Raymond of Saint-Gilles

When Raymond of Saint-Gilles died in the castle of Mons Peregrinorum, in what is today Lebanon, he left behind a realm that had grown from a fortress, a single town and a half share of a monastery to fourteen counties, covering much of southern France and across the Mediterranean to a significant holding on the Syrian and Lebanese coast. To understand Raymond’s legacy and achievement, we have to recognize the particularly Occitanian character of him and his army. The Occitanian crusading experience drew on the legacy of the Peace of God and the apocalyptic anxieties typical of the region. This book will use the life of Raymond of Saint-Gilles and his crusading experience to explore the importance of regional differences in the religious and cultural experience of the Middle Ages for understanding both the First Crusade and the creation of the crusader states in the Latin East.