World Silver France - 1105-1112 Denier, Toulouse Bertrand PCGS XF45

Obverse: Cross with an annulet in fourth angle. Latin: BERTRAN COM. Translation: Bertrand, Count. Reverse: Latin cross sided with two annulets. Latin: ✠ TOLOSΛ CIVI. Translation: City of Toulouse. Toulouse Mint. Roberts-4494; Boudeau-715; Poey d'Avant-1383. PCGS has graded one as XF45 with one finer.

1842 Painting of Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar surrendering to Count Bertrand (by Charles-Alexandre Debacq). Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Bertrand of Toulouse or Bertrand of Tripoli was the Count of Toulouse as well as the first Count of Tripoli to rule in Tripoli itself. The eldest son of Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, Bertrand ruled Toulouse since his father left for the First Crusade in 1095. However, sometime between 1098 and 1100, Betrand was stripped of his power when his cousin, Philippa, Countess of Toulouse, and her husband, William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, marched into Toulouse and captured the city. Toulouse was later mortgaged back to Bertrand in 1100 in order to help fund Duke William’s trip to the Holy Land. Betrand formally became Count of Toulouse upon the death of his father Raymond in 1105. The year 1108 saw him take control of Tripoli in modern day Lebanon. Bertrand ruled in Tripoli until his death in 1112.