William of Aquitaine

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William of Aquitaine (kneeling), donor portrait

William of Aquitaine , also "William of Gellone", "William the Holy", "Wilhelm Kurznase" ( French Guilhem or Guillaume ; † probably May 28, 812 in Gellone, today Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert near Montpellier in France ) the house of the Wilhelmids named after him was Count of Toulouse from 790 to 806, when he retired to a monastery . His successor in Toulouse was Beggo I , to whom the county of Paris was entrusted in 811 .

Life

Wilhelm was the son of Count Theodorich von Autun and his wife Aldana , who was perhaps a daughter of the Frankish housekeeper Karl Martell (but this is controversial), making him a brother-in-law of Charlemagne .

Charlemagne appointed Wilhelm in 789/90 to succeed the deposed Count Chorso as Count of Toulouse . In his function as military commander, he probably carried the title of dux , although this cannot be explicitly proven in the sources. Possibly he was responsible for the reconquest of the city of Nimes, but in 793 he suffered a defeat in the battle of the river Aude against a larger Arab army. In the sources, however, the Count's courage is repeatedly emphasized, including in the subsequent arguments with the Arabs. In 801 he conquered the city of Barcelona together with Louis the Pious , after which he briefly ruled Catalonia . The Vita Hludowici imperatoris Thegans also reports that a Wilhelm fought near Córdoba in 801 , but the assignment to the Count of Toulouse is uncertain.

Wilhelm became a particularly close confidante of the future Emperor Ludwig during his reign in Aquitaine. In some research it is assumed that Charlemagne had purposefully steered the young count into a position of trust in order to exert influence on his son.

In December 804 Wilhelm founded the Gellone Abbey , which he settled with monks from nearby Aniane . On June 29, 806 (at least as stated in a saint's vita), he himself entered the monastery, but not in a leading position, but remained a hermit until his death . The monastery was initially named St. Crucis after a cross relic that Charlemagne gave to Wilhelm on the occasion of his entry into the monastery.

Afterlife

The monastery of Gellone

Wilhelm died in Gellone and was buried here. His grave became a place of pilgrimage; the first elevation of his bones happened around the year 1000. The monastery Gellone or Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is one of the stops on the Via Tolosana , the southernmost of the four St. James' Ways in France. In 1066 he was canonized (he is considered the patron saint of the armory ), and the monastery was named after him from the 12th century Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. In 1139 the relics of Wilhelm were transferred to the church. Scattered during the French Revolution (1793), the remains of his relics are now in the Basilica of St-Sernin de Toulouse .

The colonization of Gellone by monks from Aniane led to a dispute between the two monasteries in the 11th century over the question of whether Gellone was independent or under Aniane. The dispute was decided by Rome in 1092 in favor of Gellone, but the verdict in Aniane was probably not accepted.

In the Chanson de Guillaume , one of the great epics of the Old French epic , the hero Guillaume d'Orange (or Guillaume de courbe nez), who goes back to William of Aquitaine, is glorified. This material was translated into German by Wolfram von Eschenbach in his " Willehalm " around 1210/1220 .

family

Wilhelm's parents are known from several sources. On the other hand, information about his siblings and children is given in the documents dealing with the founding of the Gellone Abbey. These documents exist in two versions, are dated 14th and 15th December 804, respectively, but actually date from the 11th century and have the dispute between the monasteries of Gellone and Aniane as their background; the documents probably go back to the (lost) original document, but are apparently so falsified that the original content can hardly be determined.

According to these documents, his brothers were Theudonius, Count von Autun, Theodoricus and Adalhelm. His sisters were named Albana and Bertana. His wives were Kunigunde and Guitburge or Witburg and Kunigunde, so that the order of the marriages can no longer be determined here. Only Bernhard, Witcher, Gaucelm and Helinbruch are given as his children.

Research assigns eleven children to him. Probably from Kunigunde:

  • Berà Count of Rasès ; † before 814; ⚭ Romilla
  • Witcher, 804 attested; † probably before 824
  • Hildehelm, 804 attested; † probably before 824
  • Helinbruch, 804 attested; † probably before 824
  • Herbert, 803 with his father outside Barcelona, ​​803/43 attested
  • Bernhard , 804/44 attested, until 830 Count of Autun , until 831 Margrave of Septimania , 834 in Burgundy , 844 expropriated; ⚭ June 24, 824 in Aachen Dhuoda ; † after February 2, 843, sister of Aribert
  • Gerberga (Gariberga), presumably identical to the nun from Châlon, who was drowned with her brother in 834 in Chalon-sur-Saône because of sorcery

From the second marriage probably come from:

literature

Web links

Commons : William of Aquitaine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ However, the information is based only on a saint's life, cf. Yanick Strauch: Wilhelm von Toulouse § 4 . In: Germanische Altertumskunde Online (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  2. ^ Yanick Strauch: Wilhelm von Toulouse . In: Germanische Altertumskunde Online (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  3. ↑ Schieffer, p. 88
  4. ^ Vita Hludowici Imperatoris 13, p. 612
  5. ^ Yanick Strauch: Wilhelm von Toulouse § 3 . In: Germanische Altertumskunde Online (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  6. ^ Yanick Strauch: Wilhelm von Toulouse § 4 . In: Germanische Altertumskunde Online (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  7. ↑ So at least with Detlev Schwennicke : Europäische Stammtafeln Volume III.4 (1989), Plate 731
personal data
SURNAME William of Aquitaine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES William of Gellone; Guillaume de Gellone; Guillaume au Court Nez; Guilhem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Patron saint of the armory
DATE OF BIRTH at 754
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 812
Place of death Gellone (now Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert ) near Montpellier , France