The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England

MALE Guillaume I (or II) "le Libérateur"

Count of Arles, 967.
Marquis of Provence, before 979 - 993×4.

Guillaume appears as count on 20 August 967 ["... in Arelate civitate, publice, ante domno Willemmo, inlustrissimo comite, ...." Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille, 1: (#290); Stasser dates this 970, Stasser (1997), 21 & n. 56]. He appears as marquis on 12 May 979 ["incliti marchionis Vuilelmi" Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille, 2: 510 (#1043)]. He was still living on 29 August 993, when he appeared in an act with his wife Adélaïde, brother Roubaud, and son Guillaume ["ego Guillelmus comes et uxor mea Adalaiz e[t] germanus meus Rodbaldus et filius meus Guillelmus ..." Manteyer (1908), 254 n. 5, citing Cart. Psalmody]. He probably died not long afterward. A supposed act of Dreux, bishop of Puy, dated September 994, mentions him as deceased ["ego Drogo gratis Dei episcopus Aniciensis, filius Fulconis comitis et Gerbergæ dedi et concessi Willelmo comit[i] Provincæ filio Willelmi quondam comitis et Adalasiæ sororis meæ ..." Manteyer (1908), 255 n. 3; on the question of the existence of Dreux, see the page of Foulques II].

Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.

Date of death: After 29 August 993.
Place of burial: Sarrians.
["... in villa quæ vocatur Sarrianis, quam Wilelmus, quondam dux Provintiæ et pater patriæ, sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli et monasterio Cluniensi et loco in quo se sepeliri rogavit, ..." Cart. Cluny 4: 64 (#2866); the words "pater patriæ" ("father of the native land") identify him as this Guillaume]

Father: Boso, d. after March 965, count of Arles.
Mother: Constance, fl. May 961.
Guillaume appears as the son of Boso and Constance in an act of May 961 at Arles ["... in Arelate civitate ... in mense maii, anno XXIV regnante Conrado rege Alamannorum vel Provinciarum ... Boso comes et uxor sua Constantia firmaverunt. Illorum filii similiter Willelmus comes. Rotbaldus comes" Manteyer (1908), 201, n. 1 (with date May 961), 225 n. 1 (with date May 963), both times citing Chantelou, Hist. de Montmajour, 37-8; Conrad began to reign in 937, suggesting that 961 is correct].

Spouses:

(1) Arsinde.
Guillaume appears with his wife Arsinde in April 972 ["Wilelmus, comes Provinciæ, et conjux mea Arsinna, ..." Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille 1: 590 (#598), dating the charter April 970; dated April 972 by Manteyer (1908), 226 n. 1 and Stasser (1997), 21], and on 17 April 981 ["Signum Vuilelmus, ... Signum Arsinda comitissa firmavit." Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille 2: 509 (#1042), dating the charter 979; dated 981 by Manteyer (1908), 254] and June 981 ["Willelmus comes et conjux mea Arsindis" Manteyer (1908), 254, citing Chantelou, 56-7].

(2) ca. 982, Adélaïde alias Blanche, d. 1026, daughter of Foulques II, count of Anjou;
widow of Étienne de Brioude, Raymonde de Toulouse, and Louis V of France. For the marriages of Adélaïde, see her page.

Children:

By Arsinde:

See the Commentary section for some conjectured daughters.

By Adélaïde/Blanche:
A charter of Montmajour in August 1001 shows Guillaume's widow Adélaïde with her children Guillaume and Constance ["in mense Augusto, regnante Rodulfo Rege, Indiction XIV", "signum Adalax Comitissæ et filii sui Willelmi Comitis et filiæ suæ Constantiæ, ..." RHF 10: 569; Manteyer (1908), 257, citing Chantelou, 70-1].

MALE Guillaume II (or III), d. 4 March 1019, marquis of Provence;
m. Gerberge, living 1019, daughter of Otte-Guillaume, count of Burgundy.
Guillaume appears with his wife Gerberge in several charters [e.g., 1013: "Ego Wilelmus, comes Provinciæ, conjuxque mea Girberga, una cum filio nostro nomine Wilelmo, ..." Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille, 1: 639 (#646); 1018: "ego Vuillelmus comes et uxor mea Gisberga ..." Manteyer (1908), 271, citing Cart. de Saint-André; 1019: "Ego Geriberga comitissa, una cum consensu filiorum optimatumque nostrorum ... propter remedium animæ senioris mei Guilelmi, comitis Provincie ..." Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille, 1: 642 (#649)]. [Poly (1976), 175 n. 22, cites Cat. actes Provence #82 (not seen by me) for his date of death.]

FEMALE Constance, d. 22 July 1034;
m. Robert II, d. 20 July 1031, king of France, 996-1031

Commentary

Possible daughter by Arsinde:
FEMALE Odile, living February 1032;
m. (1) Miron, d. 999;
m. (2) Laugier de Vence, living February 1032.
[Vajay (1980), 757; Stasser (1997), 21, n. 62] The suggested link is based on a charter in which Odile refers to Guillaume and Adélaïde but without any direct statement of a relationship ["... que michi Odila ex marchione Guillelmo et Atalix comitissa obvenit ..." ibid., citing the cartulary of Lérins].

Conjectured daughters by Arsinde (based on onomastics - no direct evidence):
The first two are separate conjectures with the same name, not both of which could be true.

FEMALE Arsinde, fl. 993-1013;
m. Guillaume, viscount of Béziers and Agde.
[Vajay (1980), 758 n. 70]

FEMALE Arsinde, d. bef. 998;
m. Guillaume Taillefer, count of Toulouse.
[Settipani (1994), 64-6]. Guillaume Taillefer was a stepson of Guillaume of Provence, but marriages between step-relations was common in this family.

FEMALE NN;
m. [Bérenger de Melgueil]
This is an onomastic conjecture based on the fact that this couple had a daughter with the rare name Constance [Settipani (2004), 62, 66].

FEMALE Constance, d. aft. 1013;
m. Boniface de Reillane.
This is an onomastic conjecture based on the rare name Constance [Settipani (2004), 562, 66]. Vajay places Constance one generation further back, as a sister of Guillaume [Vajay (1980), 756].

FEMALE Adélaïde Doda, d. aft. 1021;
m. Bernard, d. 1020, count of Bésalu.
This is an onomastic conjecture based on the fact that this couple had a daughter with the rare name Constance [Settipani (2004), 59-66]. They also had a son named Guillaume. Vajay conjectures Adélaïde Doda as a daughter of Guillaume by his second wife Adélaïde [Vajay (1980), 756]. Other conjectures involving different fathers have also been proposed [see Stasser (1997), 44-6].

Falsely attributed daughters:
FEMALE Ermengarde;
m. Robert I, count of Auvergne.
[Vajay (1980), 757-8] Ermengarde was a daughter of Guillaume's second wife Adélaïde alias Blanche, but by an earlier husband. (See her page for deatils.)

FEMALE Adélaïde, living 999;
m. (1) Lambert, d. 22 February, 977×985, probably 978, count of Chalon.
m. (2) Geoffroy I Grisegonelle, d. 21 July 987, count of Anjou.
See the page of Adélaïde for her false attribution as a daughter of Guillaume.

Bibliography

Cart. Cluny = A. Bernard & A. Bruel, Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Cluny, 6 vols., (Paris, 1876-1903).

Cart. S.-Victor de Marseille = M. Guérard, ed., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Victor de Marseille, 2 vols. (Paris, 1857).

Manteyer (1908) = Georges de Manteyer, La Provence du premier au douzième siècle (Paris, 1908).

Poly (1976) = Jean-Pierre Poly, La Provence et la société féodale (879-1166), Contribution à l'étude des structures dite féodales dans le Midi (Paris, 1976).

Settipani (2004) = Christian Settipani, La Noblesse du Midi Carolingien (Prosopographia et Genealogica 5, 2004).

Stasser (1997) = Thierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou, sa famille, ses unions, sa descendance - Etat de las question", Le Moyen Age 103,1 (1997): 9-52.

Vajay (1980) = Szabolcs de Vajay, "Comtesses d'origine occitane dans la Marche d'Espagne aux 10e et 11e siècles", Hidalguia 28 (1980): 585-616, 755-788.

Compiled by Stewart Baldwin.

First uploaded 29 May 2012.

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