William II (Angoulême)

Wilhelm II. Taillefer (French: Guillaume Taillefer ; † probably 945) was a Count of Angoulême from the House of Taillefer . He was a son of Count Alduin I of Angoulême . Because he was not of age when his father died in 916, his uncle Adémar by marriage initially ruled for him in Angouleme.

Wilhelm made a name for himself as a fighter against the Vikings who had been invading Aquitaine for several decades . The chronicler Ademar von Chabannes reports how Wilhelm put their leader Storin into a duel during a battle against the Vikings and, despite his iron armor, split him in two halves with a sword cut. Hence his nickname Sector ferri (German: "Eisenschneider", French: "Taillefer"), which became the family name of his descendants.

Wilhelm's will dates back to 945, after which he probably died. He was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Cybard. He was not married but had two illegitimate sons. Apparently because the older of them, Arnaud Manzer , was not of age when he died, Wilhelm's cousin from the Périgord , Count Bernard , was able to follow in Angoulême.

literature

• FW Bourdillon: The Genesis of a Romance-Hero, as Illustrated by the Development of Taillefer de Léon. In: Folklore. Vol. 7 (1896), pp. 253-267.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilhelm was the first of his name to officiate as Count of Angoulême. Taking into account his uncle, Count Wilhelm I of Périgord , the ordinal number "II" has prevailed for him.
2. ↑ Ademari Historiarum Liber III. ed. by Georg Waitz In: Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS. 4 (1861), pp. 127–128.
3. ↑ Ademar von Chabannes: Chronicon. III §24, ed. by Jules Chavanon (1897), pp. 145-146.
4. ↑ Ademar von Chabannes: Chronicon. III §28, ed. by Jules Chavanon (1897), p. 149.

predecessor	Office	successor
Adémar	Count of Angoulême 930–945	Bernard