Agnes of Aquitaine (c.1052 – after 18 June 1089) was a

Countess consort of Savoy This is a list of consorts of the Savoyard monarchs. Countess of Savoy, 1003–1416 Duchess of Savoy, 1416–1713 ;As courtesy title Queen of Sardinia, 1720–1861 Between 1859 and 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia incorporated the majo ...

and possibly

Queen consort of Aragon ::''See also List of Aragonese monarchs'' This is a list of consorts of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Aragon. Blanche II of Navarre and Philip I of Castile died before their spouses inherited the crown. Countesses Queens House of Aragon ...

. She was a daughter of William of Poitou, speculated to be

William VII, Duke of Aquitaine 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. ...

,C. W. Previte-Orton, ''The Early History of the House of Savoy'', (Cambridge University Press, 1912), 231. whose wife Ermesinde would then have been her mother.

Life

Possible wife of Ramiro I of Aragon

Agnes became a popular name in the

House of Poitiers The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the 9th through 12th centuries. Their power base shifted from Toulouse to Poitou. In the early 10th century, they contested th ...

following the marriage of

William V, Duke of Aquitaine William the Great (french: Guillaume le Grand; 969 – 31 January 1030) was duke of Aquitaine (as ) and count of Poitou (as or III) from 990 until his death. Upon the death of the emperor Henry II, he was offered the kingdom of Ital ...

to Agnes of Burgundy. Three Aquitainian women sharing the name Agnes are known to have married Iberian monarchs, and a fourth Iberian consort also named Agnes has been speculated to have been Aquitainian.

Ramiro I of Aragon Ramiro I (bef. 10078 May 1063) was the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death, although he is sometimes described as a petty king. He would expand the nascent Kingdom of Aragon through his acquisition of territories, such as Sobrarbe and ...

married a second wife named Agnes, who based on the name is believed to be of Aquitainian origins. The woman's parentage is disputed; she may have been daughter of

William VI, Duke of Aquitaine William VI (1004 – March 1038), called the Fat, was Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou (as William IV) between 1030 and his death. He was the eldest son of William V the Great by his first wife, Adalmode of Limoges. Throughout his reign, ...

or his half-brother

. It is believed by some that Duke William VI died childless. Likewise, unlike William VII, he was only step-son of

Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Aquitaine Agnes of Burgundy (or Agnes de Macon; died 10 November 1068) was Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William V and Countess of Anjou by marriage to Count Geoffrey II. She served as regent of the Duchy of Aquitaine during the minority of her ...

, and hence less likely to name a daughter for her. On the other hand, any child of Duke William VII would have been no older than about six years old at the time of Ramiro's marriage, which could explain the lack of children born to Ramiro and his second wife. Ramiro I died on 8 May 1063 leaving as widow this wife who is not again seen in Aragon. Since this was the year before Agnes, proposed as daughter of William VII, married Peter of Savoy, it allows them to have been the same person, though no direct evidence attests to this.

Countess of Savoy

In 1064, Agnes married

Peter I, Count of Savoy Peter I (c. 1048 – 9 August 1078) was count of Savoy and margrave of Turin jointly with his brother Amadeus II of Savoy from c. 1060 to 1078. He ruled only nominally, as true power was in the hands of his mother, Adelaide of Susa. Peter presid ...

. Three children are assigned to Peter and Agnes: *Agnes (c. 1066 – after 13 March 1110) married

Frederick of Montbéliard Frederick of Montbéliard or Frederick of Mömpelgard (died 29 June 1091) was from a noble family in Lotharingia. Through marriage he became margrave of Turin (1080–1091). Life Frederick was a younger son of Count Louis of Montbéliard (died 1 ...

and had issue *Alix (died after 21 December 1099) married

Boniface del Vasto Boniface del Vasto (''c.'' 1055 – ''c.'' 1125) was the margrave of Savona and Western Liguria from 1084 to ''c.''1130. He was the son and successor of Otto and of Bertha, daughter of Ulric Manfred II of Turin. Boniface was a member of the Alera ...

and had issue. *(hypothesized)

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

(c. 1075 – before 1111) married

Peter I of Aragon Peter I ( es, Pedro, an, Pero, eu, Petri; 1068 - 1104) was King of Aragon and also Pamplona from 1094 until his death in 1104. Peter was the eldest son of Sancho Ramírez, from whom he inherited the crowns of Aragon and Pamplona, and Isabell ...

, a grandson of Ramiro I. The prior marriage of Agnes would have provided the political context for this marriage. Bertha had no known issue. Peter died on July 9, 1078, leaving Agnes a widow. A charter confirms that Agnes, widow of Count Peter was still alive in June 1089.Carutti, D. (1889) Regesta comitum Sabaudiæ, marchionum in Italia (Turin) ("Regesta comitum Sabaudiæ"), CCXV, p. 76

.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnes Of Aquitaine, Countess Of Savoy 1050s births 1089 deaths 11th-century Italian nobility Countesses of Savoy House of Poitiers 11th-century Italian women