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Raynald was born around 1123. He received Châtillon-sur-Loire, but a part of his patrimony was "violently and unjustly confiscated", according to one of his letters. He came to the Kingdom of Jerusalem before 1153 when he was mentioned as a mercenary fighting in the army of Baldwin III of Jerusalem. According to modern historians, he had joined the crusade of Louis VII of France. Louis departed from France in June 1147. The 12th-century historian William of Tyre, who was Raynald's opponent, claimed that Raynald was "almost a common soldier". LouisVII left the Holy Land for France in the summer of 1149, but Raynald stayed behind in Palestine.