William I (Provence)

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Wilhelm I.

William I called the Liberator ( French Guillaume I. le Libérateur ; † 993 ) was Count and later Margrave of Provence and as William II. Count of Arles . He was the younger son of Count Boso II and Constance of Provence from the house of the Buvinids .

Life

In 970 Wilhelm was Count of Arles and Provence, in 979 he assumed the title of Margrave of Provence , which, compared to his older brother Count Rotbald II , describes him as the head of the family. It is not known whether this involved an actual division of the country or a joint government.

He got his nickname because of his victories over the Saracens , through which he freed Provence from this threat, which has been constant since the establishment of their base in Fraxinetum ( La Garde-Freinet ). In the Battle of Tourtour in 973, with the support of the Counts of the Alps, the Vice Counts of Marseille and Fos-sur-Mer, he finally drove them out of the country. He reorganized the country east of the Rhone , which King Konrad III. of Burgundy awarded to him and that he had taken from the Saracens. With royal approval, he and his descendants also controlled the Provencal Fiscus . He and the Bishop of Grenoble Isarn resettled people in the Dauphiné . At Fréjus in 970 an Italian named Ugo Blavia was installed as a count. Because of his achievements, he is referred to in Rodulfus Glaber's chronicle as Dux and in a document from 992 as Pater patriae .

He gave gifts to Cluny Abbey and at the end of his life retired to a monastery. He died in Avignon and was buried in the Saint-Croix church in Sarrians . He was succeeded as margrave by his brother.

Marriages

His first marriage was Arsenda von Comminges , then in 984/986 his second marriage - against the will of the Pope - in 984/86 Adelheid (Blanche) von Anjou († 1026), daughter of Fulko II , Count von Anjou , widow of the Count Stephan (Étienne) of Gévaudan and divorced wife of King Louis V the Lazy of France .

progeny

This section needs to be revised: This Wilhelm's genealogy has been considered obsolete since the 1990s and should be brought up to date with the latest research.
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Wilhelm's legacy comes from his first marriage:

  • Wilhelm II. (Also: Guillaume III. Or Wilhelm III.) (992 minor, † 1018 before May 30th) Count of Provence 994-1018; ⚭ around 1002 Gerberga von Burgund († 1020/23) from the house of Burgundy-Ivrea , daughter of Count Otto Wilhelm of Burgundy

His daughters come from his second marriage:

In addition, he probably had two other children:

Remarks

  1. ↑ Count Wilhelm I is often called with the ordinal number "II.", Because he had an uncle of the same name who was a Count of Avignon.

literature

  • Noël Coulet: Wilhelm (Guillem) II. Arles . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 9. dtv, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-423-59057-2 , Sp. 150-151.
predecessor Office successor
Boson III. Earl of Arles
968-993 		Guillaume II.
Boson III. Count of Provence
972–993 		Guillaume II.
newly created Margrave of Provence
979–993 		Roubaud I.
personal data
SURNAME Wilhelm I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guillaume I. de Provence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count and later Margrave of Provence, as William II. Count of Arles
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century
DATE OF DEATH 993