Raymond VI of Toulouse

Raymond VI (VIII) of Toulouse (Saint-Gilles (Gard), October 27th 1156 - Toulouse, August 2nd 1222) was count de Melgueil ( Raymond IV ) of 1173 with 1190 then count de Toulouse and marquis de Provence of 1194 at 1222.

According to the traditional genealogy of the counts de Toulouse made by the Benedictines in the General History of the Languedoc, it would be Raymond VI , but critical studies established that two counts of the first name of Raymond had been omitted. He would be thus Raymond (VIII)

Wire of Raymond V and Constancy of France, sister of the king Louis VII, it succeeds her father in 1194.

Context

Raymond VI is a prince more political than quarrelsome. He shows out of religious matter a tolerance which plank indifference, although he says good catholic. Cultivated, it counts among his friends number of Troubadour S.

By its marriage with Jeanne of England, it increases its fields of the Resident of Agen and Quercy.

Its principal vassal is in addition to the Trencavel, the count d' Armagnac, the count de Comminges, the count de Foix and the Viscounts of Montpellier, Nimes, Greze, Rodez and Millau. However the feudal bond is slackened much more than at the capétiens, and individualism and the insubordination are often the rule. Vassal theoretical of king de France, it must be wary of the ambitions of the duke of Aquitaine (also king d' Angleterre) and of the King d' Aragon.

Biography

At once with the businesses, it restores peace with the Aragon and Raymond-Roger Trencavel. He marries in third weddings Jeanne of England to Rouen in October 1196.

In Toulouse, it maintains freedoms communal, multiplies the tax exemptions and extends the Sauveté to all the communal territory.

But Raymond VI is suspected of a culprit indulgence with respect to the heresy cathare. Since 1203, a monk cistérien, Pierre de Castelnau were sent by the pope Innocent III to fight against the heresy in the South of France. Raymond VI refuses to collaborate with the Légat. This last excommunicates it and thrown the interdict on the county. The assassination of Castelnau, on January 15th 1208, by a rider of the count, causes the ire of the pope who confirms excommunication against Raymond VI shown to be at the very least the instigator of the crime. Innocent III lance then a call to the crusade near Philippe-Auguste, theoretical suzerain of the count de Toulouse, but the king of France will conceal himself. Raymond VI obtains to be raised about it by publicly humiliating with Saint-Gilles (Gard), on June 18th 1209, in front of the projection of the crossed army, directed by Arnaud Amaury, abbot of Cîteaux and Légat of the pope.

Consequently, Raymond VI accompanies the crusade, more in observer that as a combatant, thus compromising itself with the eyes of its own camp After the successes gained by the crusaders (taken and massacres Béziers, seat and catch of Carcassonne and died of Raymond-Roger Trencavel), the crusade directed since August 1209 by Simon IV of Montfort makes weigh a threat on its person and her stronghold. It tries to get along with Monfort, but it meets the constant hostility of the papal legates. He also seeks supports it of Pierre II king d' Aragon. In January 1210, he undertakes a long voyage to defend his position near Philippe-Auguste, of Innocent III and the emperor Othon IV, his suzerain for the marquisat of Provence. Again excommunicated in 1211 by the council of Montpellier, sentence confirmed in April 1211 by the pope, it tries to organize resistance against the crusaders. But it cannot dislodge Simon IV of Monfort locked up in Castelnaudary.

January 27th 1213, Raymond VI pays homage to Pierre II of Aragon. The two men and the count de Foix invest in September 1213 Muret. September 12th, the crusaders of Simon de Montfort, more disciplined, crush united. Pierre II, hero of Las Navas de Tolosa is killed in the battle. Raymond VI, moreover ridges some with the bishop Foulques of Marseilles cannot then avoid the conquest of Toulouse by Simon IV of Montfort and exiles themselves at the court of England.

February 17th 1214, on its orders, his/her brother Baudouin of Toulouse, having taken part in Muret at the sides of the crusaders, is removed from his castle of Lolmie and is hung like traitor. In November 1215 Raymond is in Rome, where the IVe council of Lateran debate of the fate of its county. It is deposed of its rights to the profit of Simon de Monfort, but the pope preserves the marquisat of Provence to the profit of his son, the future Raymond VII.

In May 1216 the father and the son are accommodated triumphantly with Marseilles and Avignon. While Raymond VI goes in Aragon, the Raymond young person, more undertaking that his father puts the seat in front of Beaucaire which it takes on August 24th. September [[1217], it takes again Toulouse where Simon IV of Montfort puts the seat immediately. This last is killed there but his/her son Amaury takes his succession. Returned in Toulouse, Raymond VI dies there of the continuations of a short disease in August 1222.

The failure of the “crusade” of Louis VIII in 1226 will make it possible Raymond VII to recover most of its county.

Marriage

Raymond VI married successively:

Ermessinde de Pelet
Beatrice de Béziers
Bourguigne of Cyprus
Jeanne of England (1165-1199), girl of Henri II Plantagenêt of which it had a son and successor Raymond VII
Eléonore d' Aragon

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