William VII (born
Peter,
Pierre-Guillaume) (1023 – autumn 1058), called
the Eagle (
Aigret) or
the Bold (
le Hardi), was the
duke of Aquitaine and
count of Poitou (as William V) between 1039 and his death, following his half-brother
Odo.
William was the third son of
William V of Aquitaine, the eldest by his third wife,
Agnes of Burgundy. He was brother-in-law of the
Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, who married his sister
Agnes. His mother remarried to
Geoffrey Martel,
Count of Anjou, during his reign. William won his patrimony in a war with his half-brother Odo, who was killed in battle at
Mauzé. He did not, however, succeed in occupying Gascony.
Geoffrey Martel refused to concede to him the territories gained in
the reigns of his predecessors. William set to work regaining his
patrimony by force of arms. He was besieging Geoffrey in
Saumur when he died of
dysentery.
He was married to Ermesinde, of unknown origins. Two daughters have been hypothesized to be children of this couple:
Clementia, who married
Conrad I of Luxembourg y Agnes, who married Peter I of Savoy.[1]
William the Great (
French:
Guillaume le Grand; 969 – 31 January 1030) was
duke of
Aquitaine (as
William V) and
count of
Poitou (as
William II or
III) from 990 until his death.
[1] Upon the death of the
emperor Henry II, he was offered the
kingdom of Italy but eventually declined to contest the title against
Conrad II.
He was the son and successor of
William IV by his wife
Emma of Blois, daughter of
Theobald I of Blois.
[1] He seems to have taken after his formidable mother, who ruled Aquitaine as
regent until 1004. He was a friend to Bishop
Fulbert of Chartres, who found in him another
Maecenas, and founded a cathedral school at
Poitiers.
He himself was very well educated, a collector of books, and turned the
prosperous court of Aquitaine into the learning centre of Southern
France.
Agnes of Burgundy (or
Agnes de Macon)
, Duchess of Aquitaine (died 10 November 1068) was a duchess consort of Aquitaine by marriage to
William V, Duke of Aquitaine and a countess consort of Anjou by marriage to
Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou. She served as regent of the Duchy of Aquitaine during the minority of her son from 1039 until 1044. She was a daughter of
Otto-William, Count of Burgundy[1] and
Ermentrude de Roucy and a member of the
House of Ivrea.
William IV (937 – 3 February 994
[1]), called
Fierebras or
Fierebrace (meaning "Proud Arm", from the
French Fier-à-bras or
Fièrebrace, in turn from the
Latin Ferox brachium), was the
Duke of Aquitaine and
Count of Poitou from 963 to his retirement in 990.
William's father,
William III, abdicated to the abbey of Saint-Cyprien in
Poitiers and left the government to Fierebras. His mother was
Gerloc, the daughter of Duke
Rollo of Normandy. His sister was
Adelaide, wife of
Hugh Capet,
the king against whom William later battled for his duchy. His early
reign was characterised by many wars. He fought frequently against the
counts of Anjou, the first time against
Geoffrey Greymantle, who had taken
Loudun.
In 988, he went to war with the newly elected
king of France, Hugh Capet, whom he refused to recognise. Capet had been granted Aquitaine by
King Lothair
before the latter had been reconciled to William's father. Capet
renewed his claim on the great duchy and invaded it that year. A royal
army was defeated on the plain of the
Loire Valley. William sheltered the young
Louis, the son of
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, the last legitimate
Carolingian heir. He opened the
palace of Poitiers to him and treated him as royalty, regarding him as the true heir to the
French throne.
In 968, he married
Emma or Emmeline,
[2] daughter of
Theobald I of Blois and
Luitgarde of Vermandois.
Their marriage was stormy, in part because of William's indulgence in
the pursuit of women and, a hunting aficionado, wild animals. She
banished his paramours, they separated twice for long periods, and
finally he retired to a monastery, as his father had done, leaving Emma
to rule Aquitaine in the name of their son
William until 1004. Their second son, Ebles, died sometime after 997.
Emma of Blois (
c. 950–27 December 1003) was Duchess consort of
Aquitaine by marriage to
William IV, Duke of Aquitaine. She ruled Aquitaine as regent for her son,
William V, Duke of Aquitaine, from 996 until 1004
She was the daughter of
Theobald I, Count of Blois and
Luitgarde of Vermandois. In 968, she married
William IV, Duke of Aquitaine.
His overindulging in hunting and women offended her greatly. Around
996, he retired to a monastery. During the course of her marriage, she
would found the monastery of
Saint Peter in Bourgueil. Emma then ruled Aquitaine as regent for their son
William V.
William III (915 – 3 April 963), called
Towhead (
French:
Tête d'étoupe,
Latin:
Caput Stupe) from the colour of his hair, was the "Count of the Duchy of Aquitaine" from 959 and
Duke of Aquitaine from 962 to his death. He was also the
Count of Poitou (as
William I) from 935 and
Count of Auvergne from 950. The
primary sources for his reign are
Ademar of Chabannes,
Dudo of Saint-Quentin, and
William of Jumièges.
William was son of
Ebalus Manzer and Emilienne. He was born in
Poitiers.
He claimed the Duchy of Aquitaine from his father's death, but the
royal chancery did not recognise his ducal title until the year before
his own death.
Shortly after the death of
King Rudolph in 936, he was constrained to forfeit some land to
Hugh the Great by
Louis IV.
He did it with grace, but his relationship with Hugh thenceforward
deteriorated. In 950, Hugh was reconciled with Louis and granted the
duchies of Burgundy and Aquitaine. He tried to conquer Aquitaine with
Louis's assistance, but William defeated them.
Lothair,
Louis's successor, feared the power of William. In August 955 he joined
Hugh to besiege Poitiers, which resisted successfully. William,
however, gave battle and was routed.
After the death of Hugh, his son
Hugh Capet was named duke of Aquitaine, but he never tried to take up his fief, as William reconciled with Lothair.
He was given the abbey of
Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand, which remained in his house after his death. He also built a library in the
palace of Poitiers.
His father was duke
Ebles Manzer, who already was a man in his middle years when he was born in about 913. According to the chronicle of
Ademar de Chabannes, William's mother was
Geirlaug (French
Gerloc), a daughter of
Rollo of Normandy. (The less reliable Dodo has William rather than Ebles marrying Gerloc.)
William III married a lady named Adèle, perhaps about 936, in a match
that may have been arranged by William I of Normandy. With Adèle, he
had at least one child whose filiation is clearly attested:
- William, his successor in Aquitaine. He abdicated to the abbey of Saint-Cyprien in Poitiers and left the government to his son.
Many genealogies accept the high likelihood that they also had a daughter:
But her parentage is not reliably documented of their era and is
regarded only as a good possibility by usual modern genealogical
literature.
Gerloc (or Geirlaug), baptised in
Rouen as
Adela (or Adèle) in 912, was the daughter of
Rollo, first
duke of Normandy, and his wife,
Poppa.
[1] She was the sister of Duke
William Longsword.
In 935, she married
William Towhead, the future
count of Poitou and
duke of Aquitaine. They had two children together before she died on 14 October 962:
Ebalus or
Ebles Manzer or
Manser (c. 870 – 935) was
Count of Poitou and
Duke of Aquitaine on two occasions: from 890 to 892; and then from 902 until his death in 935 (Poitou) and from 928 until 932 (Aquitaine).
Ebles was an illegitimate son of
Ranulf II of Aquitaine. "Manzer" or "
Mamzer"
is a Hebrew word that means bastard, son of a forbidden relationship,
although in the case of Ebles it may have been applied to bastardy in
general.
Ranulf II (also spelled
Rannoux,
Rannulf,
Ramnulf, and
Ranulph) (850 – 5 August 890) was
Count of Poitou from 866 and
Duke of Aquitaine from 887. On the death of
Charles the Fat in 888, he styled himself King of Aquitaine and did so until 889 or his death, after which the title fell into abeyance.
Ranulf was a son of
Ranulf I and Bilichild of Maine. He married an Ermengard (died 935) and by her had a son,
Ranulf III, who succeeded him in Poitiers. His illegitimate son
Ebalus succeeded him in Aquitaine and, upon the death of Ranulf III, in Poitiers too.
Ranulf I (also
Ramnulf,
Rannulf, and
Ranulph) (820–866) was a
Count of Poitiers (from 835) and
Duke of Aquitaine (from 852). He is considered a possible son of
Gerard, Count of Auvergne, and Hildegard (or Matilda)
[more likely Rotrude, see Gerard, Count of Auvergne and Louis the Pious], daughter of
Louis the Pious and
Ermengard. Few details are known about Ranulf I, except that he died in 866 in
Aquitaine from wounds received in the
Battle of Brissarthe against the
Vikings (in which
Robert the Strong also died).
He married
Bilichild of Maine and they had the following:
Gerard was
Count of Auvergne from 839 until his death on 25 June 841.
He married first Rotrude, daughter of
Louis the Pious. They had the following children:
He then married her sister Hildegard, they had no children.
