Raimond
VI de Toulouse 
Raymond VI was the reigning Count
of Toulouse at the time of the outbreak of the Cathar
Wars.
Raymond held his lands under the feudal system from a number of his relatives. Most of these lands were held as a vassal of the King of Aragon, but some (notably Provence) he held from the Holy Roman Emperor, some from the King of France and some from the King of England.
Raymond was not a great fighter, but he was a good diplomat, and most historians agree that he played a poor hand as well as he possibly could.
With
a suzerain like Peter
II of Aragon, allies like the Count
of Foix, loyal vassals to the East like the Viscount
of Béarn and the Count
of Comminges, relatives like the Trencavels,
loving subjects, and the secret sympathy of many of crusader
nobles, it looked as though he might beat off the combined
might of Western Christendom. But it was not to be.
Pope
Innocent III had secretly planned his humiliation from
the very first, possibly as a way to establish a precedent
for his personal dream of becoming feudal suzerain of the
whole world. Worse, the crusaders were led by Simon
de Montfort, a man of great courage, impressive military
skill, vast personal greed, and demonic abilities to be
everywhere at once.
Raymond claimed to be a good Catholic, but he was closely associated with the Cathar cause. He listened to Cathar sermons and always travelled with a Cathar Parfait in his retinue. Whether Catholic or Cathar, many of his nobles, friends, allies, relatives and supporters were undoubtedly Cathars. As Raymond pointed out at the time, no-one in his position could possibly exterminate Cathar belief as ruthlessly as Pope Innocent III required him to.
In
1215 Simon
de Montfort besieged Toulouse
and Narbonne. Raymond was obliged to negotiate with
the pontifical legates. They made him the most humiliating
propositions, that he had no option but to accept.
Stripped of his estates, he retired to England, where his
close relative King
John of England offered him sanctuary - until pressed
to expel him by the Roman Catholic Church.
Raymond attended the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), where his case was put to Pope Innocent III by the irrepressible Raymond Roger, Count of Foix. It looked as though the case was going to be accepted, but there were, according the the Song of the Cathar Wars, some irregular manoeuvrings behind the scenes. The pope, initially sympathetic, now purported to cede the estates of Raymond to Simon de Montfort, reserving for Raymond's son (the future Raymond VII) the Marquessates of Provence and Beaucaire.
Again exiled, this time in Aragon, Raymond VI reassembled his troops, and took Toulouse in 1217, defending it successfully against Simon de Montfort, who was killed on 25 June, 1218 besieging it.
Before his death Raymond VI had wrested from Amaury de Montfort nearly all the conquests of Simon de Montfort.
Raymond VI died in 1222 at a period when his lands looked safe. Excommunicated, he had already abdicated in favour of his son, Raymond VII, in order that his lands should not be forfeit - even if the novel temporal claims of the papacy were ever accepted. He died while excommunicated and thus was denied a Catholic burial, though he he had been accepted into the ranks of the Knights Hospitalers shortly before he died.
Click on the following link for more on the
House of Toulouse 
Click on the following link for more on Counts
of Toulouse
Click on the following link for more on Raymond
VI ofToulouse
Click on the following link for more about the
arms of fighters in the Cathar Wars
Click on the following link for more about Raymond-Roger
Trencavel
Click on the following link for more about Raymond
Trencavel II
Click on the following link for more on Peter
II of Aragon
Click on any of the the links on the menu below for other important figures in the Cathar Crusade.
|
Back to Peter II
