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 Poitiers as William VII of Poitiers between 1086 and 1126. He was also one of the leaders of the crusade of 1101 and one of the first vernacular poets and troubadours. October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... Events Byzantine Empire loses Battle of Manzikert to Turkish army under Alp Arslan. ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events Rutherglen becomes one of the first Royal Burghs in Scotland. ... The persons who held the title of Duke of Aquitaine (French: Duc dAquitaine}, which became part of France in 1449 but was an independent duchy before that date, with the years they held it, were: See also: Dukes of Aquitaine family tree External Links Columbia Encyclopedias Entry for... Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced  ; Gascon: Gasconha, pronounced ) is an area of southwest France that constituted a royal province prior to the French Revolution. ... Among the men who have borne the title of Count of Poitiers (or Poitou, in what is now France but in the Middle Ages became part of the Aquitaine) are: Guerin (or Warin[us]) (638-677) Renaud (795-843) Bernard I (815-844) Ranulph I (835-875) Ranulph II (855... Events Domesday Book is completed in England Emperor Shirakawa of Japan starts his cloistered rule Imam Ali Mosque is rebuilt by the Seljuk Malik Shah I after being destroyed by fire. ... The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade, actually three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. ... sheshoKKKK Categories: Sociolinguistics | Language varieties and styles ... A troubadour was a composer and performer of songs in particular styles during the Middle Ages in Europe. ...

Life and Family

William was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was an event of great celebration, but at first he was considered illegitimate by religious authorities 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, where he sought and received papal approval of his marriage and children. William VIII of Aquitaine, (Guillaume VIII in French) (1025 – September 25, 1086), whose name was Guy-Geoffroy before becoming Duke of Aquitaine, was Duke of Gascony (1052-1086), and then Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers (as William VI of Poitiers) between 1058 and 1086, succceeding his brother William... Consanguinity, literally meaning common blood, describes a family relationship between two individuals. ...

In 1094 he married Philippa of Toulouse, the daughter and heiress of William IV of Toulouse. By Philippa, William had two sons and five daughters, including: Events May - the siege of Valencia ends Duncan III of Scotland succeeds Duncan II of Scotland as King of Scotland The first mention of the city of Zagreb, Croatia, as it became a bishopric see. ... William IV of Toulouse (c. ...

1. William X of Aquitaine, his heir.
2. Agnes of Aquitaine, who married (1) Aimery V of Thouars; (2) to King Ramiro II of Aragon
3. Raymond of Poitiers, ruler of the principality of Antioch, a crusader state

He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for some unknown offense. His response to this was to demand absolution from the Bishop of Poitiers at swordpoint. He was excommunicated the second time for carrying off Dangereuse, the wife of his vassal Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellerault. He installed her in the Maubergeonne tower of his castle, and, as related by William of Malmesbury, even painted a picture of her on his shield. William X of Aquitaine (1099 – April 9, 1137), nicknamed the Saint was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VIII of Poitiers between 1126 and 1137. ... Ramiro II of Aragon the Monk (ca. ... Raymond of Poitiers (c. ... The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade. ... The Crusader states, c. ... Events January 7 - Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, marries Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Births Deaths Categories: 1114 ... A vassal or liege, in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudalism of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a lord, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fief. ... Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne département, in the Poitou-Charentes région of France. ... William of Malmesbury (c. ...

This greatly offended both his wife and his son, William. According to Orderic Vitalis, Philippa protested her treatment in October 1119 at the Council of Reims, claiming to have been abandoned by the duke in favor of Dangereuse. She later retired to the convent of Fontevrault. Relations were only patched up with his son when the younger William married Ænor of Châtellerault, Dangereuse's daughter by her husband. William X of Aquitaine (1099 – April 9, 1137), nicknamed the Saint was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VIII of Poitiers between 1126 and 1137. ... Orderic Vitalis (1075 – c. ... Events February 2 - Callixtus II becomes Pope August 20 - Henry I of England routes Louis VI at the Battle of Bremule. ... The Fontevraud Abbey (or Fontevrault Abbey) is located in the village of Fontevraud-lAbbaye, near Chinon, in Anjou, France. ... William X of Aquitaine (1099 – April 9, 1137), nicknamed the Saint was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VIII of Poitiers between 1126 and 1137. ... Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne département, in the Poitou-Charentes région of France. ...

His 13th century Provençal biographer remembers him:

"[William IX] 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 attentions to ladies, and a fine composer and singer of songs."

Military life

William invited Pope Urban II to spend Christmas 1095 at his court. The pope urged him to take the cross and leave for the Holy Land, but William was more interested in exploiting the absence 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 First Crusade in 1099. Urban II, né Otho of Lagery (or Otto or Odo) (1042 - July 29, 1099), was a pope from 1088 to July 29, 1099. ... Events The county of Portugal is established for the second time. ... Raymond IV of Toulouse (c. ... Events First Crusade: end of the siege of Antioch. ... Excommunication is a religious censure which is used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ... The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to regain control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims. ... Events Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade: July 8 - 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders mock them. ...

He arrived in the Holy land in 1101 and stayed there until the following year. His record as a general is not very impressive. William fought mostly skirmishes in Anatolia and was frequently defeated. His recklessness had his army ambushed on several occasions, with great losses to his own side. In September 1101 his entire army was destroyed by the Turks at Heraclea; William himself barely escaped with a few survivors. The phrase The Holy Land (Arabic الأرض المقدسة al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah; Hebrew ארץ הקודש;, Standard Hebrew Éreẓ haQodeš, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÉreṣ haqQāḏēš; Latin Terra Sancta) generally refers to Palestine. ... Events A second wave of crusaders arrives in the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem, after being heavily defeated by Kilij Arslan I at Heraclia. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολή anatolē or anatolí; see also List of traditional Greek place names), rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish falsely associated with Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of...

Later on in his life, William joined forces with the kingdoms of Castile (an old ally) and Léon. Between 1120 and 1123, Aquitanian troops fought side by side with queen Urraca of Castile, in an effort to conquer the Moors of Cordoba and complete the Reconquista. During his sojourn in Spain, William was given a rock crystal vase by a Muslim ally that he later beqeathed to his granddaughter Eleanor. The vase probably originated in Sassanid Persia in the 7th century. A former kingdom of Spain, Castile comprises the two regions of Old Castile in north-western Spain, and New Castile in the centre of the country. ... Léon (aka The Cleaner, aka The Professional) is a 1994 film written and directed by French director Luc Besson, starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman. ... Events Welcher of Malvern creates a system of measurement for the earth using degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. ... Events First Council of the Lateran confirms Concordat of Worms and demands that priests remain celibate End of the reign of Emperor Toba of Japan. ... Urraca of Castile (1082 - March 8, 1126) was Queen of Castile and León from 1109 to her death. ... The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including the present day Spain and Portugal) and the Maghreb, whose culture is often called Moorish. Juba II king of Mauretania Origins of the name The name derives from the old Berber tribe of the Mauri and... Córdoba most commonly means Córdoba, Spain, a famous city in Spain inhabited since the time of ancient Rome, and the seat of the Emir of Córdoba and the Caliph of Córdoba. ... For other uses, see Reconquista (Disambiguation). ... A rock crystal vase is a vase made of rock crystal. ... Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine (Bordeaux, France, 1124 – March 31, 1204 in Fontevrault, Anjou) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the Middle Ages. ...

William IX also provided troops to Philip I of France in his war against William the Conqueror. Philip I (French: Philippe Ier) (May 23, 1052 - July 29, 1108) was King of France. ... William I ( 1027 – September 9, 1087), was King of England from 1066 to 1087. ...

Poetry

William's greatest legacy to history was not as a warrior but as a poet. He was he was the first known troubadour, or lyric poet employing the Romance vernacular called Provencal, or Occitan. Eleven of his songs have survived into the 21st century (Merwin, 2002). His artistic name was lo cons de Peitieus, and he was one of the most important troubadours of the Middle Age's Provençal literature. The topics varied, treating sex, love, women, his own sexual prowess, and feudal politics. His brashness, wit, and temper caused scandal and won admiration at the same time. He stands as the first surviving troubadour, and one of the first Romance vernacular poets of theMiddle Ages, a cultural phenomenon that would culminate in Dante, Boccaccio, and Villon. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Dante redirects here. ... Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 - December 21, 1375) was a Florentine author and poet, the greatest of Petrarchs disciples, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poems in the vernacular. ... Villon can refer to: People François Villon (1431-c. ...

William was a man that loved scandal and no doubt enjoyed shocking his audiences. Upon returning from crusade, he abandoned his wife in favour of a married woman, known as Dangereuse (Dangerosa in Occitan) from his poems, and risked excommunication for the deed. He also composed a song about founding a convent in his lands, where the nuns would be picked from among the most beautiful women in the region, or from the best whores, depending on the translation. While this confirms William's lusty persona, it also makes a joke about the penitentiary convents for prostituted founded by the charismatic preacher Robert of Arbrissel. (Bond, xlix) In fact, William granted large donations to the church, perhaps to regain the pope's favour. He also constructed the palace of Poitou, later added to by his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine. It survives to this day in the city of Poitiers. Excommunication is a religious censure which is used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ... This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ... In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave the world and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Catholic Church. ... Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine (Bordeaux, France, 1124 – March 31, 1204 in Fontevrault, Anjou) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the Middle Ages. ... Location within France Poitiers (population 85,000) is a small city located in west central France. ...

One of William's poems is a musing on mortality; it begins: Since now I have a mind to sing/I'll make a song of that which saddens me, and goes on to say: For I have known delight and dalliance/Both far and near, yea and in my own dwelling/But this day, joy and dalliance, farewell. He died on February 10th, 1126, age 55.

Sources

• Harvey, Ruth E. The wives of the 'first troubadour', Duke William IX of Aquitaine (Journal of Medieval History), 1993
• Bond, Gerald A., ed., transl. intro. The Poetry of William VII, Count of Poitier, IX Duke of Aquitaine, (Garland Publishing Co.:New York) 1982
• Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1991
• Owen, D.D.R. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend
• Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002
• 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
• Merwin, W.S. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2002. pp xv-xvi. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41476-2.

See also

• Dukes of Aquitaine family tree
• Provençal literature
• Smythe, Barbara. Trobador Poets: Selections from the Poems of Eight Trobadors, including William IX, Duke of Aquitaine.