William V, known as the Great, was a Duke of Aquitaine. He refused the crown of a united Italy after realising the political situation on the peninsula was a mess.
He is my 25 x great-grandfather.
William was born in Aquitaine, France sometime in 969, son of William IV and Emma of Blois1.
Titles
In 993, William succeeded his father as2:
- William V, Duke of Aquitaine.
- William III, Count of Poitiers.
Family
William married three times2:
- In 997, Adelmode of Limoges, who bore him a son, William VI.
- Early in 1011, Sancha of Gascony, who bore him three children: Odo, Adalais, and Theobald.
- In 1019, Agnes of Burgundy, who bore him three children:
- Peter
- Guy Geoffrey who became Duke as William VIII.The boys were twins1.
- Agnes.
Notable events
William donated land to the church in Saint-Jean d’Angely2. This was recorded in a charter, noting the donation was for the soul of his son, William2.
In 992, he and his parents donated land to the church in Saint-Maixent by charter2.
William convened a council in Poitiers in the year 1000, which concluded that disputes should no longer be resolved by force, but by justice2.
In 1024, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II died. Italian nobility did not want to maintain their union with Germany and urged William to take the crown. This interested William but when he examined the political situation in Italy he discovered it was a mess. He turned the Italians down2.
You can read the full story of this Italian question here.
William was a cultivated person and had a renowned collection of books. He turned Aquitaine into a centre of learning in southern France2.
In 1029, William abdicated in favour of his first-born son2. He became a monk at the abbey at Maillezais2.
Death
William died in Maillezais on 30 or 31 January 1030 of natural causes2. They buried him in the Maillezais Cathedral of St Pierre which he’d founded2.
Lineage
He is my 25 x great-grandfather.
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