William IV of Toulouse ( 1040 – 1094) was

Count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ru ...

Margrave of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...

, and

Duke of Narbonne The title Duke of Narbonne (''dux Narbonensis'') was a title employed at various times by the overlords of Narbonne, while the direct power in the city was held by the viscounts. The prestige of the title probable attached to the fact that Narbonn ...

from 1061 to 1094. He was the son of

Pons of Toulouse Pons (II) William (1019 – 1060) was the Count of Toulouse from 1037. He was the eldest son and successor of William III Taillefer and Emma of Provence. He thus inherited the title '' marchio Provincæ''. He is known to have owned many allods ...

and

Almodis de la Marche Almodis de la Marche ( 1020 – 16 October 1071) was a French noble. She was famed for her marriage career, in particularly for her third marriage to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, with whom she committed double bigamy in 1053, for whi ...

. He was married to Emma of Mortain, daughter of

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastin ...

, who gave him one daughter,

Philippa Philippa is a feminine given name meaning "lover of horses" or "horses' friend". Common alternative spellings include ''Filippa'' and ''Phillipa''. Less common is ''Filipa'' and even ''Philippe'' (cf. the French spelling of ''Philippa of Guelders'' ...

Life

William married twice, and produced two legitimate sons; neither, however, survived infancy, leaving daughter Philippa as his heiress. As Toulouse had no precedent of female inheritance, this raised a question with regard to succession. In 1088, when William departed for the Holy Land, he left his brother,

Raymond of Saint-Gilles Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse ( 1041 – 28 February 1105), sometimes called Raymond of Saint-Gilles or Raymond I of Tripoli, was a powerful noble in southern France and one of the leaders of the First Crusade (1096–1099). He was the Count of ...

, to govern in his stead (and, it was later claimed, to succeed him). Within five years, William was dead, and Raymond took power – although, after Philippa married

William IX of Aquitaine William IX ( oc, Guilhèm de Peitieus; ''Guilhem de Poitou'' french: Guillaume de Poitiers) (22 October 1071 – 10 February 1126), called the Troubadour, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and ...

, they laid claim to Toulouse and fought, off and on, for years to try to reclaim it from Raymond and his children. He was the great-grandfather of

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...

, by his daughter's marriage to William IX of Aquitaine, and Eleanor's descendants continued to lay claim to Toulouse based on descent from William IV.

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:William IV, Count of Toulouse 1040s births 1094 deaths Counts of Toulouse Margraves of Provence Toulouse, William IV of House of Rouergue