consular independence in Toulouse
• Church pressure over heresy
• The Agenais falling back under direct Angevin rule now that Joan is dead

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200, not pinnedRemarriage to the Damsel of Cyprus.Depends on: As in the realm record. Stopped by: As in the realm record.

Places of note

• Chateau Narbonnais, Toulouse: The count's castle at the south gate of the city.
• Beaucaire castle: The count's fortress over the Rhone crossing to Tarascon; birthplace of his son in 1197.
• Penne d'Agenais: The count's great castle on the Lot.
• Montauban: The counts' new town of 1144.

Where the sources disagree

• English and French Wikipedia both say Joan brought 'Quercy and the Agenais' as her dowry. Quercy had belonged to the counts of Toulouse until Richard's conquests of 1188, so the 'dowry' was in practice a restitution; whether Raymond now owes homage for Quercy to the duke of Aquitaine or only to the king is not pinned.

Evidence: The great lordships are well known; the count's direct holdings castle by castle in 1200 are not listed in the sources read, so the map parts are rough.

On the map: Rough blocks for lordship that was really a scatter of castles, towns and rights; Toulouse, Cahors, Moissac, Nimes and Saint-Gilles have their own town records.

Primary sources for Toulouse

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. Read online
• Deeds of the Counts of Barcelona, Anonymous (monks of Santa Maria de Ripoll) (first version 1162 to 1184; continued in the later 13th century; final version 1303 to 1314). The house chronicle of the counts of Barcelona.
• Documents of the French Royal Treasury of Charters, vol. 1 (755 to 1223) (755 to 1223; the archive was organised from the 1190s). The treaties and bonds the French crown kept in its own archive, printed in date order. Read online
• The Great Book of Fiefs, Various; compiled by Ramon de Caldes for Alfonso II of Aragon (compiled 1192 to 1194). The register of the count-king's feudal rights, finished a few years before 1200 and in use at Peter II's court: some 900 charters of homage, convention, oath, sale and marriage arranged by county and lineage, covering Catalonia, Roussillon, Cerdanya, Pallars, Urgell, the Carcassonne and Beziers lands of the Trencavels, Provence and Aragon.