Philippa of Toulouse was a countess in her own right when she married William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. She married him because she wanted help getting Toulouse back from her cousin who should not have inherited it.

She is my 23rd great-grandmother.

Philippa was born in Toulouse, France¹ sometime in 1073². She was the daughter of William, Count of Toulouse and Emma de Mortain^{1 2}.

Titles

Philippa was the countess of Toulouse¹.

Family

In 1094 she married William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, as his second wife¹.

Together they had seven children:

• William
• Raymond
• Five further daughters. We don’t know their names.

In 1115 she divorced William and retired as a nun¹ to the Abbey of Fontevraud.

Notable events

Philippa’s father had two sons but both of died before he did, so she inherited everything². The snag in this plan is that Toulouse didn’t know how to have female rulers in Toulouse². When William of Toulouse left to go on a crusade he asked his brother Raymond to govern in his absence².

William died, and Raymond continued governing². When Raymond died, his son Bertrand inherited everything². Philippa looked for a nobleman who could help her regain what was hers by right. She settled on William IX, Duke of Aquitaine who she married in 1094².

In 1098, William and Philippa rode into Toulouse and took it back without any fighting or bloodshed².

In 1101, William led a Crusade to the Holy Lands. He financed his trip by mortgaging Toulouse to Bertrand. Philippa was furious about this; more so, when his lack of success meant he could not buy Toulouse back².

Philippa became obsessed with a preacher called Robert of Abrissel. She convinced her husband to give some land to Robert, who built the Abbey of Fontevraud. The Abbey was not restricted to one gender or to any type of person. William IX often teased Philippa that the Abbey was a home for prostitutes because it didn’t discriminate against them².

Robert ran the Abbey on the premise that women were the dominant sex, and his Abbey had a woman in charge². Once again, we see 11th-century France was avant-garde in this respect.

In 1113, Bertrand died allowing William IX to take Toulouse back. Philippa moved back to her hometown to take care of her land. She later returned to Poitiers, horrified to discover William IX had installed his mistress in the matrimonial home².

Death

She died on 28 November 1117¹. I don’t know where she died, but it is reasonable to conclude she died in the Fontevraud Abbey. I don’t know why she died, or where they buried her.

Lineage

She is my 23rd great-grandmother.

References

1. Toulouse, Kings, Dukes and Counts; Charles Crawley; Medieval Lands; (Retrieved 2018-10-04) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Philippa, Countess of Toulouse and the Founding of Fontevraud Abbey; History of Royal Women; 2017-01-17[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]