GUILLAUME IX Duke of Aquitaine(22 Oct 1071-10 Feb 1126)
s/o son of GUILLAUME VIII Duke of Aquitaine & Hildegarde de Bourgogne [Capet]
x (1089, divorced 1090) ERMENGARDE d'Anjou
xx (1094, divorced 1115) PHILIPPA [Mathilde] de Toulouse

• GUILLAUME d'Aquitaine (1099-Santiago de Compostela 9 Apr 1137, bur Santiago de Compostela)
• AGNES [Mathilde] ([late 1103][618]-8 Mar [1160 or <])
• four daughters

AMAUBERGE [Dangerose]

• RAYMOND (Toulouse -killed in battle near Inab 28 Jun 1149)
• HENRI (->1136)

https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/AQUITAINE.htm#Eleonoredied1204

GUILLAUME d’Aquitaine, son of GUILLAUME VIII Duke of Aquitaine [GUILLAUME VI Comte de Poitou] & his third wife Hildegarde de Bourgogne [Capet] (22 Oct 1071-10 Feb 1126).

The Chronicle of Saint-Maxence records the birth "1071 XI Kal Nov" of "Goffredo duci…Guillelmus filius"[456]. "Willelmi filius eius" subscribed the donation by "Willelmus dux Aquitanorum" of property to St Cyprien, Poitiers by charter dated [1073/87][457]. "Goffredus…dux Aquitanorum et Guillelmus filius eius" set entry conditions for monks at Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers by charter dated 1078 or 1079[458].

He succeeded his father in 1086 as GUILLAUME IX Duke of Aquitaine, GUILLAUME VII Comte de Poitou. Albert of Aix records that "Guillaume comte et prince du Poitou de la famille d'Henri III empereur" crossed Hungary peacefully with Welf Duke of Bavaria and "la noble comtesse Ida de la marche d'Autriche", entered the territory of the Bulgars in which "le duc des Bulgares nommé Guzh" refused their passage into Adrianople, but that Guillaume captured "le duc des Bulgares" who was forced to allow the pilgrims to continue[459], undated but in a passage adjacent to text which records events in 1101.

According to Albert of Aix, after the army was dispersed in Asia Minor by the Turks, Duke Guillaume fled to Longinach near Tursolt, from where he was rescued and brought to Antioch by Tancred's forces[460].

He was a troubadour and composer of lyric poetry. The Chronicle of Saint-Maxence records the death "1126 IV Id Feb" of "Willelmus dux Aquitanorum" and his burial "Pictavis civitate apud Novum Monasterium"[461]. The necrology of the Prieuré de Fontaines records the death "10 Feb" of "Guillermus dux Aquitanorum"[462].

m firstly (1089, divorced 1090) as her first husband, ERMENGARDE d'Anjou, daughter of FOULQUES IV "le Rechin" Comte d'Anjou & his first wife Hildegarde de Baugency ([1068]-Jerusalem 1 Jun 1146). The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the daughter of "Fulco" as "comitissam Redonensem" but does not name her[463]. "Fulco Andegavensis comes" donated property to Angers with the consent of "filiis meis Gaufrido et Fulconello et filia mea Ermengarde" by charter dated 23 Jun 1096[464]. William of Tyre names her "Hermingerda", gives her father's name implying that she was born from his fifth marriage, and names her first husband "Pictaviensium comitis Willelmi", her divorce and her second husband "comes Brittaniæ"[465]. She married secondly ([1093]%29 as his second wife, Alain IV "Fergant" Duke of Brittany. The Gesta Consulum Andegavorum records that "comitissa Brittaniæ" was the daughter of Foulques & his first wife "filiam Lancelini de Baugenciaco", adding that she became a nun at "Jerusalem in ecclesia Sanctæ Annæ" after her husband died[466]. "Fulco Andecavorum comes nepos Goffridi Martelli…consulis" donated property to Angers with the consent of "Ermenjarde filia sua comitissa Brittaniæ" by charter dated 12 Apr 1109[467]. The necrology of Angers Cathedral records the death "Kal Jun" of "Ermengardis comitissa Britanniæ mater Conan ducis et soror Fulconis regis Hierosolymitani"[468]. The Annals of St Salvator Redon record that "Ermengardeque Alani conjugem, vere piam ac religiosam" was buried at the abbey of Redon[469].

m secondly (1094, divorced 1115) PHILIPPA [Mathilde] de Toulouse, daughter of GUILLAUME IV Comte de Toulouse & his second wife Emma de Mortain (-28 Nov 1117). The Chronicle of Saint-Maxence records the marriage of "Guillelmus" and "Philippam…filiam Willelmi comitis Tolosani et neptem Raimundi de Sancto Egidio"[470]. Robert of Torigny refers to, but does not name, "filiam unam" of "comes Tolosanus frater Raimundi comitis Sancti Ægidii" & his wife, who married "Guillermus comes Pictavensis et dux Aquitanorum"[471]. "Guillelmus…Aquitainie similiter et Vasconie dux et comes" confirmed donations to Sainte-Croix, Bordeaux by "genitor noster Guillelmus qui et Gaufridus vocatus est" with the consent of "Mathildis uxor…" by charter dated 23 Mar 1096[472]. It is assumed that Mathilde and Philippa refer to the same person. "Philippia" daughter of "Wilelmi comitis Tolose" and wife of Guillaume Comte de Poitou made a joint donation with her husband to Toulouse Saint-Sernin dated Jul 1098[473]. She is also named in an undated donation by Bertrand Comte de Toulouse which names her father but not her husband[474]. “Philippæ comitissæ…Emmæ filia” reached agreement with “Bernardus-Atonis filius Ermengardis” by charter dated 1114[475]. Orderic Vitalis recounts that "Hildegarde Ctss de Poitou" complained to the synod of Reims, held in Oct 1119 by Pope Calixtus II, that her husband had abandoned her for "Malberge wife of the vicomte de Châtellerault"[476]. This is inconsistent with the date of death of Philippa, shown above, not to mention the difference of first name. She became a nun. The necrology of the Prieuré de Fontaines records the death "28 Nov" of "Philippa monacha, Pictavensis comitissa"[477].

Mistress (1): AMAUBERGE [Dangerose], wife of AIMERY [I] Vicomte de Châtellerault, daughter of ---. She left her husband to live with Duke Guillaume, for which he was excommunicated. Orderic Vitalis recounts that "Hildegarde Ctss de Poitou" complained to the synod of Reims, held in Oct 1119 by Pope Calixtus II, that her husband had abandoned her for "Malberge wife of the vicomte de Châtellerault"[478].

Companho, farai un vers qu'er covinen,
Et aura·i mais de foudatz no·y a de sen,
Et er totz mesclatz d'amor e de joy e de joven.

E tenguatz lo per vilan qui no·l enten,
O dins son cor voluntiers non l'apren:
Greu partir si fai d'amor qui la troba a talen.

Dos cavalhs ai a ma sselha, ben e gen,
Bon son et adreg per armas e valen,
E no·ls puesc amdos tener, que l'us l'autre non cossen.

Si·ls pogues adomesjar a mon talen,
Ja no volgr'alhors mudar mon garnimen,
Que meils for'encavalguatz de nuill ome viven.

Launs fon dels montaniers lo plus corren,
Mas aitan fer' estranhez'a longuamen
Et es tan fers e salvatges, que del bailar si defen.

L'autre fon noyritz sa jus part Cofolen
Ez anc no·n vis bellazor, mon escien:
Aquest non er ja camjatz ni per aur ni per argen.

Qu'ie·l donei a son senhor polin payssen,
Pero si·m retinc ieu tan de covenen
Que, s'ilh lo tenia un an, qu'ieu lo tengues mais de cen.

Cavalier, datz mi cosselh d'un pessamen:
-Anc mays no fuy issaratz de cauzimen- :
Res non sai ab qual me tengua, de n'Agnes o de n'Arsen.

De Gimel ai lo castel e·l mandamen,
E per Niol fauc ergueill a tota gen:
C'ambedui me son jurat e plevit per sagramen.

Comrades, I shall write a fitting poem,
one with more folly than sense,
all laden with love, joy and youth.

And let he be called a knave, who doesn't understand it,
or learn it, for that matter, by heart:
people who like poetry hardly part from love.

I have two horses I can saddle well and gladly
they are good and brave and fit for fighting,
and I can't keep them both because they can't stand each other.

If I could tame them as I wish,
I wouldn't take my gear elsewhere,
because I would be mounted better than anyone else.

The one is the fastest of the mountaineers
but it has been acting fiercely oddly for a long time
and it is so fierce and savage that it refuses to be bridled.

The other was reared around Confolens
and you never saw a prettier one, by my troth:
such one can't be traded for gold nor for silver.

Because I gave it to its master as a filly
but we agreed to the condition
that, if he had it for one year, I would have it for a century.

Knights, advise me about this conundrum:
-never was I [so] troubled by a choice-
I don't know which one to keep to, that of dame Agnes or that of dame Arsen.

I hold the castle of Gimel and its land,
and I boast about Nieul with everybody
since both are sworn faithful to me.

Compagno, non puesc mudar qu'eo no m'effrei
De novellas qu'ai auzidas et que vei:
Qu'una domna s'es clamada de sos gardadors a mei.

E diz que non volo prendre dreit ni lei,
Ans la teno esserrada quada trei:
Tant l'us no·ill larga l'estaca que l'altre plus no la·ill plei.

Et aquill fan entre lor aital agrei:
L'us es compains gens a foc mandacarrei,
E meno trop major nausa que la mainada del rei.

Et eu dic vos, gardador, e vos castei:
e sera ben grans folia qui no·m crei:
Greu verretz neguna garda que ad oras non sonei.

Qu'eu anc non vi nulla domn'ab tan gran fei,
Qui non vol prendre son plait o sa mercei,
S'om l'aloigna de proessa, que ab malvestatz non plaidei.

E si·l tenez a cartat lo bon conrei,
Adoba·s d'aquel que troba viron sei:
Si non pot aver caval, ela compra palafrei.

Non i a negu de vos ia·m desautrei,
S'om li vedava vi fort per malavei,
Non begues enanz de l'aiga que·s laissez morir de sei.

Chascus beuri'ans de l'aiga que·s laises morir dessei

Comrades, I don't know where to turn without being upset
about a case I am called to judge:
because a woman complains to me about her wardens.

And she says that they don't acknowledge either custom or law;
instead, they keep her locked, all the three of them,
so much that when one loosens her snares, the others tighten them more.

And they behave in such a way
(one is as courtly as a hangman's noose)
and they make more noise than the King's gang.

And I tell you, wards, and I admonish you,
and it shall be a proper fool he who doesn't believe me:
there hardly is a warden who doesn't sometimes doze.

Since I never saw a woman so steadfast
that she wouldn't want to take what she likes or deserves,
and who, if kept from worth, wouldn't turn to depravity.

And if you keep her from proper harness
she'll do with what she finds around herself
and if she can't have a steed, she'll buy a palfrey.

None of you would contradict me if I said
that, if one were forbidden to drink strong wine because of an illness,
he would rather drink water than let himself die of thirst.

Everyone would rather drink water than die of thirst!

Companho, tant ai agutz d'avols conres
Qu'ieu non puesc mudar no·n chan e que no·m pes;
Enpero no vueill c'om sapcha mon afar de maintas res.

E dirai vos m'entendensa, de que es:
No m'azauta cons gardatz ni gorcs ses peis,
Ni gabars de malvatz homes com de lor faitz non agues.

Senher Dieus, quez es del mon capdels e reis,
Qui anc premier gardet con, com non esteis
C'anc no fo mestiers ni garda c'a sidons estes sordeis.

Pero dirai vos de con, cals es sa leis,
Com sel hom que mal n'a fait e peitz n'a pres:
Si queg'autra res en merma, qui·n pana, e cons en creis.

E sel qui no volra·n creire mos casteis,
An ho vezer pres lo bosc, en un deveis:
Per un albre c'om hi tailla n'i naison ho dos ho treis.

E quan lo bocx es taillatz, nais plus espes
E·l senher no·n pert son comte ni sos ses:
A revers planh hom la tala, si·l dampnatges no·i es ges.

Tortz es c'om planha la tala si negun dan no·i a ges.

Comrades, I have had so many bad receptions
that I cannot do without singing and grieving about it;
however, I don't want people to know my business in many things.

And I shall tell you my opinion about this:
I don't like a warded cunt nor a pond without fish,
nor boasting of base men, as if there weren't records of their actions.

Lord God, who are refuge and king of the world,
why didn't the first cunt-warden drop dead?
Because there never was service, or watch, worse than that.

Therefore shall I tell you the Law of the Cunt,
as a man who's done badly and has been repaid worse:
if other things dwindle when you take of them, the cunt grows.

And he who will not believe my teachings,
let him go see by the wood, in a reservation:
for each tree people fell, two or three grow.

And when the wood is cut, it grows back thicker
and the owner doesn't miss his profit, nor his income:
one complains wrongly about the loss, if no harm is done.

Farai un vers, pos mi sonelh,
E-m vauc e m'estauc al solelh.
Donnas i a de mal conselh,
Et sai dir cals:
Cellas c'amor de cavalier tornon a mals.

Donna no fai pechat mortal
Que ama cavalier leal;
Mas s'ama monge o clergal
Non es raizo:
Per dreg la deuri'hom cremar ab un tezo.

En Alvernhe, part Lemozi,
M'en anei totz sols a tapi:
Trobei la moller d'En Guari
E d'En Bernart;
Saluderon mi sinplamentz per san Launart.

La una-m diz en son latin:
"O, Deus vos salv, don pelerin;
Mout mi semblatz de belh aizin,
Mon escient;
Mas trop vezem anar pel mond de folla gent."

Ar auzires qu'ai respondutz;
Anc no li diz ni ba ni butz,
Ni fer ni fust no ai mentagutz,
Mas sol aitan:
"Babariol, babariol, babarian."

So diz n'Agnes a n'Ermessen:
"Trobat avem que anam queren:
Sor, per amor Deu l'alberguem,
Que ben es mutz,
E ja per lui nostre conselh non er saubutz."

La una-m pres sotz son mantel
Et mes m'en la cambra, el fornel:
Sapchatz qu'a mi fo bon e bel,
E-l foc fo bos,
Et eu calfei me volentiers als gros carbos.

A manjar mi deron capos,
E sapchatz agui mais de dos,
Et no-i ac cog ni cogastros,
Mas sol nos tres;
E-l pans fo blancs e-l vins fo bos e-l pebr'espes.

"Sor, si aquest hom es ginhos
Ni laicha a parlar per nos,
Nos aportem nostre gat ros
De mantement,
Qe-l fara parlar az estros, si de re-nz ment."

N'Agnes anet per l'enoios:
Et fo granz, et ag loncz guinhos:
Et eu, can lo vi entre nos,
Aig n'espavent,
Qu'a pauc no-n perdei la valor e l'ardiment.

Quant aguem begut e manjat,
Eu mi despoillei per lor grat;
Detras m'aporteron lo gat
Mal e felon:
La una-l tira del costat tro al tallon.

Per la coa de mantenen
Tira-l gat, et el escoisen:
Plajas mi feron mais de cen
Aquella vetz
Mas eu no-m mogra ges enquers qi m'ausizetz.

Pos diz N'Agnes a N'Ermessen:
"Mutz es, que ben es conoissen.
Sor, del banh nos apareillem
E del sojorn."
.xli. jorn estei az aquel torn.

Tant las fotei com auziretz:
Cen e quatre vint et ueit vetz,
Q'a pauc no-i rompei mos corretz
E mos arnes;
E no-us pues dir los malaveg tan gran m'en pres.

Monet, tu m'iras al mati,
Mo vers porteras el borsi
Dreg a la molher d'en Guari
E d'en Bernat,
E diguas lor que per m'amor aucizo-l cat

I'll write a verse, since I'm dozing off
and I move, though motionless, under the sun.
There are malicious women,
and I'll tell you which ones:
those who take a knight's love badly.

A woman is not in mortal sin
if she loves a loyal knight;
but if she loves a monk or priest,
it's evil:
she should rightfully burn on a stake.

In Auvergne, around Limoges,
I was going alone and incognito:
I found the wife of Sir Guari
and of Sir Bernart;
they greeted me simply by the name of Saint Leonard.

One told me in her tongue:
"God save you, Sir Pilgrim;
you certainly look of high status,
in my opinion,
but we see so many fools going around the world."

And hear what I answered;
I didn't say "ah" nor "bah"
(neither did I mention iron nor wood)
but only as much as:
"Babariol, babariol, babarian"

So Dame Agnes told Dame Ermessen:
"We have found what we looking for:
sister, by all means, let's host him,
since he is dumb,
and nobody will know our purpose from him."

One took me under her cape
and lead me into the room, by the hearth:
and know that I appreciated it,
and the fire was good
and I warmed myself gladly with those large cinders.

And they fed me capons
and know that I had more than two,
and there were neither a cook nor kitchen-boys
but only we three;
and the bread was white, and the wine good, and the pepper abundant.

"Sister, if this man is playing it dumb
and refrains from speaking for our sake
let's bring in our red cat
right away:
it will make speak immediately, if he deceives us in any way."

Agnes went fetch the bothersome thing
and it was big and had long whiskers
and I, as I saw it among us,
was so afraid of it
that I almost lost heart, and lust.

When we had drunk and eaten,
I stripped myself naked for their sake.
They brought in, from behind, the cat,
[which was] mean and treacherous:
one spread it from the ribcage down to the heels.

Suddenly, she pulled the cat by the tail
and it scratched:
they gave me more than a hundred sores
that time
but I wouldn't have budged, even if they had killed me.

Thereafter Dame Agnes told Dame Ermessen:
"He is dumb, it is clear:
sister, let's get ready for merryment
and pleasure."
I lingered 41 days that way.

You shall hear how much I fucked them:
a hundred and eighty-eight times,
so much that they almost broke my equipment
and my tool;
and I can't describe the aching, so much I was taken.

Monet, you shall go in the morning,
bringing my verse in your purse,
straight to the wife of Ser Guari
and of Sir Bernat,
and tell them, for the love of me, to kill the cat.

Ben vuelh que sapchon li pluzor
D'un vers, si-s de bona color
Qu'ieu ai trag de mon obrador,
Qu'ieu port d'ayselh mestier la flor,
Et es vertatz,
E puesc en trair lo vers auctor,
Quant er lassatz.

Eu conosc ben sen e folor,
E conosc anta et henor,
Et ai ardiment e paor;
E si-m partetz un juec d'amor,
No suy tan fatz
No sapcha triar lo melhor
Entre-ls malvatz.

Eu conosc ben selh qui be-m di
E selh qui-m vol mal atressi
E conosc be selluy qui-m ri;
E si-ll pro s'azauton de mi,
Conosc assatz:
Qu'atressi dei voler lor fi
E lor solatz.

Ja ben aya selh qui-m noyri,
Que tan bo mestier m'eschari
Que anc a negu no-n falhi:
Que de jogar sobre coyssi,
A totz tocatz
Mais en say que nulh mo vezi,
Qual que-m vejatz.

Dieus en lau e sanh Jolia:
Tant ai apres del joc doussa
Que sobre totz n'ai bona ma,
E selh qui cosselh me querra
No l'er vedatz,
Ni us de mi non tornara
Descosselhatz.

Qu'ieu ai nom "maistre certa":
Ja m'amigu'anueg no m'aura
Que no-m vuelh'aver l'endema!
Qu'ieu suy d'aquest mestier, so-m va,
Tan ensenhatz
Que be-n sai gazanhar mon pa
En totz mercatz.

Pero no m'auzetz tan guabier
Qu'ieu non fos rahuzatz l'autrier,
Que jogav'a un joc grossier
Que-m fon trop bos el cap primier
Tro fo taulatz;
Quan gardiey, no m'ac plus mestier:
Si-m fon camjatz.

Mas elha-m dis un reprovier:
"Don, vostre datz son menudier"
"Et ieu revit vos a doblier,
Fis-m ieu:qui-m dava Monpeslier
Non er laissatz!"
E leviey un pauc son taulier
Ab ams mos bratz.

E quan l'aic levat lo taulier
Empeys los datz:
E-ill duy foron cairat vallier,
E-l terz plombatz.

E fi-l ben ferir al taulier,
E fon joguatz.

I would well like most people to know
whether this verse is well crafted.
I produce it from my workshop,
since I am really the champion of this art
and it is true
and I bring as a witness this verse itself
when it is done.

I know wisdom and foolishness well,
and I know shame and honour
and I have both fear and courage;
and if you propose a love-game
I am not so fatuous
that I can't tell the best one
among the mediocre.

I know well those who mean well
and those who hate me as well
and I know who makes merry with me;
and if gentlemen enjoy my company,
I am quite aware
that I have to take care of their comfort
and of their amusement.

Be blessed the one who took care of my upbringing
and taught me such a good occupation
which never failed me
because when it comes to board-playing

I know more than any of my neighbours
no matter what you see me trying.

I thank god and Saint Julian:
I have learned so much about the sweet game
that I am more skilled than anybody else,
and he who asks for my advice
won't be denied it,
nor will anyone come back from me
with bad advice.

Since I have for a nickname "Infallible Master":
never will my mistress have me one night
and not wish to have me the next day!
Because in this trade I am (and I freely say it)
so expert
that I can earn my living
in every market.

However, I am not so big
that I wasn't defeated the other day
when I was playing for a big stake
and the preliminaries were all in my favour
until the game was laid out:
when I looked at it, it wasn't of any use anymore,
it had changed on me.

But she reproached me:
"Sir, your dice are small"
"And I will double the stakes:"
Said I "Even if they gave me Montpellier,
I wouldn't resign!"
And I lifted her board a little
with both arms.

And after having lifted the board,
I threw the dice,
and the first two were good points
and the third was loaded.

And I had it hit the board well,
and it was game.

Pos vezem de novel florir
Pratz, e vergiers reverdezir,
Rius e fontanas esclarzir,
Auras e vens,
Ben deu chascus lo joi jauzir
Don es jauzens.

D'amor non dei dire mas be.
Quar no-n ai ni petit ni re?
Quar ben leu plus no m'en cove!
Pero leumens
Dona gran joi qui be-n mante
Los aizimens.

A totz jorns m'es pres enaisi
C'anc d'aquo c'amei no-m jauzi;
Ni o farai, ni anc non ho fi;
C'az essiens
Fauc maintas ves que-l cor me di:
Tot es niens.

Per tal n'ai meins de bon saber
Quar vueill so que non puesc aver;
E si-l reprovers me ditz ver,
Sertanamens
A bon coratge bon poder,
Qui-s ben sufrens.

Ja no sera nuils hom ben fis
Contr'amor, si non l'es aclis,
Et als estranhs et als vezis
Non es consens,
Et a totz sels d'aicels aizis
Obediens.

Obediensa deu portar
A motas gens qui vol amar,
E cove li que sapcha far
Faitz avinens
E que-s gart en cort de parlar
Vilanamens.

Del vers vos dic que mais ne vau
Qui be l'enten, e n'a plus lau:
Que-ls motz son faitz tug per egau
Comunalmens,
E-l sonetz, ieu meteus m'en lau,
Bos e valens.

A Narbona, mas ieu no-i vau,
Sia-l prezens
Mos vers, e vueill que d'aquest lau
Sia guirens.

Mon Esteve, mas ieu no-i vau,
Sia-l prezens
Mos vers, e vueill que d'aquest lau
Sia guirens.

Since we see, again, blossoming
meadows and greening gardens
and clearing rills and fountains,
and breezes and winds,
everybody should enjoy the joy
which makes him joyous.

I can't say anything bad about love:
why don't I get any of it?
Probably because I've had my full share!
Still, easily
gives great joy the one who keeps
to the rules.

It has always been like this for me:
that I never enjoyed the one I loved;
I never will, just as I never have;
therefore, it is consciously that,
many times, I do what my heart suggest:
all is nothing.

For this reason I have less pleasure,
because I want what I cannot have;
but if the adage tells the truth,
certainly
persistence is success
to one who can cope.

Never will a man be loyal
to love, unless he is submitted to it,
and is kind
towards both strangers and neighbours
and obliging
towards everybody in these circles.

One must oblige
many people, if he wants to love
and he ought to have
elegant manners
and that he refrains, in court, from speaking
coarsely.

Concerning this verse, I tell you that it acquires more value
and praise if one understands it well,
because the words are well arranged
together
and the melody, I boast about it myself,
is nice and moving.

Let Narbonne (but I won't go there)
have my verse
and I want it to be the voucher
of this praise.

Let my Esteve (but I won't go there)
have my verse
and I want him to be the voucher
of this praise.

Pos de chantar m'es pres talenz,
Farai un vers, don sui dolenz:
Mais non serai obedienz
En Peitau ni en Lemozi.

Qu'era m'en irai en eisil:
En gran paor, en gran peril,
En guerra, laisserai mon fil,
Faran li mal siei vezi.

Lo departirs m'es aitan greus
Del seignorage de Peitieus
En garda lais Folcon d'Angieus
Tota la terra e son cozi.

Si Folcos d'Angieus no-l socor,
E-l reis de cui ieu tenc m'onor,
Guerrejar l'an tut li plusor,
Felon Gascon et Angevi.

Si ben non es savis ni pros,
Cant ieu serai partitz de vos,
Vias l'auran tornat en jos,
Car lo veiran jov'e mesqui.

Merce clam a mon conpaignon,
S'anc li fi tort, qu'il m'o perdon,
Et il prec en Jezu del tron
En romans et en son lati.

De proez'e de joven fui,
Mais ara partem ambedui,
Et ieu irai m'en a Cellui
On tut peccador troban fi.

Mout ai estat cuendes e gais,
Mas Nostre Seigner no-l vol mais;
Ar non puesc plus soffrir lo fais
Tant soi aprochatz de la fi.

Tot ai guerpit cant amar sueill:
Cavalaria et orgueill
E pos Dieu platz, tot o acueill,
E El que-m reteigna ab Si.

Totz mos amics prec a la mort,
Qu-il vengan tuit e m'onren fort,
Qu'eu ai agut joi e deport
Loing e pres et e mon aizi.

Aissi guerpisc joi e deport,
E vair e gris e sembeli.

Since I feel like singing,
I'll write a verse I grieve over:
I shall never be a vassal anymore
in Poitiers nor in Limoges

For now I shall be exiled:
in a dreadful fright, in great peril,
in war, shall I leave my son,
and his neighbours shall turn on him.

It is hard for me to abandon
the rule of Poitiers
I leave Folcon of Angiers as a keeper
of the whole country and of his cousin.

If Folcon of Angiers doesn't aid him
(and the king I owe my title to doesn't do likewise)
most of them will attack him,
those villainous Gascons and Angevins.

If he isn't very wise and valiant,
as soon as I have left you,
they will upturn him,
because they will see him young and defenceless.

I beg my companion for mercy:
if I ever wronged him, let him forgive me,
and let him praise lord Jesus in his throne
both in the common tongue and in his.

I lived with youth and valour,
but now they are both gone,
and I shall go to the One
by whom all sinners find peace.

I have been agreeable and gay,
but Our Lord doesn't allow it anymore;
now I can't bear the burden anymore,
so close I am to the end.

I have given up all I loved so much:
chivalry and pride;
and since it pleases God, I accept it all,
that He may keep me by Him.

I enjoin my friends, upon my death,
all to come and do me great honor,
since I have held joy and delight
far and near, and in my abode.

Thus I give up joy and delight,
and grey squirrel and sable furs.

• http://trobar.org/troubadours/

  ---

William IX, Duke of Aquitaine From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IX,_Duke_of_Aquitaine

William IX (French: Guillaume de Poitiers ; Occitan: Guilhèm de Peitieus) (22 October 1071 – 10 February 1126), called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101. Though his political and military achievements have certain historical importance, he's best known as the earliest troubadour[1] — a vernacular lyric poet in the Occitan language — whose work survived.

Contents [hide] 1 Ducal career 1.1 Early career, 1088–1102 1.2 Conflict with Church and wife, 1102–1118 1.3 Later career, 1118–1126 2 Poetic career 3 See also 4 References 4.1 Notes 4.2 Bibliography 4.3 External links

[edit] Ducal careerWilliam was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife, Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was a cause of great celebration at the Aquitanian court, but the Church at first considered him illegitimate because of his father's earlier divorces and his parents' consanguinity. This obliged his father to make a pilgrimage to Rome soon after his birth to seek Papal approval of his third marriage and the young William's legitimacy.

[edit] Early career, 1088–1102William inherited the duchy at the age of fifteen upon the death of his father. In 1088, at the age of only sixteen, William married his first wife, Ermengarde, the daughter of Fulk IV of Anjou. She was reputedly beautiful and well-educated, but also suffered from severe mood-swings, vacillating between vivacity and sullenness. She was considered a nag, and had a habit of retiring in bad temper to a cloister after an argument, cutting off all contact with the outside world until suddenly making a reappearance at court as if her absence had never occurred. Such behaviour, coupled with her failure to conceive a child, led William to send her back to her father and have the marriage dissolved (1091).

In 1094 he remarried to Philippa, the daughter and heiress of William IV of Toulouse. By Philippa, William had two sons and five daughters, including his eventual successor, William X. His second son, Raymond, eventually became the Prince of Antioch in the Holy Land, and his daughter Agnes married firstly Aimery V of Thouars and then Ramiro II of Aragon, reestablishing dynastic ties with that ruling house.

William invited Pope Urban II to spend the Christmas of 1095 at his court. The pope urged him to "take the cross" (i.e. the First Crusade) and leave for the Holy Land, but William was more interested in exploiting the absence on Crusade of Raymond IV of Toulouse, his wife's uncle, to press a claim to Toulouse. He and Philippa did capture Toulouse in 1098, an act for which they were threatened with excommunication. Partly out of a desire to regain favor with the religious authorities and partly out of a wish to see the world, William joined the Crusade of 1101, an expedition inspired by the success of the First Crusade in 1099. To finance it, he had to mortgage Toulouse back to Bertrand, the son of Raymond IV.

William arrived in the Holy Land in 1101 and stayed there until the following year. His record as a military leader is not very impressive. He fought mostly skirmishes in Anatolia and was frequently defeated. His recklessness led to his being ambushed on several occasions, with great losses to his own forces. In September 1101, his entire army was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks at Heraclea; William himself barely escaped, and, according to Orderic Vitalis, he reached Antioch with only six surviving companions.

[edit] Conflict with Church and wife, 1102–1118William, like his father and many magnates of the time, had a rocky relationship with the Church. He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for an alleged infringement of the Church's tax privileges. His response to this was to demand absolution from Peter, Bishop of Poitiers. As the bishop was at the point of pronouncing the anathema, the duke threatened him with a sword, swearing to kill him if he did not pronounce absolution. Bishop Peter, surprised, pretended to comply, but when the duke, satisfied, released him, the bishop completed reading the anathema, before calmly presenting his neck and inviting the duke to strike. According to contemporaries, William hesitated a moment before sheathing his sword and replying, "I don't love you enough to send you to paradise."

William was excommunicated a second time for "abducting" the Viscountess Dangereuse (Dangerosa), the wife of his vassal Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellerault. The lady, however, appears to have been a willing party in the matter. He installed her in the Maubergeonne tower of his castle in Poitiers (leading to her nickname La Maubergeonne), and, as related by William of Malmesbury, even painted a picture of her on his shield.

Upon returning to Poitiers from Toulouse, Philippa was enraged to discover a rival woman living in her palace. She appealed to her friends at court and to the Church; however, no noble could assist her since William was their feudal overlord, and whilst the Papal legate Giraud (who was bald) complained to William and told him to return Dangereuse to her husband, William's only response was, "Curls will grow on your pate before I part with the Viscountess." Humiliated, Philippa chose in 1116 to retire to the Abbey of Fontevrault, where she was befriended, ironically, by Ermengarde of Anjou, William's first wife. While in residence she may have had direct conversations or correspondence with Countess Adela of Blois, who was in constant contact with Fontevrault from Marcigney abbey. Philippa did not remain there long, however: the abbey records state that she died on the 28 November 1118.

[edit] Later career, 1118–1126Relations between the Duke and his elder son William also became strained—although it is unlikely that he ever embarked upon a seven-year revolt in order to avenge his mother's mistreatment, as Ralph of Diceto claimed, only to be captured by his father. Other records flatly contradict such a thing. Ralph claimed that the revolt began in 1113; but at that time, the young William was only thirteen and his father's liaison with Dangereuse had not yet begun. Father and son improved their relationship after the marriage of the younger William to Aenor of Châtellerault, Dangereuse's daughter by her husband, in 1121.

William was readmitted to the Church around 1120, after making concessions to it. However, he was after 1118 faced with the return of his first wife, Ermengarde, who had, upon the death of Philippa, stormed down from Fontevrault to the Poitevin court, demanding to be reinstated as the Duchess of Aquitaine—presumably in an attempt to avenge the mistreated Philippa. In October 1119, she suddenly appeared at the Council of Reims being held by Pope Calixtus II and demanded that the Pope excommunicate William (again), oust Dangereuse from the ducal palace, and restore herself to her rightful place. The Pope "declined to accommodate her"; however, she continued to trouble William for several years afterwards, thereby encouraging him to join the Reconquista efforts underway in Spain.

Between 1120 and 1123 William joined forces with the Kingdoms of Castile and León. Aquitanian troops fought side by side with Castilians in an effort to take Cordoba. During his sojourn in Spain, William was given a rock crystal vase by a Muslim ally that he later bequeathed to his granddaughter Eleanor. The vase probably originated in Sassanid Persia in the seventh century.

In 1122, William lost control of Toulouse, Philippa's dower land, to Alfonso Jordan, the son and heir of Raymond IV, who had taken Toulouse after the death of William IV. He did not trouble to reclaim it. He died on 10 February 1126, aged 55, after suffering a short illness.

[edit] Poetic career William from a 13th-century chansonnier.William's greatest legacy to history was not as a warrior but as a troubadour - a lyric poet employing the Romance vernacular language called Provençal or Occitan. An anonymous 13th-century vida of William remembers him thus:

The Count of Poitiers was one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women. He was a fine knight at arms, liberal in his womanizing, and a fine composer and singer of songs. He traveled much through the world, seducing women.

He was the earliest troubadour whose work survives. Eleven of his songs survive (Merwin, 2002). The song traditionally numbered as the eighth (Farai chansoneta nueva) is of dubious attribution, since its style and language are significantly different (Pasero 1973, Bond 1982). Song 5 (Farai un vers, pos mi sonelh) has two significantly different versions in different manuscripts. The songs are attributed to him under his title as Count of Poitou (lo coms de Peitieus). The topics vary, treating sex, love, women, his own sexual and literary prowess, and feudal politics. His frankness, wit and vivacity caused scandal and won admiration at the same time. He is among the first Romance vernacular poets of the Middle Ages, one of the founders of a tradition that would culminate in Dante, Petrarch, and François Villon. Ezra Pound mentions him in Canto VIII:

And Poictiers, you know, Guillaume Poictiers, had brought the song up out of Spain with the singers and viels...

In Spirit of Romance Pound also calls William IX "the most 'modern' of the troubadours":

For any of the later Provençals, i.e., the high-brows, we have to... 'put ourselves into the Twelfth Century' etc. Guillaume, writing a century earlier, is just as much of our age as of his own. —Ezra Pound, cited in Bond 1982, p. lxxvi William was a man who loved scandal and no doubt enjoyed shocking his audiences. In fact, William granted large donations to the church, perhaps to regain the pope's favour. He also added to the palace of the counts of Poitou (which had stood since the Merovingian era), later added to by his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine and surviving in Poitiers as the Palace of Justice to this day.

One of William's poems, possibly written at the time of his first excommunication, since it implies his son was still a minor, is partly a musing on mortality: Pos de chantar m'es pres talenz (Since I have the desire to sing,/I'll write a verse for which I'll grieve). It concludes:

I have given up all I loved so much: chivalry and pride; and since it pleases God, I accept it all, that He may keep me by Him. I enjoin my friends, upon my death, all to come and do me great honour, since I have held joy and delight far and near, and in my abode. Thus I give up joy and delight, and squirrel and grey and sable furs. Orderic Vitalis refers to William composing songs (c. 1102) upon his return from the Crusade of 1101. These might be the first "Crusade songs".

[edit] See alsoDukes of Aquitaine family tree [edit] References[edit] Notes1.^ Joseph Anglade, Grammaire de l'ancien provençal ou ancienne langue d'oc, 1921, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 33: ... les poésies du premier troubadour, Guilhem de Poitiers ... ("the poems of the first troubadour, Guilhem de Poitiers"). [edit] BibliographyBiographies des troubadours ed. J. Boutière, A.-H. Schutz (Paris: Nizet, 1964) pp. 7-8, 585-587. Bond, Gerald A., ed., transl. intro. The Poetry of William VII, Count of Poitier, IX Duke of Aquitaine, (Garland Publishing Co.:New York) 1982 Duisit, Brice. Las Cansos del Coms de Peitieus (CD), Alpha 505, 2003 Harvey, Ruth E. The wives of the 'first troubadour', Duke William IX of Aquitaine (Journal of Medieval History), 1993 Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1991 Merwin, W.S. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2002. pp xv-xvi. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41476-2. Owen, D.D.R. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002 Pasero, Nicolò, ed.: Guglielmo IX d'Aquitania, Poesie. 1973 Verdon, J. La chronique de Saint Maixent, 1979. Waddell, Helen. The Wandering Scholars: the Life and Art of the Lyric Poets of the Latin Middle Ages, 1955 [edit] External linksComplete works (external link) Works, translated by James H. Donalson (external link) Smythe, Barbara. Trobador Poets: Selections from the Poems of Eight Trobadors Lyric allusions to the crusades and the Holy Land Preceded by William VIII (VI) Duke of Aquitaine 1088–1126 Succeeded by William X (VIII)

Title: Count of Poitou. William was a leader of the First Crusade, much admired for his prowess, generosity & handsome appearance. He was the first known troubadour &, as such, a key figure in the history of European literature.

Sources:

The book, 'Richard the Lion-Hearted', by John Gillingham

The book, 'Kings & Queens of Great Britain'

The book, 'Eleanor of Aquitaine'

The book, 'An Autobiography of Eleanor'

William IX of Aquitaine (October 22, 1071 – February 10, 1126, also Guillaume or Guilhem d'Aquitaine), nicknamed the Troubador was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou as William VII of Poitou between 1086 and 1126. He was also one of the leaders of the crusade of 1101 and one of the first medieval vernacular poets.

His Occitan name was Guilhèm de Peitieus.

WILLIAM IX OF AQUITAINE – THE TROUBADOUR: His role and that of his wife, Ermengarde, and his granddaughters - Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her daughter, Marie de Champagne – in the development of courtly love poetry and the Arthurian romances

• Extract from Duby, Georges: 'The Knight, The Lady, And the Priest. The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France'. 1983, Allen Lane, London p159:

“ ..ERMENGARDE ..was given in marriage by her father Fouque Rechin, to William of Acquitaine. After William had repudiated her she was married to the count of Nantes. She tried to leave him for Fontevraud, asking that the marriage be annulled. But the bishops refused, and Robert of Arbrissel had to send her back to her husband, exhorting her to be obedient, to accept her lot in life, her “order” as a wife and a mother. (Patrologie Latinae 176, 987) She was to be patient and resigned, he said, and follow a little rule specially designed for her. It provided for much giving of alms, but neither too much prayer nor too much mortification, so that her body should remain healthy. What she was supposed to do was endure even under pain of death, even were she to be burned alive, as the wife of her great grandfather, Fouque Nerra had been burned for alleged adultery. But ERMENGARDE, the daughter of a prince, astounded the bishops at the Council of Reims in 1119 by appearing before them, widow at last, to accuse her first husband of bigamy. But then, had not she herself, they might have replied, in both her marriages, shown herself to be difficult and disobedient?”

“The intrusion of the churchmen into conjugal matters caused resentment on the parts of the husbands. WILLIAM OF AQUITAINE, supposed author of the earliest Occitan poems and the first exponent of courtly love, in the tenth song of the Jeanroy edition of his works makes fun of women who fall under the sway of priests and “frustrate the love of knights.” They commit mortal sin, he says, and should be burned at the stake, like wives who commit adultery. He then introduces the metaphor of the firebrand, with its obvious erotic connotation. True, the poem is supposed to be comic, to make men laugh amongst themselves. I interpret it not as a precursor to the chivalric debates between priest and knight that were to be popular a hundred years later, but as an angry expression of the animosity husbands felt against spiritual directors who challenged their power and encouraged their wives to be frigid. This is the only direct echo that has survived such feelings. At the point we have now reached, the beginning of the twelfth century, the voices of the servants of God drown out all other sounds.”

• Extract from Tannahill, Reay: Sex in History. 1980, Hamish Hamilton, London p262-3: “The credit for that [breathing life into courtly love poetry], as far as is known belonged to a southerner, one of the most libertine seigneurs of his day, GUILHEM, SEVENTH COUNT OF POITIERS AND NINTH DUKE OF AQUITANE, the most powerful nobleman in western Christendom. Guilhem (1071-1127) must have been well acquainted with the Hispano-Arabic love poetry and philosophies of love. He was married to Phillipa of Aragon (even if he seems to have paid her little attention), while one of his sisters was the wife of Alfonso VI of Castile, and another of Pedro of Aragon. The story goes that, comfortably adjusted to a life of sensuality and seduction, GUILHEM found his activities seriously curtailed by the advent of a preacher, Robert d’Arbrissal, who succeeded in converting many of the ladies of his court to the belief that the fires of hell were being stoked for adulteresses. GUILHEM, deeply troubled, devoted his mind to the problem, and the result of his meditations soon became apparent in his poems. Frank eroticism had formerly been their style, but this now gave way to something that strongly resembled the ennobling love of Ibn Hazm – without the chastity. Love, GUILHEM argued, was not an abasement but an exaltation, not a sordid sin, but a divine mystery, and the lady within whose gift it lay was a goddess to be adored. Some scholars believe that his change of view came from the heart (eg Bezzola, ‘Guillaume IX et les origins de l’amour courtois’ Romania LXVI, 1940 pp145-237), although the aura of cynical expediency is not easy to dissipate, but whatever the truth he appears to have convinced his ladies, who were happy to take on the unfamiliar role of goddess. And even if, in cold fact, the new love was just as adulterous as the old, it sounded a good deal more refined. (Note – Love was considered in medieval times as a gift freely given (which remains true enough today) and this, by definition excluded it from marriage, a business contract in which personal considerations played no part.) GUILHEM’S blend of love-desire and ennobling love soon became a favourite theme of wandering scholars, singers, poets and jongleurs (general entertainers), and a kind of formula began to develop.”

• Extract from Tannahill, Reay: Sex in History. 1980, Hamish Hamilton, London p266-7: “It was, appropriately enough GUILHELM’S [THE TROUBADOUR, OF ACQUITAINE] GRANDDAUGHTER, ELEANOR OF ACQUITAINE, who helped to establish the ideal of courtly love in northern France when she married Louis VII in 1137, but it did not entirely suit the northern temperament, which preferred good meaty adventure stories to undiluted sentiment. ELEANOR AND HER DAUGHTERS therefore turned their attention to encouraging a synthesis of the two. For some centuries, the north had relied for its entertainment on the chansoms de geste (songs of action), which were long assonant poems delivered as a kind of recitative to a simple musical instrument and dealt mainly with the exploits of warriors and heroes, feudal lords, and Christian chevaliers of the time of Charlemagne. In the early twelfth century, the roman (romance) also developed, a tale in rhymed verse designed to be declaimed to a small audience and usually taking for its theme a quest or voyage through a dream world which was the scene of marvellous adventures in love and war. The early romans, reflecting the rediscovery of the Classical World, were historical dramas with such titles as the Romance of Alexander, the Romance of Thebes, and the Romance of Troy, but for political reasons it became desirable to find subjects nearer home. ELEANOR, by this time (1170) married to Henry II of Normandy and England, was instrumental in bringing into fashion the Celtic myths of Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, an ‘ideal’ ancient society which lent itself admirably to being gilded with modern dreams and embroidered with the symbols of courtly love. She herself patronized many distinguished troubadours, including Bernart de Ventadorn, while her daughters, notably MARIE DE CHAMPAGNE, followed in the family tradition. It was MARIE’s chaplain, Andreas, who produced the famous Art of Courtly Love, a treatise that owed something to Ovid as well as to Aquitaine, and it was MARIE too, who urged Chretien de Troyes to fuse tales of love with tales of action, to turn love into an adventure, and the knight into a knight-errant. This was the real beginning of the institution of chivalry.”

Poetic Example

“Comrades, I shall write a decent poem

As I don't know where to turn without being upset

Because I have had so many bad receptions,

So I'll write a verse about nothing at all

I'll write a verse, while I'm dozing off.

I would like people to know

Since we see blossoming again

That I shall write a new little song

To celebrate that I begin to love

With the sweetness of springtime

And I feel like singing.”

William IX The Troubadour of Aquitaine

 - compiled & translation Sharon Doubell

William IX "the Troubadour" Duke of Aquitaine

William IX "the Troubadour" Duke of Aquitaine was born on 22 October 1071. He was the son of William VIII Duke of Aquitaine and Hildegarde of Burgundy. William IX "the Troubadour" Duke of Aquitaine married Philippa of Toulouse, daughter of William IV Count of Toulouse and Emma of Mortain, in 1094. William IX "the Troubadour" Duke of Aquitaine died on 10 February 1126 at age 54.

William, like his father and many magnates of the time, had a rocky relationship with the Church. He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for an alleged infringement of the Church's tax privileges. His response to this was to demand absolution from Peter, Bishop of Poitiers. As the bishop was at the point of pronouncing the anathema, the duke threatened him with a sword, swearing to kill him if he did not pronounce absolution. Bishop Peter, surprised, pretended to comply, but when the duke, satisfied, released him, the bishop completed reading the anathema, before calmly presenting his neck and inviting the duke to strike. According to contemporaries, William hesitated a moment before sheathing his sword and replying, "I don't love you enough to send you to paradise."

William was excommunicated a second time for "abducting" the Viscountess Dangereuse (Dangerosa), the wife of his vassal Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellerault. The lady, however, appears to have been a willing party in the matter. He installed her in the Maubergeonne tower of his castle in Poitiers (leading to her nickname La Maubergeonne), and, as related by William of Malmesbury, even painted a picture of her on his shield.

Upon returning to Poitiers from Toulouse, Philippa was enraged to discover a rival woman living in her palace. She appealed to her friends at court and to the Church; however, no noble could assist her since William was their feudal overlord, and whilst the Papal legate Giraud (who was bald) complained to William and told him to return Dangereuse to her husband, William's only response was, "Curls will grow on your pate before I part with the Viscountess." Humiliated, Philippa chose in 1116 to retire to the Abbey of Fontevraud, where she was befriended, ironically, by Ermengarde of Anjou, William's first wife. While in residence she may have had direct conversations or correspondence with Countess Adela of Blois, who was in constant contact with Fontevrault from Marcigney abbey. Philippa did not remain there long, however: the abbey records state that she died on the 28 November 1118.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IX_of_Aquitaine

William IX (Occitan: Guilhèm de Peitieus; French: Guillaume de Poitiers) (22 October 1071 – 10 February 1126), called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101. Though his political and military achievements have a certain historical importance, he is best known as the earliest troubadour — a vernacular lyric poet in the Occitan language — whose work survived.

Ducal career

William was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife, Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was a cause of great celebration at the Aquitanian court, but the Church at first considered him illegitimate because of his father's earlier divorces and his parents' consanguinity. This obliged his father to make a pilgrimage to Rome soon after his birth to seek Papal approval of his third marriage and the young William's legitimacy.

Early career, 1088–1102

William inherited the duchy at the age of fifteen upon the death of his father. In 1088, at the age of only sixteen, William married his first wife, Ermengarde, the daughter of Fulk IV of Anjou. She was reputedly beautiful and well-educated, but also suffered from severe mood-swings, vacillating between vivacity and sullenness. She was considered a nag, and had a habit of retiring in bad temper to a cloister after an argument, cutting off all contact with the outside world until suddenly making a reappearance at court as if her absence had never occurred. Such behaviour, coupled with her failure to conceive a child, led William to send her back to her father and have the marriage dissolved (1091).

In 1094 he remarried to Philippa, the daughter and heiress of William IV of Toulouse. By Philippa, William had two sons and five daughters, including his eventual successor, William X. His second son, Raymond, eventually became the Prince of Antioch in the Holy Land, and his daughter Agnes married firstly Aimery V of Thouars and then Ramiro II of Aragon, reestablishing dynastic ties with that ruling house.

William invited Pope Urban II to spend the Christmas of 1095 at his court. The pope urged him to "take the cross" (i.e. the First Crusade) and leave for the Holy Land, but William was more interested in exploiting the absence on Crusade of Raymond IV of Toulouse, his wife's uncle, to press a claim to Toulouse. He and Philippa did capture Toulouse in 1098, an act for which they were threatened with excommunication. Partly out of a desire to regain favor with the religious authorities and partly out of a wish to see the world, William joined the Crusade of 1101, an expedition inspired by the success of the First Crusade in 1099. To finance it, he had to mortgage Toulouse back to Bertrand, the son of Raymond IV.

The Duchess was an admirer of Robert of Arbrissel and persuaded William to grant him land in Northern Poitou to establish a religious community dedicated to the Virgin Mary [2]. This became Fontevraud Abbey, which would enjoy the patronage of William's granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine and would remain important until its dissolvement during the French Revolution.

William arrived in the Holy Land in 1101 and stayed there until the following year. His record as a military leader is not very impressive. He fought mostly skirmishes in Anatolia and was frequently defeated. His recklessness led to his being ambushed on several occasions, with great losses to his own forces. In September 1101, his entire army was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks at Heraclea; William himself barely escaped, and, according to Orderic Vitalis, he reached Antioch with only six surviving companions.

Conflict with Church and wife, 1102–1118

William, like his father and many magnates of the time, had a rocky relationship with the Church. He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for an alleged infringement of the Church's tax privileges. His response to this was to demand absolution from Peter, Bishop of Poitiers. As the bishop was at the point of pronouncing the anathema, the duke threatened him with a sword, swearing to kill him if he did not pronounce absolution. Bishop Peter, surprised, pretended to comply, but when the duke, satisfied, released him, the bishop completed reading the anathema, before calmly presenting his neck and inviting the duke to strike. According to contemporaries, William hesitated a moment before sheathing his sword and replying, "I don't love you enough to send you to paradise."

William was excommunicated a second time for "abducting" the Viscountess Dangereuse (Dangerosa), the wife of his vassal Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellerault. The lady, however, appears to have been a willing party in the matter. He installed her in the Maubergeonne tower of his castle in Poitiers (leading to her nickname La Maubergeonne), and, as related by William of Malmesbury, even painted a picture of her on his shield.

Upon returning to Poitiers from Toulouse, Philippa was enraged to discover a rival woman living in her palace. She appealed to her friends at court and to the Church; however, no noble could assist her since William was their feudal overlord, and whilst the Papal legate Giraud (who was bald) complained to William and told him to return Dangereuse to her husband, William's only response was, "Curls will grow on your pate before I part with the Viscountess." Humiliated, Philippa chose in 1116 to retire to the Abbey of Fontevraud, where she was befriended, ironically, by Ermengarde of Anjou, William's first wife. While in residence she may have had direct conversations or correspondence with Countess Adela of Blois, who was in constant contact with Fontevrault from Marcigney abbey. Philippa did not remain there long, however: the abbey records state that she died on the 28 November 1118.

Later career, 1118–1126

Relations between the Duke and his elder son William also became strained—although it is unlikely that he ever embarked upon a seven-year revolt in order to avenge his mother's mistreatment, as Ralph of Diceto claimed, only to be captured by his father. Other records flatly contradict such a thing. Ralph claimed that the revolt began in 1113; but at that time, the young William was only thirteen and his father's liaison with Dangereuse had not yet begun. Father and son improved their relationship after the marriage of the younger William to Aenor of Châtellerault, Dangereuse's daughter by her husband, in 1121.

William was readmitted to the Church around 1120, after making concessions to it. However, he was after 1118 faced with the return of his first wife, Ermengarde, who had, upon the death of Philippa, stormed down from Fontevrault to the Poitevin court, demanding to be reinstated as the Duchess of Aquitaine—presumably in an attempt to avenge the mistreated Philippa. In October 1119, she suddenly appeared at the Council of Reims being held by Pope Calixtus II and demanded that the Pope excommunicate William (again), oust Dangereuse from the ducal palace, and restore herself to her rightful place. The Pope "declined to accommodate her"; however, she continued to trouble William for several years afterwards, thereby encouraging him to join the Reconquista efforts underway in Spain.

Between 1120 and 1123 William joined forces with the Kingdoms of Castile and León. Aquitanian troops fought side by side with Castilians in an effort to take Cordoba. During his sojourn in Spain, William was given a rock crystal vase by a Muslim ally that he later bequeathed to his granddaughter Eleanor. The vase probably originated in Sassanid Persia in the seventh century.

In 1122, William lost control of Toulouse, Philippa's dower land, to Alfonso Jordan, the son and heir of Raymond IV, who had taken Toulouse after the death of William IV. He did not trouble to reclaim it. He died on 10 February 1126, aged 55, after suffering a short illness.

Poetic career

William's greatest legacy to history was not as a warrior but as a troubadour — a lyric poet employing the Romance vernacular language called Provençal or Occitan.

He was the earliest troubadour whose work survives. Eleven of his songs survive (Merwin, 2002). The song traditionally numbered as the eighth (Farai chansoneta nueva) is of dubious attribution, since its style and language are significantly different (Pasero 1973, Bond 1982). Song 5 (Farai un vers, pos mi sonelh) has two significantly different versions in different manuscripts. The songs are attributed to him under his title as Count of Poitou (lo coms de Peitieus). The topics vary, treating sex, love, women, his own sexual and literary prowess, and feudal politics.

An anonymous 13th-century vida of William remembers him thus:

The Count of Poitiers was one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women. He was a fine knight at arms, liberal in his womanizing, and a fine composer and singer of songs. He traveled much through the world, seducing women.

It is possible, however, that at least in part it is not based on facts, but on literal interpretation of his songs, written in first person; in Song 5, for example, he describes how he deceived two women.

His frankness, wit and vivacity caused scandal and won admiration at the same time. He is among the first Romance vernacular poets of the Middle Ages, one of the founders of a tradition that would culminate in Dante, Petrarch, and François Villon. Ezra Pound mentions him in Canto VIII:

And Poictiers, you know, Guillaume Poictiers,

had brought the song up out of Spain

with the singers and viels...
In Spirit of Romance Pound also calls William IX "the most 'modern' of the troubadours":

For any of the later Provençals, i.e., the high-brows, we have to... 'put ourselves into the Twelfth Century' etc. Guillaume, writing a century earlier, is just as much of our age as of his own.

—Ezra Pound, cited in Bond 1982, p. lxxvi

William was a man who loved scandal and no doubt enjoyed shocking his audiences. In fact, William granted large donations to the church, perhaps to regain the pope's favour. He also added to the palace of the counts of Poitou (which had stood since the Merovingian era), later added to by his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine and surviving in Poitiers as the Palace of Justice to this day.

One of William's poems, possibly written at the time of his first excommunication, since it implies his son was still a minor, is partly a musing on mortality: Pos de chantar m'es pres talenz (Since I have the desire to sing,/I'll write a verse for which I'll grieve). It concludes:

I have given up all I loved so much:

chivalry and pride;

and since it pleases God, I accept it all,
that He may keep me by Him.
I enjoin my friends, upon my death,

all to come and do me great honor,

since I have held joy and delight
far and near, and in my abode.
Thus I give up joy and delight,

and squirrel and grey and sable furs.

Orderic Vitalis refers to William composing songs (c. 1102) upon his return from the Crusade of 1101. These might be the first "Crusade songs":

Then the Poitevin duke many times related, with rhythmic verses and witty measures, the miseries of his captivity, before kings, magnates, and Christian assemblies.

Husband of Philippa of Toulouse
Noble family House of Poitiers Father William VIII of Aquitaine Mother Hildegarde of Burgundy Born 22 October 1071 Died 10 February 1126 (aged 54)

French nobility, also called the young or the Troubadour, Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony as Guillaume VII also Count of Poitou. He was the only son of Guillaume VIII and his third wife Hildegarde de Bourgogne. He succeeded his father in 1088 and married Ermengarde de Anjou in the following year. The marriage seems to have been not very happy. Her mood swings and unpredictable behavior, coupled with the failure to conceive a child led to the dissolution of the marriage.

Around 1094 he married countess Philippa de Toulouse, heiress of Guillaume IV. With her he had two sons and five daughters. His reign was dominated by the conflict with the St-Gilles family for the power in Toulouse. After he had conquered Toulouse for the first time he sold his rights to Bertrand de St-Gilles to have enough money for a crusade. In March 1101 he started with Welf IV of Bavaria for the Holy Land. In September, after passing through Constantinople his army was defeated at Heraclea. He was able to flee and reached Antioch with only six men.

After visiting Jerusalem he returned home in fall 1102. He kidnapped the willing Dangereuse de l'Isle-Bouchard, wife of Aimery de Chatellerault and installed her in his castle in Poitiers. She became his mistress and bore him five children including Raimund of Antioch. When Philippa returned from Toulouse to find she had been replaced she appealed to the church and accused her husband openly of adultery. Even after being excommunicated he refused to part from Dangereuse. Philippa retired to Fontevrault where she died a year later.

Family links:

Parents:

 Guillaume VI de Poitou (1024 - 1086)

 Hildegarde de Bourgogne (1050 - 1120)

Spouses:

 Hermengarde de Anjou Fergant (1068 - 1146)*

 Ermengarde de Anjou (1068 - 1146)*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IX,_Duke_of_Aquitaine

Guillaume IX de Poitiers (Guilhem IX de Peitieus), né le 22 octobre 1071, mort le 10 février 1127, surnommé depuis le XIXe siècle le Troubadour, comte de Poitiers sous le nom de Guillaume VII et duc d'Aquitaine et de Gascogne de 1086 à sa mort. La forme limousine de son prénom est Guilhem. Il est également le premier poète connu en occitan. Il succède à son père Guillaume VIII à l'âge de 15 ans, ce qui lui vaut le surnom de Guillaume le Jeune au début de son règne. Son véritable nom en tant que duc d'Aquitaine devrait être en fait Guillaume VIII puisque son ancêtre Guillaume "Tête d'Etoupe", comte de Poitou de 936 à 963 n'a jamais porté - contrairement à une idée reçue - le titre de duc d'Aquitaine et ne fut donc pas le Guillaume III "Tête d'Etoupe", duc d'Aquitaine des listes traditionnelles des ducs d'Aquitaine depuis le XIXe siècle. Le titre de "duc des Aquitains" ne fut pris qu'en 965 par le fils de Tête d'Etoupe, Guillaume "IV" Fierabras (en réalité il devrait être Guillaume III), comte de Poitou (963-996).

Sommaire

1 Généalogie Ramnulfides

2 L'apogée de la principauté aquitaine

3 Un prince cultivé

3.1 Ami des artistes et troubadour lui-même

3.2 Exemple de chanson

4 Chronologie succincte

5 Voir aussi

6 Lien externe

Généalogie Ramnulfides

Fils de Guillaume VIII de Poitiers et d'Hildegarde de Bourgogne, il est brièvement marié à Ermengarde d'Anjou (fille de Foulque IV le Réchin, comte d'Anjou), avant d'épouser Philippe de Toulouse (fille de Guillaume IV, comte de Toulouse) ou Philippie en 1094, dont il a

Guillaume X de Poitiers, son héritier,

Agnès de Poitiers, future épouse du roi Ramire II d'Aragon,

Henri, abbé de Cluny,

Raymond de Poitiers, qui règne sur la principauté d'Antioche.

L'apogée de la principauté aquitaine

Il continue à développer l'embryon d'organisation administrative de ses prédécesseurs, avec l'ajout d'un prévôt à Surgères en 1087 et la création d'agents forestiers. Il prend et détruit le château de Blaye au comte Guillaume V d'Angoulême, afin de réfréner les entreprises de celui-ci en Saintonge.

Ayant acquis des droits sur Toulouse par sa femme Phillipa, il les fait valoir par les armes en prenant Toulouse en 1098. Guillaume le Troubadour rejoint la première Croisade, menée par Godefroy de Bouillon, après la chute de Jérusalem, en mars 1101. Il reste une année et demie en Orient, à combattre le plus souvent en Anatolie, où il est gravement battu deux fois.

Il est comte de Rouergue de 1110 à 1120.

Il s'empare de biens de l'Église en 1113 pour financer sa campagne contre Toulouse, et abandonne sa femme Philippie pour l'épouse de son vassal le vicomte de Châtellerault. Ces actes lui valent l'excommunication. Il marie néanmoins son fils Guillaume à la fille de sa maîtresse en 1121.

À la fin de sa vie, il participe à un épisode de la Reconquista : allié au roi de Castille et León, Alphonse le Batailleur, qui a épousé sa sœur Béatrice. De 1120 à 1123, ils guerroient pour la conquête du royaume de Valence, remportant notamment la bataille de Cutanda.

Un prince cultivé

Mais Guillaume IX de Poitiers marque surtout l'histoire comme un homme de lettres, qui sait entretenir une des cours les plus raffinées d'Occident.

Ami des artistes et troubadour lui-même

Il accueille ainsi à sa cour le barde Gallois Blédri ap Davidor, qui réintroduit sur le continent l'histoire de Tristan et Iseut.

Il est lui-même un poète, utilisant la langue d'Oc pour ses œuvres, poèmes souvent mis en musique.

C'est le premier poète médiéval, depuis saint Fortunat au VIe siècle (qui réside longtemps à l'abbaye Sainte-Croix de Poitiers), dont des œuvres, ni sacrées ni à la gloire de héros guerriers, soient conservées. Ses vers traitent le plus souvent des femmes, d'amour et de ses prouesses sexuelles. Sa poésie est parfois très crue (par exemple dans la chanson convenable, quand il demande à ses compagnons quel cheval il doit monter, d'Agnès ou d'Arsens), reflet d'une époque où l'Église n'a qu'une emprise limitée sur la société. Considéré comme un des précurseurs de l'amour courtois (fin amor en occitan), il est l'un des modèles influents de l'art des troubadours, dont la poésie va devenir plus galante.

À son retour de croisade, il répudie sa femme et prend pour maîtresse une femme mariée, qu'il invoque comme muse dans ses poèmes sous le nom de Dangereuse (la Maubergeonne). Il évoque aussi la fondation d'un couvent, dont les nonnes seraient choisies parmi les plus belles femmes du comté. À la bataille de Cutanda, il aurait combattu avec le corps de sa maîtresse peint sur son bouclier.

Il évoque également la guerre et des conséquences qu'elle a eu pour lui : selon Orderic Vital, il raconte sa captivité en Orient de manière plaisante.

Il fait de grosses donations à l'Église, dont certaines pour la fondations de monastères. Il reconstruit le palais des comtes de Poitiers.

Exemple de chanson

Voici une des œuvres composées par le comte duc, en langue d'oc, en limousin, accompagnée de la traduction française :

Je n'adorerai qu'elle ! (Chanson)

(occitan)

Farai chansoneta nueva,

Ans que vent ni gel ni plueva:

Ma dona m'assaya e-m prueva,

Quossi de qual guiza l'am;

E ja per plag que m'en mueva

No-m solvera de son liam.

(français)

Ferai chansonnette nouvelle

Avant qu'il vente, pleuve ou gèle

Ma dame m'éprouve, tente

De savoir combien je l'aime ;

Mais elle a beau chercher querelle,

Je ne renoncerai pas à son lien

Qu'ans mi rent a lieys e-m liure,

Qu'en sa carta-m pot escriure.

E no m'en tenguatz per yure,

S'ieu ma bona dompna am!

Quar senes lieys non puesc viure,

Tant ai pres de s'amor gran fam.

Je me rends à elle, je me livre,

Elle peut m'inscrire en sa charte ;

Et ne me tenez pour ivre

Si j'aime ma bonne dame,

Car sans elle je ne puis vivre,

Tant de son amour j'ai grand faim.

Per aquesta fri e tremble,

Quar de tam bon'amor l'am,

Qu'anc no cug qu'en nasques semble

En semblan del gran linh n'Adam.

Pour elle je frissonne et tremble,

Je l'aime tant de si bon amour !

Je n'en crois jamais née de si belle

En la lignée du seigneur Adam.

Que plus es blanca qu'evori,

Per qu'ieu autra non azori:

Si-m breu non ai aiutori,

Cum ma bona dompna m'am,

Morrai, pel cap sanh Gregori,

Si no-m bayza en cambr'o sotz ram.

Elle est plus blanche qu'ivoire,

Je n'adorerai qu'elle !

Mais, si je n'ai prompt secours,

Si ma bonne dame ne m'aime,

Je mourrai, par la tête de Saint Grégoire,

Un baiser en chambre ou sous l'arbre !

Qual pro-y auretz, dompna conja,

Si vostr'amors mi deslonja

Par que-us vulhatz metre monja!

E sapchatz, quar tan vos am,

Tem que la dolors me ponja,

Si no-m faitz dreg dels tortz q'ie-us clam.

Qu'y gagnerez-vous, belle dame,

Si de votre amour vous m'éloignez ?

Vous semblez vous mettre nonne,

Mais sachez que je vous aime tant

Que je crains la douleur blessante

Si vous ne faites droit des torts dont je me plains.

Qual pro i auretz s'ieu m'enclostre

E no-m retenetz per vostre

Totz lo joys del mon es nostre,

Dompna, s'amduy nos amam.

Lay al mieu amic Daurostre,

Dic e man que chan e bram.

Que gagnerez-vous si je me cloître,

Si vous ne me tenez pas pour vôtre ?

Toute la joie du monde est nôtre,

Dame, si nous nous aimons,

Je demande à l'ami Daurostre

De chanter, et non plus crier.

Précédé par Guillaume IX de Poitiers Suivi par

Guillaume VIII duc d'Aquitaine

comte de Poitiers

Guillaume X 

Chronologie succincte
22 octobre 1071 : naissance ;

25 septembre 1086 : mort de son père Gui-Geoffroi-Guillaume et début de son règne ;

1094 : mariage avec Philippie de Toulouse ;

1097 : entrée à Toulouse ;

1099 : naissance de Guillaume le Toulousain ;

15 juillet : prise de Jérusalem ;

6 décembre : Guillaume IX prend la croix ;

5 septembre 1101 : l'armée poitevine est écrasé au Taurus ;

1102 : retour en Occident ;

1108 : accession au trône de Louis VI le Gros ;

1110 : Guillaume IX est blessé à Taillebourg ;

1115 : excommunication et rencontre avec la Maubergeon;

18 mai 1120 : participation à la victoire de Cutanda auprès d'Alphonse Ier d'Aragon ;

1121 : perte du Toulousain ;

1122 : naissance d'Aliénor d'Aquitaine ;

10 février 1126 : mort de Guillaume le Troubadour.