Message #132459

[Rachel Dearth]

Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse

Raymond IV of Toulouse sometimes called Raymond of St Gilles (c. 1041 or 1042 – 1105) was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Margrave of Provence and one of the leaders of the First Crusade. He was a son of Pons of Toulouse and Almodis de La Marche. He received Saint-Gilles with the title of "count" from his father and succeeded his brother William IV in Toulouse in 1094.

According to an Armenian source, he had lost an eye on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before the First Crusade, but this statement probably refers to the fact that he was one-eyed (monoculus). He also fought against the Moors in Spain before 1096, and he was the first to join the crusade after Pope Urban II's sermon at the Council of Clermont.