Alfons Jordan

Alfons Jordan

Alfons Jordan of Toulouse (French Alphonse Jourdain ; * 1103 in Mons Peregrinus (Pilgrim's Mountain), Tripoli , Lebanon , † April 1148 in Caesarea , Palestine ) from the Raimundiner dynasty was Count of Toulouse and Margrave of Provence .

Life

Alfonso was the second son of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse and his third wife Elvira of Castile . He was born in the Holy Land and baptized in Jordan , which explains his nickname. His father died when he was two years old, and Alfons remained in Lebanon under the supervision of his relative Wilhelm Jordan von Cerdange († 1109). In 1108 he was brought by an embassy from Toulouse to his father's homeland in the south of France, where Alfonso was recognized as a count. His older half-brother Bertrand had to give way, as his legitimacy was doubted. Bertrand went to Lebanon, where he took over the county of Tripoli .

Alfons Jordan lost Toulouse to his cousin Wilhelm IX in 1113 . of Aquitaine , who enforced his right to Toulouse through his wife Philippa (or Matilde), who was a daughter of Count William IV of Toulouse . He got part of the land back in 1119 and had to fight for the rest until around 1123. Finally successful, he was excommunicated by Pope Kalixt II for driving out the monks of Saint-Gilles who had supported his opponent.

Then Alfons fought against Raimund Berengar III. , Count of Barcelona for the sovereignty of Provence and reached a friendly agreement in September 1125. With this Alfons Jordan became the most important ruler in the regions between the Pyrenees and the Alps , the Auvergne and the Mediterranean . Around 1134 he confiscated the vice-county of Narbonne , but gave it back to the vice countess Ermengarde († 1197) in 1143 .

The following year, Alfons founded Montauban and again aroused the disapproval of the Church when he allied himself with the rebels of Montpellier against the nobility . He was excommunicated a second time, took the cross as a penance in 1146 at a meeting convened by King Louis VII of France in Vézelay, and in August 1147 went to the East with the Second Crusade . He interrupted the journey in Italy and probably also in Constantinople and reached Acre in 1148 . A little later in Caesarea , he suddenly died in great pain. Perhaps he died of an acute illness, such as appendicitis, but everyone suspected he had been poisoned. Eleanor of Aquitaine , Melisende , the mother of King Baldwin III , were suspected of committing a poisoning . of Jerusalem , but above all Alfonso cousin, Count Raimund II of Tripoli , who feared Alfonso claims to his county. None of the suspicions could be proven.

Marriage and offspring

Alfons Jordan was married to Faydive (Faydida) d'Uzès since about 1125. Your children were:

• Raimund V. (1134–1194), his successor
• Alfons († 1175/89 or later)
• Faidiva, ∞ Count Humbert III. of Savoy (they divorced in 1154)
• Agnes († before 1187)

In addition, Alfons had several illegitimate children:

• Bertrand: Accompanied his father on the second crusade and stayed in Lebanon to take revenge on Count Raimund II of Tripoli for his father's death. He was captured by Nur ad-Din and only released again in 1159 through the mediation of Emperor Manuel I.
• First daughter: She also accompanied her father to Lebanon and was captured with her brother by Nur ad-Din, in whose harem in Aleppo she remained.
• second daughter: wife of Bernard III. , Count of Comminges

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Runciman: History of the Crusades , p. 372.
2. ^ Runciman: History of the Crusades , p. 375.
3. ^ Runciman: History of the Crusades , p. 584.

literature

• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3406399606 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Raimund I.	Count of Tripoli 1105–1109	Bertrand
Bertrand (II.)	Count of Toulouse 1108–1148	Raimund V. (II.)
Bertrand (II.)	Margrave of Provence 1108–1148	Raimund V. (II.)