Alphonse was the Count of Poitou from 1225 and Count of Toulouse from 1249. As count of Toulouse, he also governed the Marquisate of Provence.
Alfonso Jordan, also spelled Alfons Jordan or Alphonse Jourdain (1103–1148), was the Count of Tripoli (1105–09), Count of Rouergue (1109–48) and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne (1112–48).
Louis IX, commonly revered as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VIII, he was crowned in Reims at the age of 12. His mother, Blanche of Castile, effectively ruled the kingdom as regent until he came of age and continued to serve as his trusted adviser until her death. During his formative years, Blanche successfully confronted rebellious vassals and championed the Capetian cause in the Albigensian Crusade, which had been ongoing for the past two decades.
Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.
Philip III, called the Bold, was King of France from 1270 until his death in 1285. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade. Philip, who was accompanying him, returned to France and was anointed king at Reims in 1271.
Louis VIII, nicknamed The Lion, was King of France from 1223 to 1226. As a prince, he invaded England on 21 May 1216 and was excommunicated by a papal legate on 29 May 1216. On 2 June 1216, Louis was proclaimed "King of England" by rebellious barons in London, though never crowned. He soon seized half the English kingdom but was eventually defeated by the English. After the Treaty of Lambeth, he was paid 10,000 marks, pledged never to invade England again, and was absolved of his excommunication.
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect. It resulted in the significant reduction of practicing Cathars and a realignment of the County of Toulouse with the French crown. The distinct regional culture of Languedoc was also diminished.
Blanche of Castile was Queen of France by marriage to Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX: during his minority from 1226 until 1234, and during his absence from 1248 until 1252.
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, known as Simon IVde 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 triumph at Muret. He died at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218. He was Seigneur 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.
The count of Toulouse was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding county from the late 9th century until 1270. The counts and other family members were also at various times counts of Quercy, Rouergue, Albi, and Nîmes, and sometimes margraves of Septimania and Provence. Count Raymond IV founded the Crusader state of Tripoli, and his descendants were also counts there. They reached the zenith of their power during the 11th and 12th centuries, but after the Albigensian Crusade the county fell to the kingdom of France, nominally in 1229 and de facto in 1271.
Raymond VI was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.
Raymond VII was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death.
William IV Talvas was William III, Count of Ponthieu and William IV. He was Count of Ponthieu, ruler of a small province in northern France that fell under the suzerainty of the dukes of Normandy since at least the mid 11th century.
The Battle of Muret, fought on 12 September 1213 near Muret, 25 km south of Toulouse, was the last major battle of the Albigensian Crusade and one of the most notable pitched battles of the Middle Ages. Although estimates of the sizes of the respective armies vary considerably even among distinguished modern historians, it is most well known for a small force of French knights and crusaders commanded by Simon de Montfort the Elder defeating a much larger allied army led by King Peter II of Aragon and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse.
Pierre de Castelnau, French ecclesiastic, made papal legate in 1199 to address the Cathar heresy, he was subsequently murdered in 1208. Following his death Pope Innocent III beatified him by papal order, excommunicated Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, and declared the Albigensian crusade.
Roger Bernard II, called the Great, was the seventh count of Foix from 1223 until his death. He was the son and successor of the count Raymond-Roger and his wife Philippa of Montcada.
Robert II of Dreux, Count of Dreux and Braine, was the eldest surviving son of Robert I, Count of Dreux, and Agnes de Baudemont, countess of Braine, and a grandson of King Louis VI of France.
The siege of Montségur was a siege that took place during the Albigensian Crusade. It pitted the royal forces of Louis IX of France and those of the bishops of Albi and Narbonne against the forces of Pierre Roger de Mirepoix, who protected a community of Cathars in Montségur.
The House of Toulouse, sometimes called House of Saint-Gilles or Raimondines, is a family of Frankish origin established in Languedoc having owned the County of Toulouse. Its first representative was Fulcoald of Rouergue, who died after 837, whose sons Fredelo and Raymond I were the first hereditary counts of Toulouse from 849 to 863; the last holder of the county in the agnatic line was Raymond VII who died in 1249. This family therefore reigned over the county for four centuries.
The siege of Avignon was the principal military action of the Albigensian Crusade of 1226. King Louis VIII of France besieged the town of Avignon, which lay within the Holy Roman Empire, from 10 June until 9 September, when it surrendered on terms.
