The counts of Toulouse, First Crusade leaders whose branch founded and ruled the County of Tripoli.
The counts of Toulouse ruled a vast territory in Languedoc and were among the most powerful lords of southern France. Raymond IV, called Raymond of Saint-Gilles, was the wealthiest and most senior of the leaders of the First Crusade in 1096, and expected to take a leading role in the conquered Holy Land.
Passed over for the crown of Jerusalem, he turned instead to the Syrian coast, beginning the siege of Tripoli that his family would complete.
Raymond IV died in 1105 before Tripoli fell, but his relatives finished the conquest in 1109, founding the County of Tripoli — the last of the four crusader states. His descendants ruled it as a fief loosely tied to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The most notable was Raymond III, a shrewd and experienced statesman who served as regent of Jerusalem and warned, in vain, against the reckless campaign that ended at Hattin in 1187.
The Toulouse line gave the crusader world one of its founding leaders and one of its most durable states. Raymond III’s death in the aftermath of Hattin effectively ended the direct line’s rule in the East, and Tripoli passed to the counts of Antioch.
In France, the counts of Toulouse remained a great power until the Albigensian Crusade of the thirteenth century broke their independence and drew Languedoc into the French crown.