Duke of Narbonne and Count of Toulouse

Simon’s dynamism failed just as his crusade reached its zenith in the acquisition of the county of Toulouse. Though Simon’s introduction of French feudal patterns and antiheretical policies stood in stark contrast to the government of his Raymondine predecessors, their dynastic eminence offered more incentive to maintain iconographic continuity and cultivate ties with traditionally favoured abbeys. As in the viscounties, cultivation of local nobles, appointment of French followers to key posts, preservation of urban liberties, and patronage of Cistercians and bishops all undergirded Simon’s regime. But even with this broad base of support, Simon was finally undone by the southern resurgence that focused on the fatal exception to his characteristic urban lenience: Toulouse. His inability to accommodate the independence of his ostensible capital allowed it to serve as a rallying point for the disaffected aristocracy of the region, and it was before its walls that Simon met his bloody end.