William IV (Ponthieu)

Wilhelm IV. Talvas , depending on how they were counted, Wilhelm II. Talvas (* 1179 ; † October 4, 1221 ) from the House of Montgommery was Count von Ponthieu and thus a vassal of the Duke of Normandy . He was the son and heir of Count Johann I († 1191) and Beatrix von Saint-Pol .

Marriage to Alix of France

Wilhelm Talvas married Alix of France , daughter of King Ludwig VII , on August 20, 1195. His wife was significantly older than him (depending on the source about 10 or 20 years) and before that the fiancée of Richard the Lionheart and - according to rumors - the mistress from his father, King Henry II of England . After taking office in 1189, Richard finally refused to marry Alix, and on his return from the Third Crusade sent her back to her (half) brother Philip II of France .

Philipp then arranged the marriage between Alix and Wilhelm in the expectation that the marriage would remain childless and that he would then gain control of the Ponthieu. However, Alix was (probably 1197/98) the mother of a daughter, Maria , who inherited the county of Ponthieu after Wilhelm's death. Mary became the maternal grandmother of Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290) , the first wife of King Edward I of England . According to some sources, William and Alix also had a son John, who died in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 , but whose existence has so far been the case could not be saved.

In the summer of 1210 Wilhelm took part in the Albigensian Crusade and the siege of Termes . At the Battle of Bouvines he commanded the left wing of Philip II's army.

literature

• MJ Monicat: Recueil des Actes de Philippe Auguste Roi de France . 1996.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see [1]

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann I.	Count of Ponthieu 1191–1221	Maria