of William his brother, which took place about 1093, he took possession of the whole of the territory of Toulouse, having accumulated in his own person, previous to his brother's death, a number of the adjacent Lordships, which rendered him already one of the most powerful princes in France. His brother William, however, left one daughter named Philippa, who was first married to Sancho, King of Aragon, and afterwards to William, Duke of Aquitaine. How it occurred that this Princess did not succeed at once to her father's territories, is by no means clearly shown; but it is a very curious fact, and one which strongly confirms the assertion that Raymond had acquired some hold upon Toulouse, by lending money to his brother, that he had taken the title of Count of Toulouse, in many of his public acts, before his brother's death, even so far back as the year 1088.*

The testimony of William of Malmesbury, likewise, is of very great importance, as that writer died before the pretensions of Henry had been mooted, and from him we distinctly learn that William, the father of Philippa, had sold the territory of Toulouse to his brother, for a sum of money, several years before his death. Whether

* It is clearly shown, however, that Raymond's claim was resisted by many of the vassals of his brother, which is admitted even by Dom Vaissette.

such a sale, if absolute, and not by way of mortgage, was legal, might be a question; but it is perfectly clear that Raymond continued in undisturbed possession of the County till his departure for the Holy Land, which took place in October of the year 1096. Sancho of Aragon, the husband of Philippa, was killed by an arrow at the siege of Huesca, in June 1094; and it would appear that his widow, after the short mourning of a few months, married the Duke of Aquitaine, named William IX. What transactions took place between that Prince and Raymond of St. Giles, between the period of his marriage at the end of the year 1094 and the pilgrimage of Raymond, two years after, there are no means of ascertaining; but it is certain, however, that almost immediately upon his departure, William IX. and Philippa seized upon the County, to the exclusion of Bertrand, the eldest son of Raymond St. Giles, whom he had left in possession, and that they therein exercised sovereignty until the year 1100, calling themselves in their public acts, Count and Countess of Toulouse. Two sons were born to them in the town of Toulouse; and it would appear by a codicil to the will of Raymond, dated from Syria, in the year 1105, that he had dropped the title of Count of Toulouse, on quitting Europe for the Holy Land. It is evident that their hold of the County was forcible, however, for it cannot be doubted that Raymond left his

son Bertrand in possession; but what the claim was which they made to justify their entrance into Toulouse, does not appear. It would seem not to be doubted, indeed, that Bertrand was not legitimate: either he was the son of a concubine, or he was the son of one of the relations of Raymond, whom that Prince had married, notwithstanding her being within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, and from whom he was obliged to separate by the menaces of the church. However that might be, the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine dispossessed Bertrand, and held the County till 1100, when, as strangely, they seemed to have yielded it again to Bertrand, from whom they had taken it, without any of the reasons which have been assigned for such conduct being supported by sufficient proof.

The account given by Henry's partisans, however, is supported by two or three known facts. In the first place it is proved that William IX. took the cross at Limoges, in the year 1100, almost at the very time that he yielded the County to Bertrand; and it seems very generally admitted that Bertrand entered peaceably into the County, and paid or lent a sum to William and Philippa. From that time it would appear that Bertrand remained in quiet possession, till he also took his departure for the Holy Land, in imitation of his father and in accordance with the spirit of the age. In

the mean time, Raymond of St. Giles, having married again before his departure for the Holy Land, had another son by his wife, Elvira of Castile. This son, named Alphonso, was born in Syria while his father was carrying on the siege of Tripoli. He was baptized in the river Jordan, and was brought over into France, while still in his infancy, towards year 1107. Not long after that period, his brother Bertrand, having taken the cross, as we have said, departed for the Holy Land, carrying with him his only son, and leaving Alphonso in possession of the County of Toulouse and all those European territories which he had obtained either by succession or by negociation with the Duke of Aquitaine.

the

This proceeding would seem as strange as any other part of the history. It is very true that men were prompted by the spirit of the age to abandon their territories in Europe, and to seek establishments in the East; but Bertrand, on various occasions, showed a grasping disposition which would lead one to suppose that, if he had held the County of Toulouse in any other manner than conditionally, he, like many other Crusaders, would have put his dominions under the protection of the Church, in order to insure himself against any reverses which he might meet with in Syria.

How long William of Aquitaine remained in Palestine does not appear; but he suffered Alphonso, though a mere youth, to hold Toulouse till the year 1114, when he again took possession of the

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County, and his wife therein exercised acts of sovereignty during that and the following year. We are assured that it was not without bloodshed that Alphonso was dispossessed, and that, in the strife, the Bishop of Pampeluna was killed in the streets of Toulouse. It is proved, however, that from the year 1114 to the year 1119 William and Philippa were recognised as Count and Countess of Toulouse, not only by the great body of the people, but by the famous Bernard Aton, Viscount of Beziers, and a near relation of the race of Toulouse.

Philippa died, it would seem, about the year 1119, though the history of her life is very obscure after 1115. Her husband, however, married again after her death, and led an army into Spain, in order to support Alphonso, King of Aragon, against the Moors, leaving Toulouse but weakly guarded. His absence afforded an opportunity which the friends of Alphonso did not neglect; and we find that prince fully reestablished in the County in the year 1122, after which period it was never regained by William IX. of Aquitaine, though he continued to assert his claim, and waged war, from time to time, with his competitor till his own death, which took place in 1127.

Up to that date it is distinctly proved that the claims of Philippa and her branch were never entirely abandoned; but during the reign of her son, William X., over Aquitaine, I do not find that any fresh attempt was made to recover Toulouse. His daughter