William IV (Angoulême)

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Wilhelm IV (French: Guillaume ; † April 6, 1028 ) was a Count of Angoulême from the House of Taillefer . He was a son of Count Arnaud II. Manzer and his first wife Raingarde.

At a young age, Wilhelm was a loyal follower of his liege, Duke Wilhelm IV. Iron Arm of Aquitaine , from whom he held the castle of Blaye as a fief. Later he was an ally of Count Fulko III. Nerra of Anjou , for whom he besieged and destroyed Taillebourg in the Saintonge .

Wilhelm is best known as the leader of a large pilgrimage society, consisting of high-ranking nobles, who left Angoulême on October 1, 1026 and, passing through Hungary and Constantinople , reached Jerusalem in the first week of March 1027 . Already in June or July 1027 William had returned to Angoulême with great sympathy from the population. When he became seriously ill a few months later in the winter of 1027, his son Alduin had several women arrested on suspicion of sorcery and tortured in order to force them to confess. When Wilhelm found out about it, lying on his deathbed, he ordered the women to be released. After he was dead and buried on the day at the Abbey Saint-Cybard, ordered Alduin yet the combustion of women, because some had stood by them under torture.

A 12th century chronicle reported that Wilhelm had actually been poisoned by his daughter-in-law Alaisia, Alduin's wife, because he intended to disinherit their children. It is possible that this claim was made by the descendants of Gottfried , Wilhelm's second son, for propaganda reasons , in order to justify his assumption of power after Alduin's death while his children were being ousted.

Wilhelm IV was married to Gerberga, a daughter of Count Gottfried I of Anjou . Your children were:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm was the third of his name to serve as Count of Angoulême. Taking into account the cousins ​​of his family from Périgord, however, he is named with the ordinal number "IV.".
  2. ^ Ademar von Chabannes : Ademari Historiarum Liber III. In: Georg Waitz (Ed.): Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS. 4 (1861), pp. 145–146.
  3. ^ Ademar von Chabannes: Ademari Historiarum Liber III. In: Georg Waitz (Ed.): Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS. 4 (1861), pp. 146–147.
  4. ↑ Historia pontificum et comitum engolismensium. In: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France . 11 (1876), p. 264.
predecessor Office successor
Arnaud II. Manzer Count of Angoulême
988-1028 		Alduin II.
personal data
SURNAME William IV
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guillaume Taillefer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Angoulême
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1028