Born the eldest son of Raimond V and Charlotte de France. He was married five times, but only one son (from his third marriage) survived him. In 1203 Pope Innocent III sent Pierre de Castlenau to fight the heresy in the south of France. When Raimond refuses to collaborate with the papal legate, he is excommunicated, and his lands placed under the interdict. When Castelnau was assassinated, Raymond was again excommunicated and the pope and the king of France began the Albigensian Crusade.
Always suspected of being a Cathar himself, he died still being excommunicated. When he had written his Testament in 1218 he expressed the wish to join the Knights Hospitaller and be buried in their priory in Toulouse. Because it was impossible to bury him in consecrated earth, his coffin was placed in a corridor of the Priory. In 1247 Innocent IV ordered an examination of his life which confirmed that he had been the 'most pious, most merciful and most obedient servant of the church'. Nevertheless, he was not buried. His remains remained in the corridor and were publicly visible, from there they disappeared bit by bit over the next 150 years. The last of his bones, his skull, was last seen by a local historian in 1692, before it too disappeared.
Always suspected of being a Cathar himself, he died still being excommunicated. When he had written his Testament in 1218 he expressed the wish to join the Knights Hospitaller and be buried in their priory in Toulouse. Because it was impossible to bury him in consecrated earth, his coffin was placed in a corridor of the Priory. In 1247 Innocent IV ordered an examination of his life which confirmed that he had been the 'most pious, most merciful and most obedient servant of the church'. Nevertheless, he was not buried. His remains remained in the corridor and were publicly visible, from there they disappeared bit by bit over the next 150 years. The last of his bones, his skull, was last seen by a local historian in 1692, before it too disappeared.
Born the eldest son of Raimond V and Charlotte de France. He was married five times, but only one son (from his third marriage) survived him. In 1203 Pope Innocent III sent Pierre de Castlenau to fight the heresy in the south of France. When Raimond refuses to collaborate with the papal legate, he is excommunicated, and his lands placed under the interdict. When Castelnau was assassinated, Raymond was again excommunicated and the pope and the king of France began the Albigensian Crusade.
Always suspected of being a Cathar himself, he died still being excommunicated. When he had written his Testament in 1218 he expressed the wish to join the Knights Hospitaller and be buried in their priory in Toulouse. Because it was impossible to bury him in consecrated earth, his coffin was placed in a corridor of the Priory. In 1247 Innocent IV ordered an examination of his life which confirmed that he had been the 'most pious, most merciful and most obedient servant of the church'. Nevertheless, he was not buried. His remains remained in the corridor and were publicly visible, from there they disappeared bit by bit over the next 150 years. The last of his bones, his skull, was last seen by a local historian in 1692, before it too disappeared.
Always suspected of being a Cathar himself, he died still being excommunicated. When he had written his Testament in 1218 he expressed the wish to join the Knights Hospitaller and be buried in their priory in Toulouse. Because it was impossible to bury him in consecrated earth, his coffin was placed in a corridor of the Priory. In 1247 Innocent IV ordered an examination of his life which confirmed that he had been the 'most pious, most merciful and most obedient servant of the church'. Nevertheless, he was not buried. His remains remained in the corridor and were publicly visible, from there they disappeared bit by bit over the next 150 years. The last of his bones, his skull, was last seen by a local historian in 1692, before it too disappeared.
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