Philippa of Toulouse, Countess

1073 - 1118  (~ 45 years)

• Name	Philippa of Toulouse
  Suffix	Countess
  Born	ca 1073	Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France
  Gender	Female
  Died	28 Nov 1118	Fontevraud Abbey, France
  Buried	Fontevraud Abbey Fontevraud-l'Abbaye Departement de Maine-et-Loire Pays de la Loire, France
  	Grave location and church photo: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=85222420&ref=acom
  Notes	Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa,_Countess_of_Toulouse Philippa was born in approximately 1073 to Count William IV of Toulouse, and his wife Emma of Mortain. She was his only surviving child, and thus, by the laws of Toulouse, his heir. 1088, William went on a pilgrimage to Palestine, leaving his brother Raymond of Saint-Gilles [Raymond IV] as regent. Upon the death of her father, her uncle took over as Count and Philippa was disinherited. She married William IX of Aquitaine in 1094, whom she considered worthy due to his numerous merits: a handsome man fully capable of flattering a woman and he was not only one of the most prominent Dukes in Europe, able to give her the life she felt she deserved. His realm was also conveniently situated next to Toulouse, and consequently would easily be able to regain her homeland for her own as the Duke promised to do for her. When Raymond IV of Toulouse set out on the First Crusade in the autumn of 1096, he left his son Bertrand to rule the County. However, in the Spring of 1098, William and Philippa marched into the city of Toulouse, and took control without a single life being lost. In the next year, she gave birth to her first child in the city: William the Toulousain. In 1099, her husband went on crusade and he left her as regent in Poitou. She was stunned when her husband mortgaged Toulouse to her cousin Bertrand in exchange for a vast sum of money, which the Duke used to go on Crusade himself. Philippa, removed from her home, was sent to his capital of Poitiers, from where she ruled Aquitaine on behalf of her husband while he was absent. After William's return, he and Philippa for a time lived contentedly with each other, producing a further five daughters, and a son, Raymond. She also ignored the Duke's sexual boasting in song and talk, instead concentrating on religion. She was an admirer of Robert of Arbrissel and persuaded her husband to grant him land in Poitou to establish a religious community dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1100 he founded Fontevraud Abbey there. In the teachings of Robert of Arbrissel, he preached the superiority of women over men. Philippa's obsession with a doctrine considered offensive by many men of that time, combined with William's growing dissatisfaction with her, and his teasing of her (claiming to be founding an abbey of prostitutes), led to discord in the marriage. Toulouse had been won back by William for his wife in 1113, following the death of Bertrand in Syria in 1112: his heir being his half-brother, the 9 year old Alphonse-Jourdain, William had been unopposed. Thus, by 1114, Philippa was spending most of her time ruling there. Accordingly, she was less than pleased when, upon her return from Toulouse to Poitiers in 1114, she discovered her husband to have moved his mistress, Viscountess Dangereuse of Châtellerault, into her palace. Philippa appealed to friends and the church for assistance in ousting her husband's mistress, but to no avail ? none could persuade the Duke to give up his mistress. In 1116, a humiliated Philippa, devastated by her husband's repayment of her service to him for so many years, left the Court, taking refuge at the Abbey of Fontevrault. However, for all Philippa's devotion to the Abbey and its ideals, she found little peace there, both angry and resentful that her husband had cast her off in favour of a mistress. She died of unknown causes there on 28 November 1118, survived by her husband and his mistress.
  Person ID	I35265	Master File
  Last Modified	27 Jun 2016

  
  

  Father	William IV of Toulouse,   b. 1040, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France ,   d. 1094, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France  (Age 54 years)
  Mother	Emma of Mortain
  Family ID	F14562	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	William IX Duke of Aquitaine,   b. 22 Oct 1071, Aquitaine ,   d. 11 Feb 1127, Poitiers Departement de la Vienne Poitou-Charentes, France  (Age 55 years)
  Children	1. William X of Aquitaine,   b. 1099, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France ,   d. 09 Apr 1137, on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain  (Age 38 years)
  Last Modified	27 Jun 2016
  Family ID	F14561	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart