County of Toulouse

Who rules

Name

Raymond VI (Raimon VI)

Title

Count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, marquis of Provence, count of Melgueil

Since

1194, on the death of his father Raymond V (usually dated December 1194, at Nimes)

Born

27 October 1156 at Saint-Gilles; 43 on 1 January 1200

Family

House of Toulouse, called Saint-Gilles. Son of Raymond V and Constance of France, sister of Louis VII, so a first cousin of Philip Augustus. Brother of Baldwin (born 1165, brought up in France, in the south since 1194) and of Adelaide (Azalais), widow of Roger II Trencavel and mother of the young viscount Raymond Roger. Brother-in-law of the late Richard I and of John through his fourth wife, Joan of England.

Confidence

high

Birth and the Rouen marriage of October 1196 from English Wikipedia; Joan's death on 24 September 1199 from French Wikipedia (English Wikipedia's text says 4 September). The marriage to the Damsel of Cyprus is dated '1199 or 1200' by the Wikipedia article on her (after Rudt de Collenberg, 1968) and '1200' by the articles on Raymond. Ruled here: a widower on 1 January 1200, with the Cyprus marriage as the likely course of early 1200.

Overlord

Philip II of France for Toulouse, Quercy, the Albigeois and the lands of the old march of Gothia; the Emperor for the Marquisate of Provence (the Venaissin); the duke of Aquitaine for the Agenais, which came as Joan's dowry; the pope for the county of Melgueil, a papal fief since 1085; the archbishop of Arles for Beaucaire and the land of Argence.

What the realm holds

• Toulouse: the count's castle (the Chateau Narbonnais) and his rights in the city and bourg, shared with a strong consulate
• The Toulousain and the Lauragais (in part; many Lauragais castles hold of the Trencavel)
• Quercy, with Montauban, Moissac (as lay abbot and protector of the abbey) and Castelsarrasin; the bishop of Cahors is lord of Cahors
• The Agenais, Joan's dowry of 1196, held of the duke of Aquitaine
• Overlordship of the Rouergue (the count of Rodez) and of the Albigeois (the Trencavel viscount)
• Nimes, taken over from the Trencavel viscount in 1185, with its consuls and the Arenas knights
• Beaucaire and the land of Argence, held of the archbishop of Arles
• Saint-Gilles, where he is advocate and rival of the great abbey
• The county of Melgueil with its mint (Mauguio), a papal fief
• The Marquisate of Provence: the Venaissin between the Rhone, the Durance and the Ouveze, with rights over the lords north to the Drome
• Claims to overlordship of Narbonne as duke of Narbonne

Military

The count's household knights and the service of his vassals; the consular militia of Toulouse, which in these years fights its own wars against neighbouring castle lords; and paid companies of routiers, which Raymond is accused of using. No numbers are given by the sources read.

Threats

• Rome and the legates, over the protection his vassals and towns give the Cathars
• The independence of the consuls of Toulouse
• Rebellious castle lords of the Lauragais, who rose against Joan in 1199
• The future of the Agenais now that Joan is dead and John rules the Angevin lands
• Aragonese influence over the Trencavel, Foix and Montpellier
• The Lower Rhone: the abbey of Saint-Gilles, the archbishop of Arles and the Provencal house of Barcelona

Consort

None on the morning of 1 January 1200. His fourth wife, Joan of England, sister of Richard I and John, died in childbirth on 24 September 1199 after fleeing to her family in the north; she is buried at Fontevraud. His next marriage, to the Damsel of Cyprus (a daughter of Isaac Comnenus, the deposed lord of Cyprus, who had lived in Joan's household since 1191), is dated 1199 or 1200 and is treated here as not yet made. It ends by late 1202, and Raymond marries Eleanor of Aragon, Peter II's sister, in 1204.

Heirs

Raymond (the future Raymond VII), son of Joan, born in July 1197 at Beaucaire: two years old and the undisputed heir. A daughter, Joan (Jeanne), born 1198, is given to Joan of England by one source only (the obituary of the abbey of Vaissy). A son, Richard, born as Joan died in September 1199, lived only long enough to be baptised. An elder daughter, Constance, born about 1180 to his second wife Beatrice of Beziers, was married to Sancho VII of Navarre (usually dated 1195), who repudiates her (the end of the marriage is usually dated 1200, not pinned); she then marries Peter Bermond of Sauve, a match dated 'shortly before 1200', 'about 1200' or 'about 1208' by different genealogies (French Wikipedia, Maison d'Anduze).

Natural children: Bertrand, Guillemette and Raymonde.

Court in 1200

Not pinned for 1 January 1200. Raymond spent part of 1199 east of the Rhone settling a quarrel in Provence, which is when the Lauragais rising against Joan broke out. His usual seats are the Chateau Narbonnais at Toulouse, Beaucaire, Saint-Gilles and Nimes.

Officers in 1200

• Seneschal, constable and chancellor of the count on 1 January 1200: not pinned in the sources read. The count governs through viguiers (vicars) and bayles (bailiffs) in his towns and castles.
• Hugh of Alfaro (Hugues d'Alfaro), a Navarrese knight who married the count's natural daughter Guillemette, is later the count's seneschal in the Agenais and his captain at Penne d'Agenais in 1212; his office on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
• The Sabran of the Uzege held the hereditary constableship of the counts of Toulouse in the twelfth century (Southeast researcher's record); who exercised it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Treaties in 1200

• The settlement of 1196 with Richard I: Raymond married Joan of England at Rouen in October 1196, ending the Angevin war over Toulouse that Henry II and Richard had waged since 1159, and Joan brought Quercy and the Agenais as her dowry (English and French Wikipedia). For the Agenais Raymond answers to the duke of Aquitaine; for Quercy, restored to him after Richard's conquests of 1188, whether he owes homage to Aquitaine or only to the king is not pinned. Richard is dead (6 April 1199) and Joan is dead (24 September 1199): the alliance now rests on John, Eleanor and the boy Raymond, Joan's son.
• Peace with Aragon: after the long war of the two houses over Provence and the Trencavel lands, Raymond VI was at Peter II's court at Perpignan in February 1198 (Iberia map). A marriage between Raymond and Peter's sister Eleanor is talked of during 1200 (Gran Enciclopedia Catalana) and made in 1204.
• Homage to Philip Augustus for the county: due and not in dispute, though the date of Raymond VI's own homage is not pinned.

Church in 1200

Raymond was excommunicated in 1196 over a quarrel with the abbey of Saint-Gilles about its revenues, and absolved in 1198 under Innocent III. Since 1198 the Cistercian legates Rainier and Guy have worked in Languedoc against heresy (campaign notes); Innocent's decretal Vergentis in senium (25 March 1199) makes heresy a kind of treason, with confiscation of heretics' goods. The archbishop of Narbonne, Berengar, Peter II's uncle, is an absentee whom the legates blame.

The bishops of Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and Beziers are weak, and the Cathars keep their own bishops beside them (campaign notes). The Ingeborg interdict decreed at Dijon in December 1199 falls on Philip's own lands: it does not touch the county of Toulouse, which is a great fief and not the king's demesne.

Relations

France

Vassal and first cousin of Philip Augustus. Philip is far away and busy with John; he has no officers in the county.

Angevin

Brother-in-law of the late Richard I and of John; father of John's nephew. Holds the Agenais, and perhaps Quercy, of the duke of Aquitaine (Eleanor, with John as her heir) as Joan's dowry. The Angevin claim to Toulouse, pressed by Henry II and Richard from 1159 to 1196, is in abeyance since the 1196 marriage.

Aragon

Peace with Peter II after a century of rivalry; the Trencavel hold Carcassonne and Razes of Aragon, and Peter's brother Alfonso holds Provence. A marriage alliance is under way.

Trencavel

Raymond's nephew, Raymond Roger Trencavel (born 1185), holds Beziers and Albi of him and Carcassonne and Razes of Aragon.

Rome

Absolved in 1198; under watch for heresy in his lands. Legates in the field.

Coinage

The count strikes the money of Toulouse (the deniers called raymondins or tolzas) and, as count of Melgueil, owns the mint of the melgorien denier, the commonest coin of Lower Languedoc. Cahors and Albi have their own moneys under their bishops and lords (not detailed here).

Family note

Sister Adelaide (born about 1158), widow of Roger II Trencavel, now at Carcassonne beside her son; brother Baldwin (born 1165), raised in the north, in the south since 1194 and given little.

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. Mid-January 1200The interdict on Philip's lands is proclaimed from Vienne. It does not cover Raymond's county.Depends on: The legate Peter Capuano's decree at Dijon (campaign notes). Stopped by: Philip's submission before publication.
2. 1200, month not pinned (some say 1199)Raymond marries the Damsel of Cyprus, daughter of Isaac Comnenus.Depends on: Raymond wanting a new wife quickly and the Damsel being free after Joan's death. Stopped by: Another match (Aragon), or the Damsel's kin or the Angevins objecting.
3. 22 May 1200Treaty of Le Goulet between Philip and John. Toulouse is not a party, but John's recognition as Richard's heir settles who is duke over the Agenais after Eleanor.Depends on: Philip and John both willing to settle (campaign notes). Stopped by: A renewed war in the north.
4. Usually dated 1200 (not pinned)Sancho VII of Navarre, away in Almohad lands, repudiates Raymond's daughter Constance; she returns to her father's orbit and marries Peter Bermond of Sauve (date not pinned).Depends on: Sancho's absence in Almohad lands and the failure of the match. Stopped by: Sancho's return and a reconciliation.
5. 1200 to 1202Talks for a marriage with Eleanor of Aragon, sister of Peter II (Gran Enciclopedia Catalana puts the agreement in 1200; the wedding is usually dated 1204).Depends on: The Aragonese alliance holding. Stopped by: The Cyprus marriage lasting, or a breach with Aragon.
6. 1200, month not pinnedDeath of Raymond's sister Adelaide, mother of the young Trencavel viscount and his partner in government at Carcassonne (French Wikipedia, Adelaide de Toulouse).Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Play.

Where the sources disagree

• Joan's death: 24 September 1199 (French Wikipedia, Wikipedia on the Damsel of Cyprus), 4 September 1199 (English Wikipedia on Raymond VI). Followed 24 September.
• Raymond's wives: French Wikipedia has Beatrice of Beziers repudiated in 1193 and lists a marriage to Bourgogne de Lusignan; English Wikipedia says current scholarship holds that he never married Bourgogne. Not settled here; either way neither woman is his wife in 1200.
• The Cyprus marriage: '1199 or 1200' (Wikipedia, Damsel of Cyprus); '1200' (French and English Wikipedia on Raymond VI). The Iberia map has the Aragonese marriage 'agreed during 1200' (Gran Enciclopedia Catalana); both cannot be firm the same year. Ruled: widower on 1 January.
• Joan was buried first in Rouen cathedral and moved to Fontevraud at her mother's wish (English Wikipedia, Joan of England); the brief's 'buried at Fontevraud' is the final resting place.

Evidence: Thick for the count's family and marriages; fair for the settlement of 1196 and the Church; thin for his officers and his court that winter.

On the map: The realm is drawn from the count's own record, his vassals and towns, and the anchors. Its edges with Aquitaine (Agenais, Quercy), the Rouergue and the Trencavel lands are lordship over castles, not lines.

Primary sources for this realm

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.