Raymond VI
Raymond VI
Count of Toulouse, b. 1156; d. 1222; succeeded his father, Raymond
V, in 1195. He was a debauched and sceptical prince, who successively
put away three wives, taking as his fourth Jeanne, sister of Richard
Coeur de Lion. Loaded with all the benefits of the Church, he showed
the greatest benevolence to the heretical Cathares or Albigenses, whom
his father had persecuted, refused to molest them, even allowing them
to preach before him, and perhaps allied himself with their sect. His
court was dissolute, and he took no notice of the reproof of the legate
of Innocent III, Pierre de Castelnau, who finally excommunicated him in
1207. But shortly after, an equerry of the count having treasonably
killed de Castelnau, Raymond was immediately deposed by the pope.
Raymond, frightened into submission, expelled the heretics from his
dominions, and on 18 June, 1209, in the presence of the pontifical
legate, did public penance before the Church of St-Gilles. When the
crusaders, assembled in the north of France, invaded Languedoc, Raymond
took part in the Crusade and assisted at the sieges of Beziers and
Carcassone in 1209. Returning to Toulouse, Raymond tried to elude his
obligations and was excommunicated by the Council of Avignon. He then
went to Rome to clear himself of the murder of de Castelnau, and was
received by Innocent III, but on his return found his estates entirely
overrun by Simon de Montfort. In 1212 he held only Toulouse and
Montauban. His brother-in-law, Peter, King of Aragon, came to his
rescue, but was killed at the battle of Murat in 1213. In 1215 Simon de
Montfort besieged Toulouse and Narbonne. Instead of organizing
resistance, Raymond had negotiated with the pontifical legates, who
made him the most humiliating propositions. Deprived of his estates, he
retired to England, later appearing at the Lateran Council (1215),
where he sought to interest Innocent III in his favour. The pope,
however, ceded the estates of Raymond to Simon de Montfort, reserving
for his son only the Marquessates of Provence and Beaucaire. An exile
in Aragon, Raymond VI reassembled his troops, and took Toulouse (7
November, 1217), later defending it successfully against Simon de
Montfort, who was killed 25 June, 1218. Before his death Raymond VI had
wrested from Amaury de Montfort nearly all the conquests of his
father.