Fulk (Folquet) of Toulouse

FULK (FOLQUET) OF TOULOUSE. - Also known as F. of Marseille, where he was born around 1155 to a merchant of Genoese origin. He died at Toulouse on 25 December 1231. He was one of the best-known troubadours of his time: his personality struck Dante himself, who placed him, alone among the troubadours, in Paradise (Par., IX, 37-42, 67-142). His compositions, written between 1179 and 1195 and predominantly amorous in character, extol the Crusades in the East and in Spain and are full of moral reflections. He was a friend of Alfonso II of Aragon and of Richard the Lionheart and was in contact with various courts of southern France, such as Nîmes, Montpellier and Marseille.

In 1195 F., after having led his wife and two sons to the religious life, became a Cistercian at Toronet (Provence), and around 1201 he became abbot there. Elected bishop of Toulouse in 1205, he came to know St. Dominic, of whom he was the most effective supporter. In 1206 he gave him the church of S. Maria di Prouille, which became the first religious house of the new Order, and, in 1214, the parish of Fanjeau. The following year, after having canonically established the Dominican Order in his diocese, he took St. Dominic with him to the Fourth Lateran Council, where he became the defender before the Pope of the new institution, which was approved the following year by Honorius III. F. was also among the most zealous organizers of the Crusade against the Albigensians with the 'militia Christi', which he established in 1209, and he had a part in the founding of the University of Toulouse (1229). The sources of the time agree in recognizing the personal probity of F., who in the first quarter of the 13th century was among the most distinguished ecclesiastical personalities.

Stanislao Majarelli