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- Dangereuse de L'Isle Bouchard (1079-1151) was a daughter of Barthelemy de L'Isle Bouchard and his wife Gerberge de Blaison. She was the maternal grandmother of the celebrated Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was also mistress to her granddaughters' paternal grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. Dangereuse is also known as La Maubergeonne.
Family
Dangereuse's paternal grandparents were Archimbaud Borel de Bueil and Agnes de L'Isle Bouchard. Her maternal grandparents were Eon de Blaison and Tcheletis de Trèves. Through her granddaughter, Dangereuse was an ancestor of various nobles and monarchs including: Richard I of England, Marie, Countess of Champagne, John of England, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, Joan, Queen of Sicily, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, Matilda, Duchess of Saxony and Henry the Young King.
Her granddaughter Eleanor was Queen consort of France, Queen consort of England and Duchess of Aquitaine (in her own right).
Life
Marriage
Dangereuse married Viscount Aimery I of Châtellerault at an unknown date. She advised her husband to donate property to Saint-Denis en Vaux in a charter dated 1109, which means they were married before this point. Dangereuse was a woman who did as she pleased and cared little for public opinion.
Their marriage produced five children (two sons and three daughters):
Hugh (died before 1176) succeeded his father as Viscount
Raoul (died 1190) married Elisabeth de Faye and had issue
Aenor/Eleanor (c. 1103 - March 1130) married William X, Duke of Aquitaine, mother to Duchess Eleanor and Petronilla
Amable, married Wulgrin II, Count of Angoulême
Aois (fate unknown)
Dangereuse and Aimery were married for around seven years before she left her husband to become the mistress to Duke William IX; this became an infamous liaison.
Mistress to William IX
Whilst travelling through Poitou, Duke William met the "seductive" Dangereuse.[5] This led to her leaving her husband for Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who was excommunicated by the church for "abducting her"; however, she appeared 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, his wife Philippa of Toulouse was enraged to discover a rival woman living in her palace. She appealed to her friends at court and to the Church;[8] however, no noble could assist her since William was their feudal overlord, and whilst the Papal legate Giraud complained to William and told him to return Dangereuse to her husband, William's only response to the bald legate was, "Curls will grow on your pate before I part with the Viscountess." Humiliated, Philippa chose in 1116 to retire to the Abbey of Fontevrault, where she was befriended, ironically, by Ermengarde of Anjou, William's first wife.
Dangereuse and William had three children:
Henri (died after 1132), a monk and later Prior of Cluny
Adelaide, married Raoul de Faye
Sybille, Abbess of Saintes
Some believe that Raymond of Poitiers, was a child of William and Dangereuse, rather than by Philippa of Toulouse. The primary source which names his mother has not so far been identified. However, he is not named in other sources as a legitimate son of Willam IX. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that he was born from the duke's relationship with Dangereuse. If this is the case, Dangereuse was grandmother to Bohemund III of Antioch, Maria of Antioch and Philippa of Antioch.
Philippa died two years later and William's first wife Ermengarde set out to avenge 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 as Duchess consort. The Pope "declined to accommodate her"; however, she continued to trouble William for several years afterwards.
The relationship between William and his legitimate son William were troubled by his father's liaison Dangereuse, this was only settled when the pair arranged the marriage between William the Younger and Dangereuse's daughter Aenor in 1121; the following year Eleanor was born.
William died on 10 February 1126; nothing is recorded of Dangereuse after this point. Dangereuse died in 1151.
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1079 - 1151 (72 years)
, d. Mar 1129/30, Talmont, Charente-Maritime, Poitou-Charentes, France