Boson II of Arles (928 – 965/67) was Count of Avignon from 935 and

Count of Arles This is a list of the counts of Arles. * Garin, or Warin, (until 853), also ''Guerin'' in French, ''Garí'' in Spanish, and ''Guerí'' in Catalan; also duke of Toulouse (835–840), margrave of Burgundy, and count of Autun, Mâcon, Chalon, Meme ...

from 949. Around 953, Boso II married Constance, possibly a daughter of the Bivinid Charles Constantine,

Count of Vienne The count of Vienne was the ruler of the Viennois, with his seat at Vienne, during the period of the Carolingian Empire and after until 1030, when the county of Vienne was granted to the Archdiocese of Vienne. Girart de Roussillon ruled Provence ...

, from whom he got two sons: Rotbold II (Roubaud), and William I (Guillaume the Liberator) (* c. 952; † 994), Count of Arles and Provence, and then

Margrave of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...

. His origin is controversial, even though his life is relatively well known.

Origin

According to a first hypothesis, Boson II, son of Rotbold (Roubaud) or Rodboald of Agel, a ''Mâconnais'' noble is given the title of Count of Provence in 903 by

Louis the Blind Louis the Blind ( 880 – 5 June 928) was the king of Provence from 11 January 887, King of Italy from 12 October 900, and briefly Holy Roman Emperor, as Louis III, between 901 and 905. His father was a Bosonid and his mother was a Carolingian ...

. The ancestors of Rotbold are unknown. Some historians consider that he could be the husband of either a daughter of

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

and Ermengarde, one of the daughters of Boso V of Provence. This hypothesis is based on the fact that his ancestor being a male descendant of the Margrave Boso is rejected by some historians due to this Boson only having female descendants. According to the French historian

Jean-Pierre Poly Jean-Pierre Poly (born 1941) is a French historian. He was the student of Georges Duby, and graduated with a Phd in History in 1972. He specializes in feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, ...

, who sides with this hypothesis, the family of counts who was put into power by

Hugh of Italy Hugh (c. 880–947), known as Hugh of Arles or Hugh of Provence, was the king of Italy from 926 until his death. He belonged to the Bosonid family. During his reign, he empowered his relatives at the expense of the aristocracy and tried to estab ...

, probably came from

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septima ...

. One of them, Boson, switched sides around 947-948 by cancelling his marriage with Berthe, the niece of Hugh, and marrying a noblewoman named Constance. His brother William's name was given to one of Boson's sons and suggests he was possibly related to the Guilhelmides of

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

Conrad III of Burgundy Conrad I, called the Peaceful (french: Conrad le Pacifique; german: Konrad der Friedfertige; – 19 October 993), a member of the Elder House of Welf, was King of Burgundy from 937 until his death. Life He was the son of King Rudolph II, the fir ...

, the new king of Provence, may have found in Boson a less threatening and ambitious count from a minor family, and more likely to get along with Provençal notables.

References

French nobility 928 births 965 deaths Counts of Arles 10th-century French people {{France-noble-stub