Constance of France, Countess of Toulouse

Constance
Countess consort of Boulogne and Toulouse
Tenure	1140–1153 1154–1165
Born	c. 1124
Died	c. 1176 (aged 51–52)
Spouse	Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne Raymond V, Count of Toulouse
Issue	((EUSTACHIA Countess of Toulouse)) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse Azalais of Toulouse Aubri of Toulouse Baldwin of Toulouse Laura of Toulouse
Father	Louis VI of France
Mother	Adélaide de Maurienne

Constance‘s son Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse

Constance of France (1124–1176) was the only daughter of Louis VI of France and his second wife Adélaide de Maurienne. She is also known as Constance Capet. Constance's elder siblings included: Louis VII of France, Philip, Henri, Robert I Capet, another Philip and Peter II of Courtenay.

In 1140, Constance married Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne. Eustace was knighted in 1147, at which date he was probably from sixteen to eighteen years of age. In 1151 he joined Constance‘s brother Louis in an abortive raid upon Normandy, which had accepted the title of the Empress Matilda, and was now defended by her husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.

The couple had only one child, a daughter named EUSTACHIA who married Anselme the count of St Pol. Eustace died in 1153, aged between 17–26.

In 1154, Constance remarried after being a widow for a year. She married Raymond V, Count of Toulouse, being his first wife.

Raymond was implicated in the Cathar crisis. In 1176, Guilhem, the Bishop of Albi organized the council of Lombers, attended by both clerics and princes, including Raymond of Trencavel, Raymond V, and Constance, and the representatives of the Cathars. The crisis later led to the Albigensian Crusade.

Raymond and Constance had five children together, they were:

1. Raymond VI, who succeeded his father
2. Aubri, died 1180
3. Azalais of Toulouse
4. Baldwin of Toulouse, born 1165, executed on the orders of Raymond VI in 1214
5. Laura (died in 1230), wife of Odo of Comminger

As Raymond was related to Constance within prohibited degrees, they were separated by ecclesiastical authority in 1165. Constance died in 1176, aged 51–52 by which time her brother Louis was king of France.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Constance of France, Countess of Toulouse

16. Robert II of France               8. Henry I of France                       17. Constance of Arles               4. Philip I of France                             18. Yaroslav I of Kiev               9. Anne of Kiev                       19. Ingegerd Olofsdotter               2. Louis VI of France                                   20. Dirk III, Count of Holland               10. Floris I, Count of Holland                       21. Othelendis of Saxony               5. Bertha of Holland                             22. Bernard II, Duke of Saxony               11. Gertrude of Saxony                       23. Eilika of Schweinfurt               1. Constance of France                                         24. Otto, Count of Savoy               12. Amadeus II of Savoy                       25. Adelaide of Susa               6. Humbert II of Savoy                             26. Gerald, Count of Geneva               13. Joan of Geneva                       27. Gisela of Geneva               3. Adelaide of Maurienne                                   28. Reginald I, Count of Burgundy               14. William I, Count of Burgundy                       29. Adelaide of Normandy               7. Gisela of Burgundy                             15. Etiennete

Sources