Alphonse of Toulouse

Alphonse, Count of Toulouse and of Poitiers (November 11, 1220 - August 21, 1271).

Related Topics:
Count of Toulouse - Of Poitiers - November 11 - 1220 - August 21 - 1271

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Alphonse was a son of Louis VIII, King of France and Blanche of Castile. He was a younger brother of Louis IX of France and an older brother of Charles I of Sicily. His coat-of-arms was "Per pale France-Ancient (azure seme-de-lis or) dimidiating Castile (gules seme of castles or)".

Related Topics:
Louis VIII - King of France - Blanche of Castile - Louis IX of France - Charles I of Sicily

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He joined the county of Toulouse to his appanage of Poitou and Auvergne, on the death, in September 1249, of Raymond VII of Toulouse, whose daughter Joan of Toulouse Alphonse had married in 1237. He took part in two crusades with his brother, St Louis, in 1248 (the Seventh Crusade) and in 1270 (the Eighth Crusade).

Related Topics:
Toulouse - Appanage - Poitou - Auvergne - 1249 - Raymond VII of Toulouse - Joan of Toulouse - 1237 - 1248 - Seventh Crusade - 1270 - Eighth Crusade

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In 1252, on the death of his mother, Blanche of Castile, he was joint regent with Charles of Anjou until the return of Louis IX. During that time he took a great part in the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Paris in 1259, under which King Henry III of England recognized his loss of continental territory to France (including Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou) in exchange for France withdrawing support from English rebels.

Related Topics:
1252 - Charles of Anjou - Treaty of Paris - 1259 - Henry III of England - France - Normandy - Maine - Anjou - Poitou

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His main work was on his own estates. There he repaired the evils of the Albigensian war and made a first attempt at administrative centralization, thus preparing the way for union with the crown. The charter known as "Alphonsine," granted to the town of Riom, became the code of public law for Auvergne. Honest and moderate, protecting the middle classes against exactions of the nobles, he exercised a happy influence upon the south, in spite of his naturally despotic character and his continual and pressing need of money. He is noted for ordering the first recorded local expulsion of Jews, when he did so in Poitou in 1249.

Related Topics:
Albigensian war - Riom - Auvergne - Jew - 1249

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He died without heirs on his return from the Eighth Crusade, in Italy, probably at Savona, on August 21, 1271. As part of his bequest, he left his lands in the Comtat Venaissin to the Holy See and it became a Papal territory in 1274, a status that it retained until 1791.

Related Topics:
Eighth Crusade - Italy - Savona - August 21 - Bequest - Comtat Venaissin - Holy See - Papal territory - 1274 - 1791

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