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| 1651 | William IX (Occitan: Guilhèm de Peitieus; French: Guillaume de Poitiers) (22 October 1071 - 10 February 1126), called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101. Though his political and military achievements have a certain historical importance, he is best known as the earliest troubadour - a vernacular lyric poet in the Occitan language - whose work survived. Ducal career William was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife, Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was a cause of great celebration at the Aquitanian court, but the Church at first considered him illegitimate because of his father's earlier divorces and his parents' consanguinity. This obliged his father to make a pilgrimage to Rome soon after his birth to seek Papal approval of his third marriage and the young William's legitimacy. Early career, 1088-1102 William inherited the duchy at the age of fifteen upon the death of his father. In 1088, at the age of only sixteen, William married his first wife, Ermengarde, the daughter of Fulk IV of Anjou. She was reputedly beautiful and well-educated, but also suffered from severe mood-swings, vacillating between vivacity and sullenness. She was considered a nag, and had a habit of retiring in bad temper to a cloister after an argument, cutting off all contact with the outside world until suddenly making a reappearance at court as if her absence had never occurred. Such behaviour, coupled with her failure to conceive a child, led William to send her back to her father and have the marriage dissolved (1091). In 1094 he remarried to Philippa, the daughter and heiress of William IV of Toulouse. By Philippa, William had two sons and five daughters, including his eventual successor, William X. His second son, Raymond, eventually became the Prince of Antioch in the Holy Land, and his daughter Agnes married firstly Aimery V of Thouars and then Ramiro II of Aragon, reestablishing dynastic ties with that ruling house. William invited Pope Urban II to spend the Christmas of 1095 at his court. The pope urged him to "take the cross" (i.e. the First Crusade) and leave for the Holy Land, but William was more interested in exploiting the absence on Crusade of Raymond IV of Toulouse, his wife's uncle, to press a claim to Toulouse. He and Philippa did capture Toulouse in 1098, an act for which they were threatened with excommunication. Partly out of a desire to regain favor with the religious authorities and partly out of a wish to see the world, William joined the Crusade of 1101, an expedition inspired by the success of the First Crusade in 1099. To finance it, he had to mortgage Toulouse back to Bertrand, the son of Raymond IV. The Duchess was an admirer of Robert of Arbrissel and persuaded William to grant him land in Northern Poitou to establish a religious community dedicated to the Virgin Mary [2]. This became Fontevraud Abbey, which would enjoy the patronage of William's granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine and would remain important until its dissolvement during the French Revolution. William arrived in the Holy Land in 1101 and stayed there until the following year. His record as a military leader is not very impressive. He fought mostly skirmishes in Anatolia and was frequently defeated. His recklessness led to his being ambushed on several occasions, with great losses to his own forces. In September 1101, his entire army was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks at Heraclea; William himself barely escaped, and, according to Orderic Vitalis, he reached Antioch with only six surviving companions. Conflict with Church and wife, 1102-1118 William, like his father and many magnates of the time, had a rocky relationship with the Church. He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for an alleged infringement of the Church's tax privileges. His response to this was to demand absolution from Peter, Bishop of Poitiers. As the bishop was at the point of pronouncing the anathema, the duke threatened him with a sword, swearing to kill him if he did not pronounce absolution. Bishop Peter, surprised, pretended to comply, but when the duke, satisfied, released him, the bishop completed reading the anathema, before calmly presenting his neck and inviting the duke to strike. According to contemporaries, William hesitated a moment before sheathing his sword and replying, "I don't love you enough to send you to paradise." William was excommunicated a second time for "abducting" the Viscountess Dangereuse (Dangerosa), the wife of his vassal Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellerault. The lady, however, appears to have been a willing party in the matter. He installed her in the Maubergeonne tower of his castle in Poitiers (leading to her nickname La Maubergeonne), and, as related by William of Malmesbury, even painted a picture of her on his shield. Upon returning to Poitiers from Toulouse, Philippa was enraged to discover a rival woman living in her palace. She appealed to her friends at court and to the Church; however, no noble could assist her since William was their feudal overlord, and whilst the Papal legate Giraud (who was bald) complained to William and told him to return Dangereuse to her husband, William's only response was, "Curls will grow on your pate before I part with the Viscountess." Humiliated, Philippa chose in 1116 to retire to the Abbey of Fontevraud, where she was befriended, ironically, by Ermengarde of Anjou, William's first wife. While in residence she may have had direct conversations or correspondence with Countess Adela of Blois, who was in constant contact with Fontevrault from Marcigney abbey. Philippa did not remain there long, however: the abbey records state that she died on the 28 November 1118. Later career, 1118-1126 Relations between the Duke and his elder son William also became strained-although it is unlikely that he ever embarked upon a seven-year revolt in order to avenge his mother's mistreatment, as Ralph of Diceto claimed, only to be captured by his father. Other records flatly contradict such a thing. Ralph claimed that the revolt began in 1113; but at that time, the young William was only thirteen and his father's liaison with Dangereuse had not yet begun. Father and son improved their relationship after the marriage of the younger William to Aenor of Châtellerault, Dangereuse's daughter by her husband, in 1121. William was readmitted to the Church around 1120, after making concessions to it. However, he was after 1118 faced with the return of his first wife, Ermengarde, who had, upon the death of Philippa, stormed down from Fontevrault to the Poitevin court, demanding to be reinstated as the Duchess of Aquitaine-presumably in an attempt to avenge the mistreated Philippa. In October 1119, she suddenly appeared at the Council of Reims being held by Pope Calixtus II and demanded that the Pope excommunicate William (again), oust Dangereuse from the ducal palace, and restore herself to her rightful place. The Pope "declined to accommodate her"; however, she continued to trouble William for several years afterwards, thereby encouraging him to join the Reconquista efforts underway in Spain. Between 1120 and 1123 William joined forces with the Kingdoms of Castile and León. Aquitanian troops fought side by side with Castilians in an effort to take Cordoba. During his sojourn in Spain, William was given a rock crystal vase by a Muslim ally that he later bequeathed to his granddaughter Eleanor. The vase probably originated in Sassanid Persia in the seventh century. In 1122, William lost control of Toulouse, Philippa's dower land, to Alfonso Jordan, the son and heir of Raymond IV, who had taken Toulouse after the death of William IV. He did not trouble to reclaim it. He died on 10 February 1126, aged 55, after suffering a short illness. Poetic career William's greatest legacy to history was not as a warrior but as a troubadour - a lyric poet employing the Romance vernacular language called Provençal or Occitan. He was the earliest troubadour whose work survives. Eleven of his songs survive (Merwin, 2002). The song traditionally numbered as the eighth (Farai chansoneta nueva) is of dubious attribution, since its style and language are significantly different (Pasero 1973, Bond 1982). Song 5 (Farai un vers, pos mi sonelh) has two significantly different versions in different manuscripts. The songs are attributed to him under his title as Count of Poitou (lo coms de Peitieus). The topics vary, treating sex, love, women, his own sexual and literary prowess, and feudal politics. An anonymous 13th-century vida of William remembers him thus: The Count of Poitiers was one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women. He was a fine knight at arms, liberal in his womanizing, and a fine composer and singer of songs. He traveled much through the world, seducing women. It is possible, however, that at least in part it is not based on facts, but on literal interpretation of his songs, written in first person; in Song 5, for example, he describes how he deceived two women. His frankness, wit and vivacity caused scandal and won admiration at the same time. He is among the first Romance vernacular poets of the Middle Ages, one of the founders of a tradition that would culminate in Dante, Petrarch, and François Villon. Ezra Pound mentions him in Canto VIII: And Poictiers, you know, Guillaume Poictiers, had brought the song up out of Spain with the singers and viels... In Spirit of Romance Pound also calls William IX "the most 'modern' of the troubadours": For any of the later Provençals, i.e., the high-brows, we have to... 'put ourselves into the Twelfth Century' etc. Guillaume, writing a century earlier, is just as much of our age as of his own. -Ezra Pound, cited in Bond 1982, p. lxxvi William was a man who loved scandal and no doubt enjoyed shocking his audiences. In fact, William granted large donations to the church, perhaps to regain the pope's favour. He also added to the palace of the counts of Poitou (which had stood since the Merovingian era), later added to by his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine and surviving in Poitiers as the Palace of Justice to this day. One of William's poems, possibly written at the time of his first excommunication, since it implies his son was still a minor, is partly a musing on mortality: Pos de chantar m'es pres talenz (Since I have the desire to sing,/I'll write a verse for which I'll grieve). It concludes: I have given up all I loved so much: chivalry and pride; and since it pleases God, I accept it all, that He may keep me by Him. I enjoin my friends, upon my death, all to come and do me great honor, since I have held joy and delight far and near, and in my abode. Thus I give up joy and delight, and squirrel and grey and sable furs. Orderic Vitalis refers to William composing songs (c. 1102) upon his return from the Crusade of 1101. These might be the first "Crusade songs": Then the Poitevin duke many times related, with rhythmic verses and witty measures, the miseries of his captivity, before kings, magnates, and Christian assemblies | William IX Duke of Aquitaine (I5644)
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| 1652 | William Longespée, 1st Earl of Salisbury was born illegitimately between 1160 and 1170. He was the son of Henry II 'Curtmantle' d'Anjou, King of England and Ida de Tosny. He married Ela, Countess of Salisbury, daughter of William FitzPatrick de Saresbury, 2nd Earl of Salisbury and Eleanor de Vitri, circa 1196. He died in 1226 at Mansourah, Egypt. He was also reported to have died on 7 March 1226 at Salisbury Castle. He gained the title of 1st Earl of Salisbury in 1196. | Longespée, William 1st Earl of Salisbury (I2789)
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| 1653 | William of Bellême (960/5 - 1028) called William Princeps, was the Seigneur of Bellême and a member of the House of Bellême. Life William was the son of Yves de Bellême and his wife Godeheut. Yves in turn was the son of Yves de Criel, magister balistarum (Latin meaning officer in charge of the royal siege train). With the consent of Richard I, Duke of Normandy William had constructed two castles, one at Alençon and the other at Domfront, while the caput of Yves' lordship was the castle of Bellême, constructed "a quarter of a league from the old dungeon of Bellême" in Maine. The first mention of William in any records was in 1000 as Marshall of the king's forces when he accompanied the King of France to Toulouse, the next mention being his succeeding his father in 1005. Also, in 1005 William along with his mother made several grants to local churches including the church of Boece, to which his father had founded in his castle of Bellême. Initially William attempted to revoke a gift of his father to Fleury Abbey but was so impressed with the abbot Gauzlin's appeal he restored the gift and also allowed his young son Benoit to become a monk there. His brother Avesgaud, Bishop of Le Mans who was engaged in constant warfare with Herbert I, Count of Maine. In 1020 Bishop Avesgaud fled to his brother's castle of Bellême after being driven out of his see by count Herbert, for which Avesgaud placed an interdict on Herbert and his lands and excommunicated the count. William joined forces with his brother Avesgaud attacking count Herbert at the castle of Ballon. At first William and Avesgaud were beaten back but Giroie (aka Géré), a vassal of William's held his ground and defeated Herbert's forces completely. William de Bellême introduced Giroie to Duke Richard at Rouen who rewarded Giroie with the lands of Heugon. In 1027 when Robert I, Duke of Normandy succeeded his brother Richard III, William de Bellême revolted against him. Robert laid siege to his castle of Bellême until William surrendered then had to humbly ask for forgiveness (in bare feet with a saddle on his shoulders). Having been forgiven and his fief of Alençon restored, William sent his sons Fulk and Robert to harass the Normans, but they were defeated and Fulk was killed in battle at Blavon. It is worth noting that neither William nor his father Ives ever attested any of their acts using the title comes (count), indicating they had feudal authority in their own territories but were not officially invested as counts. Family William had six sons: Fulk, died in his father's lifetime. Warin, died in 1026 under mysterious circumstances. He married Melisende, Vscountess of Chateaudun; their daughter Adela married Rotrou, Count of Mortagne (whose grandson was Rotrou 'the Great', Count of Perche and Morgagne). Robert, succeeded his father as Seigneur de Bellême, murdered in prison. Ives, Seigneur de Bellême and Bishop of Sées, succeeded his brother Robert, died 1070. William I Talvas held the honor of Bellême in right of his brother Ives. Benoit, a monk at Fleury Abbey. | de Bellême, William (I5097)
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| 1654 | William Peverell (c. 1040-c. 1115, Latinised to William Piperellus), was a Norman knight, and is shown in 'The Battle Abbey Roll' to have fought at the Battle of Hastings. Biography William Peverell the Elder was probably the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror and a Saxon princess named Maud Ingelrica (daughter of the noble Ingelric) although this cannot be supported by the historical record. Maud Ingelrica was later married to Ranulph Peverell, from whom William took his surname. William married Adelina of Lancaster, who bore him a daughter Adeliza, born circa 1075, and a son, also named William, born circa 1080. Etymology There exist two possible etymological explanations, J.R. Planché who sources it from the Latin Puerulus, a "boy" or "child", and the Latin noun piper, meaning "pepper". Puerulus J.R. Planché derives the name as follows:[2] "The name of Peverel ... was not derived from a fief or a locality ... the name was Peverell or Piperell, and in Domesday we find it continually spelt Piperellus (as in) Terra Ranulphi Pipperelli (i.e. "The lands of Ralph Pipperellus"). This, however, does not illustrate its derivation, and the detestable practice of Latinising proper names only tends to confuse and mislead us, as they become in turn translated or corrupted till the original is either lost or rendered hopelessly inexplicable. It may be that like Mesquin lesser, or junior, translated into Mischinus, and distorted into de Micenis, "Peverel" is the Norman form of Peuerellus, as we find it written in the Anglo-Norman Pipe and Plea Rolls. The "u" being pronounced "v" in Normandy, and Peuerellus being simply a mis-spelling of the Latin Puerulus, a boy or child, naturally applied to the son to distinguish him from his father. William Peverel was therefore, literally, "boy-" or "child-William". We see in the instance of the descendants of Richard d'Avranches how Mesquin, used to distinguish a younger son, became the name of a family, and so it may have been with Peverel, which, originally applied to William, was afterwards borne by so many of his relations in England." Piper The Norman name Peverel was commonly Latinised by mediaeval scribes as Piperellus, apparently derived from the diminutive of the Latin noun piper, meaning "pepper", thus "little pepper". Derived from the Latin word piper is the Old-Norman French word peivre in , in modern French poivre, meaning "pepper". In slang the meaning then as now was "angry, irascible, aggressive, atrabilarious, angry, fulminant, furious, fractious, anxious, irritable, stormy, touchy", which produced such ancient surnames as Peiverel, Pevrel and Peivrel. In French, this may give Poivret and Poivrot). (See also Placenames) Lands in England Whatever his paternity, William Peverel was a favourite of the Conqueror. He was greatly honoured after the Norman Conquest, receiving over a hundred holdings in central England from the king. In 1086, the Domesday Book records William as holding substantial land (162 lordships), collectively called the Honour of Peverel, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, including Nottingham Castle. He also built Peveril Castle, Castleton, Derbyshire. Peverel is one of people explicitly recorded in the Domesday Book as having built castles. Family Maud and Ranulph's known legitimate son, also Ranulph, was almost as well favoured by the king as William was. He was granted 64 manors in Nottingham, although these were later taken from his family by Henry II for their support of Stephen against the Empress Matilda. The baronial family of the Peverels descend from Ranulph, not William. After his first wife had died, William's son, William Peverel the Younger, married Avice de Lancaster, daughter of Roger of Poitou, Earl of Lancaster. Beryl Platts has suggested that the Peverels in Normandy derive in fact from Flanders. William "the Younger" Peverel (c. 1080-1155) was the son of William Peverel. He lived in Nottingham, England.[1] He married Avicia de Lancaster (1088 - c. 1150) in La Marche, Normandy, France. She was the daughter of Roger "The Poitevin" Montgomery and Countess Almodis of La Marche. In 1114, she bore a daughter, Margaret Peverel. Another member of his family, Maude Peverel (a sister or daughter) was - by 1120 - the first wife of Robert fitz Martin. William inherited the Honour of Peverel. He was a principal supporter of King Stephen, and a commander in the Battle of the Standard. He was captured at The Battle of Lincoln.[2] King Henry II dispossessed William of the Honour, for conspiring to poison the Earl of Chester - though historians speculate that the King wished to punish him for his 'wickedness and treason' in supporting King Stephen. The Earl died before he took possession of the Honour, and it stayed in the Crown for about a half century. | Peverel, William (I2847)
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| 1655 | William Talvas, Comte de Ponthieu gained the title of Comte d'Alençon. He gained the title of Comte de Montreuil-sur-Mer. He gained the title of Comte de Ponthieu. William III of Ponthieu (c.1093 - 1172) was son of Robert II of Bellême and Agnes of Ponthieu. He is also called William (II; III) Talvas. He was seigneur de Montgomery in Normandy. Life He succeeded his father as count of Ponthieu some time between 1105 and 1111, when he alone as count made a gift to the abbey of Cluny. His father Robert de Bellême had turned against Henry I on several occasions, had escaped capture at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 commanding Duke Robert's rear guard and later, while serving as envoy for King Louis of France, he was arrested by Henry I and imprisoned for life. William was naturally driven by this to oppose King Henry. In June of 1119, however, Henry I restored all his father's lands in Normandy. Sometime prior to 1126, William resigned the county of Ponthieu to his son Guy but retained the title of count. In 1135 Henry I again confiscated all his Norman lands to which William responded by joining count Geoffrey of Anjou in his invasion of Normandy after Henry I's death Family His married, abt. 1115, Helie of Burgundy, daughter of Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum says that they had five children, three sons and two daughters. Europäische Stammtafeln, however, shows eleven. The five both agree on are: Guy II. He assumed the county of Ponthieu during his father Talvas' lifetime, but died in 1147 predeceasing his father. William, Count of Alençon. John I, Count of Alençon, married Beatrix d'Anjou, daughter of Elias II, Count of Maine and Philippa, daughter of Rotrou III, Count of Perche. Clemence married (abt. 1189) Juhel, son of Walter of Mayenne. Adela (aka Ela) married William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey. | Talvas, William Comte de Ponthieu (I385)
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| 1656 | William Talvas, Signeur d'Alençon gained the title of Signeur d'Alençon [Normandy]. William I Talvas (c. 995 - 1052), seigneur of Alençon. According to Orderic Vitalis his nickname Talvas meaning shield, presumably alluded to his hardness or callousness like that of a shield. He was a member of the House of Bellême. Life He was a son of William of Bellême and Mathilde of Condé-sur-Noireau. He held lands at Bellême, Domfront and Alençon, He obtained the lands of Bellême from his brother Yves de Bellême, Bishop of Séez who held them of the King of France while Alençon was held of the Duke of Normandy and Domfront of the Count of Maine. While as treacherous and self-serving as any of his family before him he surpassed them in wickedness and cruelty. He had married a Hildeburg, daughter of a nobleman named Arnulf, but he had his wife strangled on her way to church, according to Orderic, because she loved God and would not support his wickedness. William married secondly a daughter of Ralf de Beaumont, Viscount of Le Mans. Among the private feuds going on during the minority of Duke William was one that erupted between William Talvas and William fitz Giroie. William fitz Giroie was a vassal of William Talvas and his father Giroie had assisted Talvas' father and uncle in the struggles against Herbert I Wake-dog, Count of Maine. William fitz Giroie himself had greatly assisted William Talvas in obtaining his own lands, apparently by force. But William fitz Giroie was also a vassal of Geoffrey de Mayenne, an adherent, in turn, of the Count of Maine. About 1044 William Talvas attacked the castle of Montaigu which was being defended by William fitz Giroie. Unable to defeat the castle William Talvas captured Geoffrey de Mayenne and held him prisoner until William Fitz Giroie destroyed the castle of Montaigu. William fitz Giroie immediately razed his own castle to free his lord and in return Geoffrey de Mayenne built fitz Giroie a new castle at St. Cenery on the river Sarthe. This apparently caused great resentment in William Talvas. On the occasion of his second wedding, William Talvas invited William fitz Giroie to attend. Suspecting nothing fitz Giroie while a guest at the festivities was suddenly seized by Talvas' men and imprisoned, then according to Orderic horribly mutilated and blinded before being released. Somehow William Giroie survived his torture and mutilation and retired to Bec Abbey to live out the remainder of his life as a monk. To avenge this atrocity the sons and kinsmen of William fitz Giroie sacked and destroyed the lands of William Talvas who would not face them in the field. Finally, Talvas' son Arnulf rebelled and exiled his father, now reviled by everyone. He wandered until he was taken in by the de Montgomery family whose son Roger agreed to marry his daughter Mabel in return for the lands William lost. It seems certain that after the death of Arnulf the following year, that William Talvas recovered his lands. William confirmed a gift to St. Aubin of Angers made by his brother Yves circa 1060-2 and after that nothing more is heard of him. Family By Hildeburg, his first wife, William had two children: Arnulf de Bellême, who deprived his father of his estates and wealth and was dead by 1049. Mabel de Bellême, who married Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and was murdered 2 Dec 1079 His second wife, a daughter of Ralf de Beaumont, may have been the mother of his son: Oliver who after long service in the wars, became a monk at Bec. William Talvas is said to have cursed the infant William, later to become William the Conqueror, in his cradle predicitng the child would be the downfall of the house of Bellême. | William I Talvas (I2922)
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| 1657 | William V (969 - 31 January 1030), called the Great (le Grand), was Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou (as William II or III) from 990 until his death. Life He was the son and successor of William IV by his wife Emma of Blois, daughter of Theobald I of Blois. He seems to have taken after his formidable mother, who ruled Aquitaine as regent until 1004. He was a friend to Bishop Fulbert of Chartres, who found in him another Maecenas, and founded a cathedral school at Poitiers. He himself was very well educated, a collector of books, and turned the prosperous court of Aquitaine into the learning centre of Southern France. Though a cultivated prince, he was a failure in the field. He called in the aid of his suzerain Robert II of France in subduing his vassal, Boso of La Marche. Together, they yet failed. Eventually, Boso was chased from the duchy. He had to contain the Vikings who yearly threatened his coast, but in 1006, he was defeated by Viking invaders. He lost the Loudunais and Mirebalais to Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou. He had to give up Confolens, Ruffec, and Chabanais to compensate William II of Angoulême, but Fulbert negotiated a treaty (1020) outlining the reciprocal obligations of vassal and suzerain. However, his court was a centre of artistic endeavour and he its surest patron. His piety and culture brought peace to his vast feudum and he tried to stem the tide of feudal warfare then destroying the unity of many European nations by supporting the current Peace and Truce of God movements initiated by Pope and Church. He founded Maillezais Abbey (1010) and Bourgueil Abbey. He rebuilt the cathedral and many other religious structures in Poitiers after a fire. He travelled widely in Europe, annually visiting Rome or Spain as a pilgrim. Everywhere he was greeted with royal pomp. His court was of an international flavour, receiving ambassadors from the Emperor Henry II, Alfonso V of León, Canute the Great, and even his suzerain, Robert of France. In 1024-1025, an embassy from Italy, sent by Ulric Manfred II of Turin, came to France seeking a king of their own, the Henry II having died. The Italians asked for Robert's son Hugh Magnus, co-king of France, but Robert refused to allow his son to go and the Italians turned to William, whose character and court impressed many. He set out for Italy to consider the proposal, but the Italian political situation convinced him to renounce the crown for him and his heirs. Most of his surviving six letters deal with the Italian proposal. His reign ended in peace and he died on the last (or second to last) day of January 1030 at Maillezais, which he founded and where he is buried. The principal source of his reign is the panegyric of Adhemar of Chabannes. Family He was married at least 3 times. His first wife was Adalemode of Limoges, widow of Adalbert I of La Marche. They had one son: William VI, his successor His second wife was Sancha of Gascony (or Brisa/Prisca), daughter of Duke William II Sánchez of Gascony and sister of Duke Sancho VI William. She was dead by 1018. They had two sons and a daughter: Odo, later duke also Adalais, married Count Guiraut I Trancaleon of Armagnac Theobald, died young His third wife was Agnes of Burgundy, daughter of Otto-William, Duke of Burgundy. Her second husband was Geoffrey II of Anjou. They had two sons and a daughter also: Peter William, later duke as William VII Guy Geoffrey, later duke as William VIII Agnes (or Ala), married Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (1043) | William V Duke of Aquitaine (I5271)
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| 1658 | William VII (born Peter, Pierre-Guillaume) (1023 - autumn 1058), called the Eagle (Aigret) or the Bold (le Hardi), was the duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou (as William V) between 1039 and his death, following his half-brother Odo. William was the third son of William V of Aquitaine, the eldest by his third wife, Agnes of Burgundy. He was brother-in-law of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, who married his sister Agnes. His mother remarried to Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou, during his reign. William won his patrimony in a war with his half-brother Odo, who was killed in battle at Mauzé. He did not, however, succeed in occupying Gascony. Geoffrey Martel refused to concede to him the territories gained in the reigns of his predecessors. William set to work regaining his patrimony by force of arms. He was besieging Geoffrey in Saumur when he died of dysentery. He was married to Ermesinde, of unknown origins. Two daughters have been hypothesized to be children of this couple: Clementia, who married Conrad I of Luxembourg, and Agnes, who married Peter I of Savoy. | William VII Duke of Aquitaine (I5269)
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| 1659 | William VIII (c. 1025 - 25 September 1086), born Guy-Geoffrey (Gui-Geoffroi), was duke of Gascony (1052-1086), and then duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers (as William VI) between 1058 and 1086, succeeding his brother William VII (Pierre-Guillaume). Guy-Geoffroy was the youngest son of William V of Aquitaine by his third wife Agnes of Burgundy. He was the brother-in-law of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor who had married his sister, Agnes de Poitou. He became Duke of Gascony in 1052 during his older brother William VII's rule. Gascony had come to Aquitanian rule through William V's marriage to Prisca (a.k.a. Brisce) of Gascony, the sister of Duke Sans VI Guilhem of Gascony. William VIII was one of the leaders of the allied army called to help Ramiro I of Aragon in the Siege of Barbastro (1064). This expedition was the first campaign organized by the papacy, namely Pope Alexander II, against a Muslim city, and the precursor of the later Crusades movement. Aragon and its allies conquered the city, killed its inhabitants and collected an important booty. However, Aragon lost the city again in the following years. During William VIII's rule, the alliance with the southern kingdoms of modern Spain was a political priority as shown by the marriage of all his daughters to Iberian kings. He married three times and had at least five children. After he divorced his second wife due to infertility, he remarried to a much younger woman who was also his cousin. This marriage produced a son, but William VIII had to visit Rome in the early 1070s to persuade the pope to recognize his children from his third marriage as legitimate. First wife: Garsende of Périgord, daughter of Count Aldabert II of Périgord (divorced November 1058), no children. She became a nun at Saintes. Second wife: Matoeda (divorced May 1068) Agnes (1052-1078), married Alfonso VI of Castile Third wife: Hildegarde of Burgundy (daughter of duke Robert I of Burgundy) Agnes (died 1097), married Peter I of Aragon William IX of Aquitaine, his heir | William VIII Duke of Aquitaine (I5645)
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| 1660 | William X (1099 - 9 April 1137), called the Saint, was Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, and Count of Poitou (as William VIII) between 1126 and 1137. He was the son of William IX by his second wife, Philippa of Toulouse. William was born in Toulouse during the brief period when his parents ruled the capital. His birth is recorded in the Chronicle of Saint-Maixent for the year 1099: Willelmo comiti natus est filius, equivoce Guillelmus vocatus ("a son was born to Count William, named William like himself"). Later that same year, much to his wife's ire, Duke William mortgaged Toulouse to Philippa's cousin, Bertrand of Toulouse, and then left on Crusade. Philippa and her infant son were left in Poitiers. Long after Duke William's return, he took up with Dangereuse, the wife of one of his vassals, and set aside his rightful wife, Philippa. This caused strain between father and son, until William married Aenor de Châtellerault, daughter of his father's mistress, in 1121. He had three children with her: Eleanor, who later became heiress to the Duchy; Petronilla, who married Raoul I of Vermandois; William Aigret, who died at age 4 in 1130, about the time their mother Aenor de Châtellerault died. He possibly had one natural son, William. For a long time it was thought that he had another natural son called Joscelin and some biographies still erroneously state this fact, but Joscelin has now been shown to be the brother of Adeliza of Louvain. The attribution of Joscelin as a son of William X has been caused by a mistaken reading of the Pipe Rolls pertaining to the reign of Henry II, where 'brother of the queen' has been taken as Queen Eleanor, when the queen in question is actually Adeliza of Louvain. William, called of Poitiers in the Pipe rolls may have been a half brother of Eleanor. Chronicler John of Salisbury tells us that Petronella died in 1151 or 1152, after which her husband Raoul of Vermandois briefly remarried. William was both a lover of the arts and a warrior. He became involved in conflicts with Normandy (which he raided in 1136, in alliance with Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou who claimed it in his wife's name) and France. Even inside his borders, William faced an alliance of the Lusignans and the Parthenays against him, an issue resolved with total destruction of the enemies. In international politics, William X initially supported antipope Anacletus II in the schism of 1130, opposite to Pope Innocent II, against the will of his own bishops. In 1134 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux convinced William to drop his support to Anacletus and join Innocent. In 1137 William joined the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, but died of suspected food poisoning during the trip. On his deathbed, he expressed his wish to see king Louis VI of France as protector of his fifteen-year-old daughter Eleanor, and to find her a suitable husband. Louis VI naturally accepted this guardianship and married the heiress of Aquitaine to his own son, Louis VII. | William X Duke of Aquitaine (I5643)
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| 1661 | Within a year after the death of his cousins in 839, it appears that Kenneth seized the kingship of Dal Riata. There is little historical record from the next eight years, but it appears that Kenneth followed in the footsteps of his cousins, and made a bid for the kingship of the Picts. He was resisted, ineffectualy, by a short-lived dynasty bearing Pictish names. Later legends suggest that Kenneth achieved his success through treachery; slaying his Pictish guests at a feast. Whatever his means, Kenneth defeated his last Pictish rival by 848, and in the following year, he celebrated his victory by building a church dedicated to St. Columba in his new Pictish lands. The Scottish Chronicle, the main source for Scottish History of this period, records that Kenneth raided England no fewer than six times. He died on 858 from a tumour, and was succeeded by his brother Donald I. He had at least four children. | Mac Alpin, King Of Picts And Scots, Cinaed (Kenneth I) (I928)
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| 1662 | Yves de Bellême (died c. 1005), Seigneur de Bellême. First known progenitor of the House of Bellême. Life Yves de was probably the son of Yves de Creil, one of those who saved young Duke Richard I from death or mutilation at hand of King Louis IV of France. Yves de Bellême held the castle and lands of Bellême, of the King of France, as well as the Sonnois and part of the Passais both held of the Count of Maine. That he held part of the march-lands of Passais is known from his having given abbot Gauzlin of Fleury Abbey the lands of Magny-le-Désert. His wife was named Godeheut and although her parentage is unknown, she was the sister of Seinfroy, Bishop of Le Mans. Yves was the founder of a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in his castle of Bellême and endowed it with a church in the Sonoisis, another at Vieux Bellême plus a vill and three other churches in the Hiesmois. Yves died sometime after 1005. Family Yves de Bellême and his wife Godeheut had five children: William of Bellême (960/5 - 1028), succeeded his father as seigneur de Bellême. Yves de Bellême (d. 1030), Abbot of Fleury. Avesgaud de Bellême (d. 1036), Bishop of Le Mans. Hildeburg, abt. 1006 married Aimon, Seigneur de Chateau-du-Loir. Godehilde, | de Bellême, Yves (I5098)
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