House of Toulouse
| House of Toulouse House of Rouergue House of Saint-Gilles |
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Arms of the Count of Toulouse
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| Country | France |
| Estates | Rouergue, Toulouse, Tripoli |
| Parent house | House of Rouergue |
| Titles | |
| Founded | 849 |
| Founder | Fredelo, Count of Toulouse |
| Final ruler | Joan, Countess of Toulouse |
| Dissolution | 1271 |
| Ethnicity | Occitan, French |
| Cadet branches | Counts of Tripoli |
The House of Toulouse, sometimes called House of Saint-Gilles, is the name of the dynasty that ruled the County of Toulouse.
The county of Toulouse is a former county in southern France, the holder of which was one of six primitive lay peers.
A count of Toulouse was appointed in 778 by Charlemagne in favor of a certain Torson, following the defeat of Roncesvalles, to coordinate the defense and the fight against the Basques, and integrated into the duchy of Aquitaine, when it was created three years later: William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine, had the title of Count of Toulouse. From the death in 852 of Fredelo son of Fulcoald, count of Rouergue and Senegund of Toulouse, who was governor (custos civitas) of Toulouse, Pailhars, Rodez, and Limoges, the center of Aquitaine moves to Poitiers and Count of Rouergue, were also rulers of Toulouse.
Starting with Fulcoald of Rouergue, the County of Toulouse became hereditary. His son Fredelo becomes Count of Toulouse in 849. His brother Raymond I succeeded him in 852.
From the ninth century, the House of Toulouse was established in its fief. The elder line of the House of Rouergue became Counts of Toulouse. The functions of the Marquis of Gothia and Duke of Narbonne, which they also possessed, became empty and meaningless titles which were transmitted to the younger branch of Rouergue. At the death of the Countess Bertha of Rouergue, these titles were inherited by a scion of the senior line, Raymond, Count of Saint-Gilles, which allowed him to be an early territorial power. Pons, Count of Toulouse, father of Raymond of Saint Gilles, bequeathed all his possessions to his eldest son William, on the condition that if William were to die without a son, the properties would then pass to Raymond. Hence, when William IV died, Raymond succeeded his brother as Raymond IV of Toulouse, although the succession was claimed by Philippa, William IV's daughter, who married William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. Raymond of Saint-Gilles managed to establish the principality as a power, which he gave to his son Bertrand, after departing for the First Crusade.
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Wikipedia