Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse

thumb|It is clear that the devil made this world, since our wishes are ever disappointed. Raymond VI (Occitan: Ramon or Raimon; 27 October 1156 – 2 August 1222) was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil (as Raymond IV) from 1173 to 1190. Raymond's conflicts with Pope Innocent III over his tolerance of the Cathars led into his excommunication and the beginning of the Albigensian Crusade. Quotes about Raymond At first from his cradle, he cherished and even made much of the heretics; and having them in his territories, he honored them in every way. Even to this day, from what I hear, he takes heretics everywhere about with him, in order that if he happen to die, he may breathe his last in their hands. He said one day to the heretics, (I have it on good authority,) that he wished to have his son brought up at Toulouse among them, in order that he might be reared in their faith; let us rather say in their infidelity. One day, too, he said that he would give a hundred thousand marks of silver, if one of his knights would espouse the belief of the heretics; that he had often exhorted him so to do, and often had their doctrine preached to him. Moreover, when the heretics sent him presents or provisions, he received them very graciously, preserved them carefully, and would suffer no one to partake of them but himself and some of his intimates. Frequently, too, as we know for certain, he woi shipped heretics, by kneeling to them, asking their blessing, and giving them the kiss of peace. One day that the count was waiting to give audience to some persons who did not come, he exclaimed, "It is clear that the devil made this world, since our wishes are ever disappointed." He also said to the venerable bishop of Toulouse, who himself told it to me, that the Cistercians could not work their salvation since their flocks were given up to luxury. Unheard-of heresy! The count, moreover, invited the bishop of Toulouse to come to his palace at night to hear the heretics preach; whence it is clear that he often heard them at night. One day he chanced to be in church during mass. Now he had with him a buffoon, who, as mountebanks of the kind are wont, made game of people by grinning like a histrion; and when the officiating priest turned to the people and said, Dominus vobiscum, the wicked count bade his buffoon take off the priest. He said once that he would rather be a certain heretic of Castres, in the diocese of Alby, whose limbs had been cut off, and who led a life of suffering, than be king or emperor. His constant attachment to heretics is clearly proved by the fact that no legate of the Apostolic see could ever induce him to expel them from his territory, although, at the instance of these legates, he took I know not how many oaths of abjuration. He manifested such contempt for the sacrament of marriage, that whenever his wife displeased him, he put her away and took another, so that he had four wives, three of whom are still alive. He married, first, the sister of the viscount de Béziers, named Beatrice; after her the daughter of the duke of Cyprus; after her the sister of Richard, king of England; and when she, who was his cousin in the third degree, died, he married the king of Aragon's sister, who was his cousin in the fourth degree. I must not omit to mention, that he was frequently in the habit of pressing his first wife to take the veil, and when, comprehending his meaning, she put the question direct to him whether she should enter Citeaux, he said, No; whether at Fontevrault, he still said, No; and then, asking what it was he wished, he answered, that if she would consent to lead the life of a solitary, he would provide for all her wants, and so the matter was arranged. . . .He was always so great a voluptuary, and so lecherous, that in contempt of all Christian laws, he abused his own sister. From his childhood, he eagerly sought out his father's concubines, and slept with them; and no woman pleased him much except she had lain with his father. And therefore his father, as well on account of his heresy as of this enormous crime, often foretold him that he would lose his inheritance. The count had, besides, a wonderful liking for the routiers, by whose hands he despoiled churches, destroyed monasteries, and robbed his neighbors of all he could. Such was the way of life of this limb of the devil, this son of perdition, this first-born of Satan, this raging persecutor of the cross and of the Church, this support of heretics, this executioner of Catholics, this apostate covered with crimes, this sink of all sins. One day that the count was playing chess with a certain chaplain, he said to him in the course of the game, "The God of Moses, in whom you believe, cannot help you at this game; adding, "may that God never be my aid." Another time, as the count was about to proceed from Toulouse to Provence, to fight some enemy, rising in the middle of the night he repaired to the house in which the Toulousan heretics were assembled, and said to. them, "My lords and brothers, the fortune of war is uncertain; whatever happen to me, I commit my soul and body to your keeping." And he took with him in this expedition two heretics, in lay attire, in order that if he fell, he might die in their hands. — One day that this accursed count was sick in Aragon, his malady becoming worse he had a litter made, and was borne in it to Toulouse; and when asked why he had himself carried in such haste, although suffering from serious illness, he replied, wretch that he was, that it was "because there are no Good Men in this land, in whose hands I can die." Now, the heretics are called Good Men by their followers. But he showed himself to be a heretic by signs and speech much more plainly still, for he said, "I know that I shall lose my territory through these Good Men: well, I am ready to lose my land, and my head, too, for them." Reported in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith (New York, 1882), vol. i, pp. 277–278 Reconciled with the ancient enemies of his house, — the kings of Aragon, lords of Lower Provence, and the kings of England, dukes of Guyenne, — the count had no longer any fears, and cast all reserve to the winds. In his Languedocian wars and those in Upper Provence, he constantly employed the routiers, banned by the Church; and pushed his inroads without distinction of lay or church lands, or respect for Sunday or for Lent, expelling the bishops, and surrounding himself with heretics and Jews. Michelet, History of France (1882), vol. i, p. 277 External links Category:1150s births Category:1220s deaths Category:Military leaders from France Category:People from Toulouse Category:People of the Crusades Category:People of the Albigensian Crusade