Raymond of Poitiers

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Prince Raimund receives King Louis VII of France in Antioch. (Representation by Jean Colombe from the 15th century)

Raimund von Poitiers (* 1099 ; † June 29, 1149 ) was an Occitan nobleman and from 1136, by marriage, Prince of Antioch .

He was the youngest son of Wilhelm IX. , Duke of Aquitaine , Count of Poitiers and his wife Philippa , Countess of Toulouse .

Life

Raimund was educated at the court of King Henry I of England . There he received the invitation of King Fulkos of Jerusalem , who was ruler of the Principality of Antioch, to come to the Holy Land in order to become Prince of Antioch by marrying the heir of the late Prince Bohemond II . His passage to the Holy Land was hindered by the fact that King Roger II of Sicily , Prince of Taranto, himself raised hereditary claims to the Principality of Antioch. In 1136 Raimund finally came to Antioch and there married Konstanze , the only ten-year-old heir to Bohemond II. The marriage had the blessing of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem , Wilhelm von Mesen , but not that of Constance's mother, Alice of Jerusalem , who had believed that Raimund was was intended for her as a husband.

Preservation of rights against Byzantium

The first year of Constance and Raimund's joint rule was spent in a dispute with the Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenus , who had come to the east, on the one hand to wrest the principality of Lesser Armenia from Leo I of Armenia , and on the other to obtain his suzerainty secure over Antioch. Raimund was forced to pay homage and even to promise to cede Antioch as soon as another fief was found for him, which John promised to cut him from the property of the Muslims east of Antioch. The 1138 campaign that Raimund and Johannes undertook to conquer this area was a failure. Raimund was not eager to help the emperor, since these acquisitions meant for him only the loss of Antioch. John Comnenus returned to Constantinople without having reached his destination and after he had demanded the surrender of the citadel of Antioch without receiving an answer.

Conflict with the Patriarch of Antioch

The next argument was that between Raimund and Ralf von Domfront, the Latin Patriarch of Antioch . Raimund was annoyed at the homage he had to pay to the patriarch in 1135, and the dubious circumstances surrounding the election of the patriarch gave him an opportunity to resist. Raimund was successful, the patriarch was deposed in 1139.

Resistance to Byzantium

In 1142 Johannes Comnenus returned, but Raimund refused to recognize and renew his submission. John was unable to do anything against him except to devastate the area around Antioch . When Raimund asked Manuel Komnenus , who had followed John in 1143, the cession of some Cilician cities, the Byzantine emperor found that Raimund had exaggerated. He forced him to make a humiliating visit to Constantinople, during which he renewed his homage and had to promise to recognize an Orthodox patriarch in Antioch .

Second crusade

In the spring of 1148, King Louis VII of France , who was on the Second Crusade , visited Antioch with his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine , a niece of Raymond. Raimund tried to prevent Ludwig from traveling with his crusade army to the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Instead, he asked him for help in conquering Aleppo . Allegedly Ludwig was soon jealous of the cordial relationship between Raimund and Eleonore, in any case he did not accept Raimund's request and hurriedly set off for Acre . The Second Crusade finally failed because of the unsuccessful siege of Damascus , which led Unur, the Burid-Emir of Damascus , to ally with Nur ad-Din of Aleppo.

Invasion Just ad dins and death

In 1149 Nur ad-Din of Aleppo and Unur of Damascus invaded the principality of Antioch with an army. He won a victory against Raymond's troops at Baghras and then besieged Inab . Raimund gathered his troops and, reinforced by a contingent of the assassins under Ali ibn-Wafa , set out to relieve Inab. On June 28, 1149, Raimund camped with his army at the well of Murad near Inab, when he was surrounded by the army of Nur ad-Din. In the battle of Inab that followed the next morning , Raimund's army was defeated and Raimund was killed. Only ad-Din had Raimund's head sent in a silver box as a present to the caliph in Baghdad.

progeny

There are five children from his marriage to Konstanze:

After his death, his widow married the French crusader Rainald von Chatillon , who took over the government of the principality.

personality

Raimund has been described by William of Tire , the main source of his life story, as handsome and sociable, excellent in use of arms and military experience; although he could not read himself, he was a promoter of literature - he had the composition of the Chanson des chétifs ; was a regular churchgoer and loyal husband, but stubborn, irascible, unreasonable, and too inclined to play.

swell

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Raimund von Poitiers is given in Schwennicke ( European Family Tables II (1984) Plate 76 as the illegitimate son of Wilhelm IX. (VII.) From his relationship with the wife of Amaury I. Vice-Count of Châtellerault . However, it is common to see him as the younger son of Wilhelm from his 2nd marriage to Philippa von Toulouse, where the name Raimund was the lead name, although it should be noted that it was precisely her uncle Raimund IV who gave her - with the will of her father Wilhelm IV - the county of Toulouse, her alleged inheritance due to lack of male descendants, withheld. The sources cited in the "collection of materials" do not comment on who Raimund's mother was, and Steven Runciman is also silent in his "History of the Crusades" (7th book, 2nd chapter In the article “Wilhelm IX.” of the Lexicon of the Middle Ages (Volume IX, Column 140) this connection is made: “He [Wilhelm IX.] could stay in Toulouse until 1123 (...), where Philippa also hers Son Raimun d (* 1114/17), whose name identified him as the heir of the county, gave birth ”.
  2. ↑ a b Reinhold Röhricht : Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII - MCCXCI). Additamentum. Libraria Academica Wagneriana, Oeniponti, (ie Innsbruck) 1904, Supplement, p. 38, No. 605a .
  3. ↑ litteratorum, licet ipse illiteratus esset, cultor
  4. ^ Wilhelm of Tire: Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. Book XIV, Chapter XXI.
predecessor Office successor
Constance Prince of Antioch
(de iure uxoris )
1136–1149 		Rainald
(de iure uxoris)
personal data
SURNAME Raymond of Poitiers
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Antioch
DATE OF BIRTH 1099
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1149