William X (
Occitan: ''Guillém X''; 1099 – 9 April 1137), called the Saint, was
Duke of Aquitaine
The Duke of Aquitaine ( oc, Duc d'Aquitània, french: Duc d'Aquitaine, ) was the ruler of the medieval region of Aquitaine (not to be confused with modern-day Aquitaine) under the supremacy of Frankish, English, and later French kings.
As su ...
,
Duke of Gascony
The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia ( eu, Baskoniako dukerria; oc, ducat de Gasconha; french: duché de Gascogne, duché de Vasconie) was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the m ...
, and
Count of Poitou (as William VIII) from 1126 to 1137.
Early life
William was the son of
William IX by his second wife,
Philippa of Toulouse
Philippa () (c. 1073 – 28 November 1118) was '' suo jure'' Countess of Toulouse, as well as the Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William IX of Aquitaine.
Life
Early life and marriage
Philippa was born in approximately 1073 to Coun ...
. He was born in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...
during the brief period when his parents ruled the capital. His birth is recorded in the ''
Chronicle of Saint-Maixent'' for the year 1099: ('a son was born to Count William, named William like himself'). Later that same year, much to Philippa's ire, Duke William IX mortgaged Toulouse to Philippa's cousin,
Bertrand of Toulouse
Bertrand of Toulouse (or Bertrand of Tripoli) (died 1112) was count of Toulouse, and was the first count of Tripoli to rule in Tripoli itself.
Bertrand was the eldest son of Raymond IV of Toulouse, and had ruled Toulouse since Raymond left on the ...
, and then left on crusade.
William and his mother, Philippa, were left in
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...
. When his father, William IX returned from his unsuccessful crusade, he took up with
Dangerose, the wife of a vassal, and set aside his rightful wife, Philippa. This caused strain between father and son until 1121 when William X married
Aenor de Châtellerault
Aénor (also ''Aenora'', ''Ainora''; the spelling ''Aénor'' suggests an original trisyllabic pronunciation) was a feminine given name in medieval France. It is likely the origin of, and by the later Middle Ages was replaced by, the name Eleanor (' ...
, a daughter of his father's mistress Dangerose by her first husband, Aimery. William succeeded to the duchy of Aquitaine in 1126.
Marriage & Issue
William and Aenor had:
*
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was intro ...
, who later became heiress to the Duchy and is best known to history as Eleanor of Aquitaine;
*
Petronilla, who married
Raoul I of Vermandois
Ralph I of Vermandois ( French: ''Raoul Ier'') (d. 14 October 1152) was Count of Vermandois. He was a son of Hugh, Count of Vermandois and his wife, Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois. Ralph was a grandson of Henry I of France, while Ralph‘s moth ...
*
William Aigret, who died at age 4 in 1130, about the time their mother Aenor de Châtellerault died.
Duke
William administered his Aquitaine duchy as both a lover of the arts and a warrior. He became involved in conflicts with
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, which he raided in 1136 in alliance with
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, who claimed it in his wife's name and for France.
Even inside his borders, William faced an alliance of the Lusignans and the Parthenays against him, an issue resolved with total destruction of the enemies. In international politics, William X initially supported
antipope Anacletus II
Anacletus II (died January 25, 1138), born Pietro Pierleoni, was an antipope who ruled in opposition to Pope Innocent II from 1130 until his death in 1138. After the death of Pope Honorius II, the college of cardinals was divided over his succ ...
in the
papal schism of 1130, opposite to
Pope Innocent II
Pope Innocent II ( la, Innocentius II; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as pope was controversial and the fi ...
, against the will of his own bishops. In 1134,
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux convinced William to drop his support for Anacletus and join Innocent.
In 1137, William joined the
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
to
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...
, but died during the trip. On his deathbed, he expressed his wish to see king
Louis VI of France
Louis VI (late 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (french: link=no, le Gros) or the Fighter (french: link=no, le Batailleur), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137.
Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member ...
as protector of his fifteen-year-old daughter Eleanor, and to find her a suitable husband. Louis VI naturally accepted this guardianship and married the heiress of Aquitaine to his own son,
Louis VII
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
.
See also
*
Dukes of Aquitaine family tree
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:William X, Duke of Aquitaine
Dukes of Aquitaine
House of Poitiers
French patrons of literature
Occitan nobility
1099 births
1137 deaths