Count of Toulouse in the context of "Occitanie (administrative region)"

Occitania (French: Occitanie [ɔksitani] ; Occitan: Occitània [utsiˈtanjɔ]; Catalan: Occitània [uksiˈtaniə]) is the southernmost administrative region of metropolitan France excluding Corsica, located on the south of the country, created on 1 January 2016 from the former regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées. The Council of State approved Occitania as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, coming into effect on 30 September 2016.

The modern administrative region is named after the larger cultural and historical region of Occitania, which corresponds with the southern third of France. The region of Occitania as it is today covers a territory similar to that ruled by the Counts of Toulouse in the 12th and 13th centuries. The banner of arms of the Counts of Toulouse, known colloquially as the Occitan cross, is used by the modern region and is also a popular cultural symbol. In 2022, Occitania had a population of 6,080,731.

Alphonse (11 November 1220 – 21 August 1271) was the Count of Poitou from 1225 and Count of Toulouse (as such called Alphonse II) from 1249. As count of Toulouse, he also governed the Marquisate of Provence.

The County of Toulouse (Occitan: Comtat de Tolosa, Latin: Comitatus Tolosanus, Middle French: Conté de Thoulouse) was a territory in present-day southern France consisting of the city of Toulouse and its environs, ruled by the Count of Toulouse from the late 9th century until the late 13th century.

After Pippin the Short conquered Septimania, his successor Charlemagne imposed an administration where Frankish counts were established in key cities such as Toulouse. The first count, Fredelo (appointed by Pippin II) ruled the Toulouse region under the sovereignty of the king of Francia in the 840s. Over time his descendants gained more power over the region compared to their Frankish overlord; by the end of the 9th century, they had gained total independence. Later in the 12th century, the county was affected by the Albigensian Crusade, and by 1229, the Treaty of Paris saw Toulouse formally submitted to the crown of France, ending its independence. But the counts of Toulouse ruled Toulouse town and the surrounding county until 1271.

Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (c. 1175 – 25 June 1218), known as Simon IV (or V) de Montfort and as Simon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great military commanders of the Middle Ages. He took part in the Fourth Crusade and was one of the prominent figures of the Albigensian Crusade. Montfort is mostly noted for his campaigns in the latter, notably for his battle at Muret. He died at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218. He was Lord of Montfort from 1188 to his death and Earl of Leicester in England from 1204. He was also Viscount of Albi, Béziers and Carcassonne from 1213, as well as Count of Toulouse from 1215.

Bertrand of Toulouse (or Bertrand of Tripoli) (died 1112) was count of Toulouse, and was the first count of Tripoli to rule in Tripoli itself.

Bertrand was the eldest son of Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, and had ruled Toulouse since Raymond left on the First Crusade in 1095. He was, between 1098 and 1100, dispossessed by his cousin Philippa, Countess of Toulouse and her husband William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, who marched into Toulouse and captured it. They mortgaged it back later to Bertrand in 1100 to fund Duke William's expedition to the Holy Land. Bertrand officially became count of Toulouse when Raymond died in 1105, and in 1108 he travelled to Tripoli to take control there as well.

Roger IV (died 24 February 1265), son and successor of Roger-Bernard II the Great, was the eighth count of Foix from 1241 to his death. His mother was Ermessenda de Castellbò. His reign began with the south again at war with the north in France and, though he was reluctant to join his father's old ally, Raymond VII of Toulouse, in revolt and he did not aid the king of England, Henry III, in his Saintonge War.

Roger IV was a vassal of both the count of Toulouse (for his county of Foix) and the king of France (for his Carcassonne lands), then Louis IX. His loyalty to the king, however, took precedence and war broke out with Raymond VII (October 1242). Although Raymond was forced to submit to the king on 30 November, the war with Roger continued until January 1243, when the king ended it. The count of Foix was now solely a vassal of the king and Raymond spent the rest of his life (until 1249) trying to retrieve Roger's homage, to no avail.

Raymond of Saint-Gilles (c. 1041 – 28 February 1105), also called Raymond IV of Toulouse or Raymond I of Tripoli, was the count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, and margrave of Provence from 1094, and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 to 1099. He spent the last five years of his life establishing the County of Tripoli in the Near East.

In heraldry, a cross (or other ordinary) cleché (clechée, clechy) flares out at the ends before tapering back to a point, in a shape resembling the bow of an old-fashioned key (French clé). An example is the Occitan cross or Cross of Toulouse in the coat of arms of the counts of Toulouse: Gules, a cross cléchée, pommetty and voided Or. Because this Occitan cross is also voided (hollow), some writers have mistakenly taken the term cléché to be a synonym of voided or to include voiding as a defining feature.