Philippa of Toulouse
Overview
Biography
(See also Genealogical Table(s): 5, 6.)
Philippa was the daughter and only surviving child of Emma of Mortain and William IV, count of Toulouse. Emma’s father and uncle, Odo of Bayeux, a bishop who is portrayed in (and may have commissioned) the Bayeux tapestry, were uterine half-brothers of William the Conqueror; William IV of Toulouse was a son of Almodis of La Marche and Pons of Toulouse. When Philippa’s father went on pilgrimage to Palestine in 1088, he left Toulouse in the care of his brother, Raymond of Saint-Gilles (IV of Toulouse) and when William died in 1094 Raymond asserted control over the county of Toulouse, although Philippa was her father’s heir. In or about the same year, Philippa married William IX of Aquitaine, presumably to help her reclaim her heritage.* Raymond went on the first crusade in 1096 leaving his son Bertrand in charge, but two years later William and Philippa invaded and took control of Toulouse without a battle. But when William decided to go on crusade in 1099, he mortgaged Toulouse to Bertrand for the money to underwrite the unsuccessful expedition. Philippa left Toulouse but served as William’s regent in Poitou while he was gone. He won Toulouse back by 1113, after the death of Bertrand. Bernard-Ato, viscount of Nîmes, swore fidelity to countess Philippa for the domains which her father had possessed (HGL 5. 845, #451) and for fiefs in Rouergue which he had never possessed, according to to HGL (3.623); that is, he abandoned the interests of Bertrand’s son Alphonse in her favor in 1114, as he had those of Raymond of Saint Gilles in 1098 (3.624). Philippa lived there until she retired to Fontevrault. She had been a supporter of Robert of Arbrissel, who championed the role of women and founded Fontevrault in 1100. Philippa gave him the land for one of his houses in the forest of Espinasse in 1114. A document from the bishop of Toulouse, Amelia, notes that Robert had "acquired from the countess of Poitiers, by name Philippa, that wood which is in the vulgate is called Espeses (Espinasse), with the whole land in which the wood lies and certain uncultivated lands adjacent to that wood" (a comitissa Pictavensi nomine Philippa nemus illud,quod Espezez vulgo nominatur, cum tota terra in qua nemus ipsum consistit & quasdam garrigas eidem nemori adjacentes acquisivit), HGL 5.846, #452, CCCLXVII, c.1114.
Philippa and William had several children: William X , Raymond, prince of Antioch, Agnes, briefly queen of Aragon (married to Ramiro II), and perhaps other daughters. William IX was a poet, the first known composer of poetry in Provençal/Occitan, and a womanizer. He had a scandalous affair with Dangereuse of L’Isle Bouchard (still married to Aimery of Châtellerault), whom he installed in a tower of the ducal palace at Poitiers. Dangereuse would arrange a marriage between William’s son, William X, and her daughter, Aenor of Châtellerault, the parents of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Letters from Philippa of Toulouse
A letter to Bernard Ato IV (c.1114)A letter to Public (1098, July)
A letter to Public (c.1100, December)