Individual Details

William IV, Count of Toulouse

(1040 - 1093)

William IV, Count of Toulouse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from William IV of Toulouse)
William IV, Count of Toulouse
Spouse(s) Emma of Mortain
Issue
Philippa, Countess of Toulouse
William-Jordan (illegitimate)
Noble family Rouergue
Father Pons of Toulouse
Mother Almodis de la Marche
Born c. 1040
Died 1094 (aged 53–54)

William IV of Toulouse (c. 1040 – 1094) was Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence, and Duke of Narbonne from 1061 to 1094. He succeeded his father Pons of Toulouse upon his death in 1061. His mother was Almodis de la Marche, but she was kidnapped by and subsequently married to Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona when William was a boy. He was married to Emma of Mortain (daughter of Robert, Count of Mortain and a niece of William of Normandy), who gave him one daughter, Philippa. He also had an illegitimate son, William-Jordan, with his half-sister Adelaide.

He married twice, and produced two legitimate sons; neither, however, survived infancy, leaving daughter Philippa as his heiress. As Toulouse had no tradition 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, to govern in his stead (and, it was later claimed, to succeed him). Within five years, William was dead, and Raymond in a perfect position to take power[1] – although, after Philippa married William IX of Aquitaine, 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, by his daughter's marriage to William IX of Aquitaine, and Eleanor's descendants would continue to lay nominal claim to Toulouse based on descent from William IV.
References

Meade, Marion, Eleanor of Aquitaine

Events

Birth1040
Title (Nobility)1061Duke of Narbonne
Death1093Battle at Huesca

Families

SpouseEmma De Mortain (1058 - )
ChildPhilippa of Toulouse (1073 - 1118)