William III was known as Tête d’étoupe (‘tow head’) because of his fair hair.

He is my 27 x great-grandfather.

William, or Guillaume, was born in Poitiers, France in 900, son of Ebalus Manzer and Emilienne¹.

Titles

In 942, he was appointed lay abbot of Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers².

He later succeeded his father as Count of Poitiers³ but I don’t know when this happened⁴. Poitiers, at the time, was sparsely populated due to recent wars, and the Viking invasions⁵.

In 955 he became Count of Auvergne and Limoges⁶. King Lothair extended William’s authority over the whole of Aquitaine, but it took till 959 for him to succeed as William III, Duke of Aquitaine⁷.

Family

In 935, he married Adele, or Adela (also known as Gerloc), daughter of Rollo the Viking^{8 9 10}.

By marrying Adele, William married the daughter of the person his father had gone to war with at the Battle of Chartres.

They had two children¹¹:

1. William, who became William IV.
2. Adelais

Notable events

William appointed two Viscounts to help protect his eastern borders. His viscount at Châtellerault protected the frontier towards Touraine in the north¹². The viscount at Brosse served as a check on the counts of La Marche¹³ in the East.

In 941 or 942, William donated land to Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers. Records describe it as the “vicarage of Poitou in the village of Poitiers.”¹⁴. It is unclear if they made him a lay abbot before or after this donation. The King of France, Louis IV, confirmed this donation in a charter dated 5 January 942¹⁵.

In 962, William abdicated and became a monk at Saint-Cyprien-de-Poitiers¹⁶.

Death

William III died in Aquitaine, France, on 3 April 963. I don’t know how he died but they buried him in Saint-Cyprien-de-Poitiers¹⁷.

Lineage

He is my 27 x great-grandfather.

References

1. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
2. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
3. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
4. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
5. Castellans of the Plain of Poitou in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries; Sidney Painter; Speculum Vol 31, No 2; 1956-04; USA[↩]
6. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
7. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
8. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
9. History of Normandy and England, The; Volume I; Sir Francis Palgrave; 1851-01[↩]
10. Royalty for Commoners (4th edition); Roderick W Stuart; Genealogical Publishing Ltd; 2002[↩]
11. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
12. Castellans of the Plain of Poitou in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries; Sidney Painter; Speculum Vol 31, No 2; 1956-04; USA[↩]
13. Castellans of the Plain of Poitou in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries; Sidney Painter; Speculum Vol 31, No 2; 1956-04; USA[↩]
14. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
15. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
16. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]
17. Medieval Lands; Charles Crawley; “Aquitaine, Dukes”[↩]