William III, Count of

Nevers Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...

(French: ''Guillaume III'', c. 1107 – 21 November 1161) was

Count of Nevers The counts of Nevers were the rulers of the County of Nevers, in France, The territory became a duchy in the peerage of France in 1539 under the dukes of Nevers. History The history of the County of Nevers is closely connected to the Duchy of Bu ...

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

and Tonnerre (1148–1161). He was born in

Family

He was a son of William II of Nevers and his wife Adelaide. The ancestry of his mother is unknown. His brother Renaud of Nevers was Count of Torrene until his death in 1148, while participating in the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

.Constance Brittain Bouchard, ''Sword, Miter, and Cloister: Nobility and the Church in Burgundy, 980-1198'', (Cornell University Press, 1987), 347. Robert of Nevers, another brother, is only mentioned in a charter dating to 1134. Their sister Anne of Nevers was married with William VIII, Count of Auvergne, also known as "William the Old" (reign 1155–1182). They were parents to Robert IV, Count of Auvergne (reign 1182–1194).

Life account

He is recorded as co-signing legal decisions by his father in charter dating to 1121 and 1134. On 21 September 1137,

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...

records him accompanying

Geoffrey V of Anjou Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Fair (), Plantagenet, and of Anjou, was the count of Anjou and Count of Maine, Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also duke of Normandy by his marriage claim and Right of conquest, ...

in his entry in the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a r ...

, as part of the conflict between Matilda, Countess of Anjou and her cousin

Stephen of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne '' jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 113 ...

. Their struggle lasted from 1135 to 1154 and is known as

The Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Duchy of Normandy, Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adel ...

. William III joined

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young () to differentiate him from his father Louis VI, was King of France from 1137 to 1180. His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and ...

in the

Steven Runciman Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman (7 July 1903 – 1 November 2000), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume '' A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54). His works had a profound impact on the popula ...

, ''A History of the Crusades: Volume 2, The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East'' (1952), p. 262 On 21 August 1148, his father died and William III succeeded him in Nevers and Auxerre. He is considered to have succeeded his younger brother in Tonnere at about the same time.

Marriage

William III married Ida of Sponheim. She was a daughter of Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia and Uta of

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

. They had at least five children: *

William IV, Count of Nevers William IV, (French: ''Guillaume IV'', c. 1130 – Acre, 24 October 1168) was count of Nevers, Auxerre, and Tonnerre from 1161 until his death. Family William was a son of William III, Count of Nevers and Ida of Sponheim, and the older brother o ...

(died 24 October 1168). *

Guy, Count of Nevers Guy (French: ''Guy'' or ''Gui'', died 19 October 1175), was count of Nevers and Auxerre. He was the son of William III, Count of Nevers and Ida of Sponheim. He married Matilda, granddaughter of Duke Hugh II of Burgundy, just prior to his leaving ...

(died 19 October 1175). *Renaud of Nevers, Lord of Decize, died on

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

at the Siege of Acre (1189–91). *Adelaide of Nevers married Renaud IV, Count of Joigny. *Ermengarde of Nevers.

References

External links

"The Dynasty of Carantania and their relations with France" by Jožko Šavli, an article covering Ida of Carinthia and her relations
{{s-end 1100s births 1161 deaths Counts of Nevers Counts of Auxerre Christians of the Second Crusade