Bertrand (Count of Toulouse)

Board in Toulouse

In 1096, Raimund IV of Toulouse went to war with the Muslims in the East, leaving Bertrand to manage family possessions in Toulouse . Bertrand's reign proved unsuccessful. In 1098, he made his first mistake by reducing the privileges of the Basilica of Saint-Jernin , and after her refusal to surrender, set fire to it.

He also constantly had to repel the raids of Guillaume XI , the Duke of Aquitaine , husband of Philippe, daughter of Guillaume IV , Count of Toulouse , who was uncle Bertrand and was the predecessor of his brother Raimund de Saint-Gilles . The latter, at that time in Antioch , learning about the failures of his son, called on the local nobility of Toulouse to defend the rights of the Toulouse house .

Tired of the constant raids of Guillaume IX, Bertrand ceded to him the governorship in the county of Toulouse due to the fact that in 1101 he himself went to his father in the Holy Land . He carefully prepared his campaign and took with him his wife Helene of Burgundy and son Pons . His squad reached thousands of people.

After the death of his father in 1105, Bertrand inherited the county of Toulouse from him, but he was never there and did not rule as a count. Wife of Raimund IV Elvira of Castile with her young son Alfons Jordan , who was the alleged heir to Bertrand in Toulouse, returned to their homeland in 1108 . Meanwhile, in the same year, Bertrand reached the county of Tripoli.

Count of Tripoli

Passing through Byzantium , Bertrand swore an oath to Alexei I , the Emperor of Byzantium , who enlisted his support to capture Antioch from Tancred of Tarento . In 1108, Bertrand reached the goal of his campaign - the county of Tripoli.

In 1109, Bertrand removed his relative Guillaume Jordan , the nominal Earl of Tripoli, who illegally seized the throne, and on June 10, with the help of Baldwin I , King of Jerusalem , and the Genoese fleet, took Tripoli to forty galleys . Bertrand was still in danger of the union of Tancred and Guillaume Jordan, who had earlier recognized himself as his vassal. However, in 1109, Guillaume died, which strengthened the throne of Bertrand.

After that, he swore allegiance to another Byzantine emperor, Manuel I , the grandson of Alexei I. He teamed up with him and Baldwin I against Tancred , but soon died, before he had time to take any action. He died on April 21, 1112 , passing Toulouse to his brother Alphonse Jordan ^[1] , and the county of Tripoli to his son Pons .

1. Wife: Unknown

2. Wife (from 1095 ): Helene (c. 1080 - February 28, 1141 ), daughter of Ed I , Duke of Burgundy :

• Pons (circa 1098 - executed 1137 , Tripoli ), Count of Tripoli

• Lewis, Archibald R. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718-1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965. (English)
• Dom Claude Devic, dom Joseph Vaissète, Histoire générale de Languedoc, avec des notes et des pièces justificatives, Paris, 1730. (fr.)
• Jean-Luc Déjean, Les comtes de Toulouse (1050-1250), 1979 (French)
• René Grousset, L'Empire du Levant: Histoire de la Question d'Orient, Payot, coll. "Bibliothèque historique", Paris, 1949 (réimpr. 1979), 648 p. (fr.)

• Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: TOULOUSE
• Généalogie: les Comtes de Toulouse (Fr.)