Bertrand of Toulouse (or Bertrand of Tripoli) (died 1112) was

count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse (, ) was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding county from the late 9th century until 12 ...

, and was the first

count of Tripoli The count of Tripoli was the ruler of the County of Tripoli, a crusader state from 1102 through to 1289. Of the four major crusader states in the Levant, Tripoli was created last. The history of the counts of Tripoli began with Raymond IV, Coun ...

to rule in Tripoli itself. Bertrand was the eldest son of

Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse Raymond of Saint-Gilles ( 1041 – 28 February 1105), also called Raymond IV of Toulouse or Raymond I of Tripoli, was the count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, and margrave of Provence from 1094, and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 10 ...

, and had ruled Toulouse since Raymond left on the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

in 1095. He was, between 1098 and 1100, dispossessed by his cousin Philippa, Countess of Toulouse and her husband William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, who marched into Toulouse and captured it. They mortgaged it back later to Bertrand in 1100 to fund Duke William's expedition to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. Bertrand officially became count of Toulouse when Raymond died in 1105, and in 1108 he travelled to Tripoli to take control there as well. Bertrand deposed Raymond's nephew William II Jordan as nominal count of Tripoli in 1109, and with Baldwin I of Jerusalem of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

and a fleet of Genoese ships, he captured Tripoli on 12 July. Bertrand married Helie of Burgundy, daughter of Eudes I, in June 1095. Bertrand ruled in Tripoli until his death in 1112. He was succeeded by his son Pons in the County of Tripoli, and by his brother Alfonso Jordan in the County of Toulouse - although Toulouse was at that point again lost to Philippa and William.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrand Of Toulouse 1112 deaths Counts of Tripoli Counts of Toulouse Margraves of Provence Occitan nobility 12th-century counts in Europe Year of birth unknown