Philippa, Countess of Toulouse
| Philippa, Countess of Toulouse | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Toulouse | |
| Tenure | 1098-1101 and 1109-1114 |
| Duchess consort of Aquitaine | |
| Tenure | c. 1094–c. 1116 |
| Born | c. 1073 |
| Died | 28 November 1118 (around aged 45) Abbey of Fontevrault |
| Spouse | William IX of Aquitaine |
| Issue |
William X, Duke of Aquitaine Raymond, Prince of Antioch Agnes, Queen of Aragon |
| House | Rouergue |
| Father | William IV, Count of Toulouse |
| Mother | Emma of Mortain |
Philippa (c. 1073 – 28 November 1118) was the sovereign Countess of Toulouse, as well as the duchess consort of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William IX of Aquitaine.
Philippa was born in approximately 1073 to Count William IV of Toulouse, and his wife Emma of Mortain. She was his only surviving child, and thus, by the laws of Toulouse, his heir. In 1088, William went on a pilgrimage to Palestine, leaving his brother Raymond of Saint-Gilles as regent. (Before he left, it is claimed, he also married his daughter to the King of Aragon in order to disinherit her; however, this marriage is apocryphal, as contemporary evidence shows that Sancho was still married to his previous wife at the time of his death in 1094.)
Philippa's early life – if she was not married to Sancho Ramirez of Aragon – is something of a mystery. It is known that she did not marry William IX of Aquitaine until 1094, after the death of her father and the succession of her uncle; the circumstances in which she lived prior to her father's death, the manner of her disinheritance, and the arrangement of her marriage, are thus unknown. Those historians that argue her to have been married to Sancho Ramirez argue that her removal from Toulouse prevented her from effectively claiming her inheritance, and that with the death of Sancho, she was free to remarry based on her own choice. What is certain is that, upon the death of Count William, Philippa's claims were ignored, and Raymond became count.
When Raymond IV of Toulouse set out on the First Crusade in the autumn of 1096, he left his son Bertrand to rule the County. However, in the Spring of 1098, William and Philippa marched into the city of Toulouse, and took control without a single life being lost. In the next year, she gave birth to her first child in the city: William the Toulousain.
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