Raymond IV
Raymond IV,
c.1038–1105, count of Toulouse (1093–1105), leader in the First Crusade (see CrusadesCrusades, series of wars undertaken by European Christians between the 11th and 14th cent. to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. First Crusade
Origins
In the 7th cent., Jerusalem was taken by the caliph Umar.
..... Click the link for more information. ). He was also count of Saint Gilles and marquis of Provence. The first great prince to take the Cross, he was the chief planner and organizer of the expedition. He refused to follow Bohemond IBohemond I
, c.1056–1111, prince of Antioch (1099–1111), a leader in the First Crusade (see Crusades); elder son of Robert Guiscard. With his father he fought (1081–85) against the Byzantine emperor Alexius I.
..... Click the link for more information. and Godfrey of BouillonGodfrey of Bouillon
, c.1058–1100, Crusader, duke of Lower Lorraine. He fought for Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV against Pope Gregory VII and against Rudolf of Swabia and was rewarded (c.1082) with the duchy of Lower Lorraine, which he claimed through his mother.
..... Click the link for more information. in swearing fealty to the Byzantine emperor Alexius IAlexius I
(Alexius Comnenus) , 1048–1118, Byzantine emperor (1081–1118). Under the successors of his uncle, Isaac I, the empire had fallen prey to anarchy and foreign invasions.
..... Click the link for more information. , confining himself to a promise (1097) to do no injury to the emperor's life or honor. Raymond distinguished himself at the sieges of Nicaea, Antioch, and Jerusalem, but quarreled (in vain) with Bohemond over the possession of Antioch. Having refused the title king of Jerusalem, he fought at Ashkelon (1099). Unable to protect his city of Laodicea against Bohemond, he went to Constantinople to seek the aid of Alexius. Subsequently he was held prisoner by TancredTancred,
1076–1112, Crusader. He became a Crusader in 1096 with his uncle Bohemond I. After distinguishing himself at Nicaea, he struck out into Cilicia and besieged Tarsus, but was deprived of the city, after its fall, by Baldwin (Baldwin I of Jerusalem) and was forced to
..... Click the link for more information. , who was acting as regent for Bohemond. At the end of his life, with Byzantine support, he laid siege to Tripoli, which was finally formed into a county by his descendants.
Bibliography
See biography by J. H. Hill and L. L. Hill (1962).
Raymond IV
(Raimond de Saint-Gilles). Born 1041 or 1042 in Toulouse; died Feb. 28, 1105, in Tripoli. Count of Toulouse from 1093.
In 1096, Raymond led an army of knights from southern France in the First Crusade. Striving for territorial acquisitions in the East, Raymond refused to take the oath of fealty as a vassal to the Byzantine emperor, the oath that Alexius I Comnenus demanded from the Crusade leaders. In a fierce battle with another Crusade commander, Bohemund of Tarentum, for possession of Antioch (which had been conquered by the crusaders in 1098), Raymond suffered defeat. In 1102, Raymond seized Tortosa, and in 1104, Jubayl. Raymond died during a siege of Tripoli.