FOLCO (FOLCHETTO) di TOLOSA. — Also known as F. di Marsiglia, where he was born to a merchant of Genoese origin around 1155. He died in Tolosa on 25 December 1231. He was one of the best-known troubadours of his time: his personality impressed 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, exalt the Crusades in the East and Spain and are full of moral reflections. He was a friend of Alfonso II d'Aragona and Riccardo Cuor di Leone and was connected with various courts of southern France, such as Nîmes, Montpellier, and Marsiglia.
In 1195 F., after inducing his wife and two sons to embrace the religious life, became a Cistercian at Toronet (Provence), and around 1201 became its abbot. Elected bishop of Tolosa in 1205, he came to know St. Domenico, of whom he became the most effective supporter. In 1206 he donated to 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 Order in his diocese, he took St. Domenico with him to the Fourth Lateran Council, at which he became the defender of the new institution before the Pope; it was approved the following year by Onorio 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 played a part in the foundation of the University of Tolosa (1229). The sources of the period unanimously acknowledge F.’s personal probity; in the first quarter of the 13th century he was among the most distinguished ecclesiastical figures.