On 28 February 1105, Count Raymond IV of Saint-Gilles and Toulouse – one of the greatest magnates in the kingdom of France and a leading figure on the First Crusade (1095-9) – died in dramatic circumstances, crashing through a roof into a burning building. Raymond's attempts to carve out a northern lordship inevitably brought him into conflict with Bohemond of Taranto and Tancred of Lecce. It was at the Pilgrims' Mount that Raymond began to rule the territory around Tripoli: issuing charters and even perhaps minting his own coins. Historians have tended to overlook William Jordan's contribution to the formation of the county of Tripoli, perhaps because he was an exception to the otherwise straightforwardly patrilineal succession of counts who would rule in an unbroken chain from Raymond of Saint-Gilles in 1103 to Raymond III of Tripoli in 1187. With Raymond absent, Bertrand soon found himself preyed upon by various regional rivals and so the Toulousan empire began to crumble.