 raymond iv of toulouse ( 1041 or 1042 â 1105), sometimes called raymond of st gilles, 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 displaced his niece philippa, duchess of aquitaine, his brother william iv's daughter, in 1094 from inheriting toulouse. 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 homily at the council of clermont. ==early years== in 1094, william bertrand of provence died and his margravial title to provence passed to raymond. a bull of urban's dated 22 july 1096 names raymond comes nimirum tholosanorum ac ruthenensium et marchio provintie raimundus.  ==the first crusade== raymond was deeply religious, and wished to die in the holy land, and so when the call was raised for the first crusade, he was one of the first to take the cross. the oldest and the richest of the crusaders, raymond left toulouse at the end of october 1096, with a large company that included his wife elvira, his infant son (who would die on the journey) and adhemar, bishop of le puy, the papal legate. he ignored requests by his niece, philippa (the rightful heiress to toulouse) to grant the rule of toulouse to her in his stead; instead, he left bertrand, his eldest son, to govern. he marched to dyrrhachium, and then east to constantinople along the same route used by bohemond of taranto. at the end of april 1097, he was the only crusade leader not to swear an oath of fealty to byzantine emperor alexius i. instead, raymond swore an oath of friendship, and offered his support against bohemond, mutual enemy of both raymond and alexius. he was present at the siege of nicaea and the battle of dorylaeum in 1097, but his first major role came in october 1097 at the siege of antioch. the crusaders heard a rumour that antioch had been deserted by the seljuk turks, so raymond sent his army ahead to occupy it, offending bohemond of taranto who wanted the city for hi
1040s_births 1105_deaths Christians_of_the_Crusade_of_1101 Christians_of_the_First_Crusade Counts_of_Toulouse Counts_of_Tripoli Dukes_of_Narbonne French_Roman_Catholics Margraves_of_Provence Occitan_nobility People_excommunicated_by_the_Roman_Catholic_Church