General Notes

Toulouse,medieval county of southern France from the 8th to the 13thcentury. The countship can be dated from AD 778, whenCharlemagne attempted to create bulwarks against the Muslims ofSpain. The
great dynasty, however, dates from 849, when CountFredelon, a vassal of King Pepin II of Aquitaine, deliveredToulouse to Charles II the Bald of France, who thereuponconfirmed him as count. Dying in
852, Fredelon left a heritageincluding Rouergue (around Rodez) and the Pyrenean countships ofPallars and Ribagorza as well as the Toulousain to his brotherRaymond I, who added Limousin to it; but
Septimania was thenprobably detached.Marriages and partitions changed the extent of the counts'dominion. By 1053 it included Quercy, the Albigeois (aroundAlbi), and Rouergue. Raymond IV (died 1105)
added the marquisateof Provence but pawned Rouergue. The crusaders Raymond IV andhis son Bertrand (died 1112) won the countship of Tripoli in theHoly Land; but at home the dynasty was weakened by
quarrels withthe House of Barcelona over Provence and with William IX ofAquitaine, who usurped the countship in 1098-1100 and again in1114-19. Towns such as Toulouse and vassals such as theTrencavel
viscounts of Bziers and Carcassonne becamepractically autonomous. Raymond VII (died 1249) left thecountship to his son-in-law Alphonse of Poitiers, on whose deathin 1271 it was annexed to the
French crown.Related Propaedia TopicsThe History of MankindThe Carolingian Empire and its later dissolution (c. 750-887),France in the 10th centuryCopyright (c) 1996 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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DATE 12 NOV 1997