The Count Who Ran Away

Imaginary portrait of Raymond IV of Toulouse, by Merry-

Joseph Blondel, 1840s, Salles de Croisades, Versailles.

          Raymond IV of Toulouse, also called Raymond Saint-Gilles, was one of the first to respond to the call of Pope Urban to travel to Jerusalem to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. He was born in 1041 or 1042 and was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Margrave of Provence. He was the oldest and richest of the leaders of the First Crusade, for which he left in 1096.
          When rumors spread that the city of Antioch was deserted by the Seljuk Turks Raymond took his own army to occupy it. This infuriated Bohemond of Taranto, the official leader of the crusade who had wanted it for himself. It turned out the Turks still occupied the city, however, and only after a long siege could the Crusaders take it. It was 1098, and soon thereafter Raymond became ill and was unable to fight when the Turks laid their own siege to the city. It was during this period that a monk named Bartholomew had a vision of the lance that had been used by a Roman soldier to pierce Jesus Christ's side while on the cross, which he said was buried deep under the floor of a church in Antioch. When the floor was lifted and the dirt under it excavated, there was indeed an old lance buried there, which heartened the Crusaders when the siege was most severe. Their morale was raised by the miracle, and they were able to route the Turks.
          The remainder of the First Crusade was characterized by rivalries between Raymond and Bohemond and other leaders. Bohemond seized and held onto Antioch, while Raymond refused the crown of the Kingdom of Jerusalem when it was offered to him. He took advantage of the hostility against Bohemond that the latter caused by breaking his agreements with the Byzantine Emperor Alexius, Raymond allied himself with Constantinople.
          That was where the Crusade of 1101 found him. While the Christians had control of much of the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, they were beset by Muslim forces, and called upon the new Pope Paschal to send more armies to defend their sovereignty. A variety of forces arrived in Byzantium, and Alexius made Raymond their leader. The single largest group was made up of non-combatants from Lombardy. They were devoted to Bohemond, who had in the meantime been captured and imprisoned in the northeast of Turkey. The Lombards demanded that Raymond free Bohemond, which was about the last thing he wanted to do. He was forced to comply because the combined forces would not have been able to defend themselves on their trek to the Holy Land if the sizable force of Lombards left them. By the time the crusaders arrived at the Plain of Merzifon, they were thirsty and starving. They encountered the Turks there. The battle went so badly for the crusaders that Raymond deserted them, followed by the other leaders of the crusade, with the result that the Lombards and most of the other soldiers left behind were massacred by the Turks. Raymond returned to Constantinople where he discovered he had lost the friendship of the Emperor for failing to fulfill promises he made.
          He sailed to Antioch in 1102 where he was promptly arrested for deserting the pilgrims at Merzifon and failing to rescue Antioch's ruler, Bohemond by Tancred, who was temporarily in charge. He was released when he promised no further aggression against Antioch, but with Alexius's renewed help he attempted just that. He died in 1105 before his coveted Tripoli was captured.

Cartoon: Alexius to Raymond, "I thought we understood

each other.  Toulouse is your name, not yoru quest."

Raymon of Toulouse is a character in nan hawthorne's Beloved Pilgrim which tells the story of the doomerd Crusade of 1101.  See book on left.