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Birth:          ABT  752 
Death:          28 May  812 Gellone

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepin_of_Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Gellone
Saint William of Gellone, also known as William of Aquitaine,[1] (c. 755 – 28 May, 812 
or 814 [uncertain]) was the second Count of Toulouse from 790 until his replacement 
in 811. His Occitan name is Guilhem, and he is known in French as Guillaume 
d'Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, and the Marquis au court nez. William was canonized 
a saint in 1066 by Pope Alexander II.[1]

He is the hero of the Chanson de Guillaume, an early chanson de geste, and of 
several later sequels, which were categorized by thirteenth-century poets as the geste 
of Garin de Monglane. Another early product of oral traditions about William is a Latin 
Vita ("Biography"), written before the 11th century, according to Jean Mabillon, or 
during the 11th century according to the Bollandist Godfrey Henschen.



Contents  [hide] 
1 William in history
2 William in romance
3 References
4 External links


William in history[edit]

William was born in northern France in the mid-8th century. He was a cousin of 
Charlemagne (his mother Aldana was daughter of Charles Martel) and the son of 
Thierry IV, Count of Autun. As a kinsman and trusted comes, he spent his youth in the 
court of Charlemagne. In 788, Chorso, Count of Toulouse, was captured by the 
Basque Adalric, and made to swear an oath of allegiance to the Duke of Gascony, 
Lupus II. Upon his release Charlemagne replaced him with his Frankish cousin William 
(790). William in turn successfully subdued the Gascons.

In 793, Hisham I, the successor of Abd ar-Rahman I, proclaimed a holy war against 
the Christians to the north. He amassed an army of 100,000 men, half of which 
attacked the Kingdom of Asturias while the other half invaded Languedoc, penetrating 
as far as Narbonne.

William met this force and defeated them. He met the Muslim forces again near the 
river Orbieu at Villedaigne but was defeated, though his obstinate resistance 
exhausted the Muslim forces so much that they retreated to Spain. In 801, William 
commanded along with Louis King of Aquitaine a large expedition of Franks, 
Burgundians, Provençals, Aquitanians, Gascons (Basques) and Goths that captured 
Barcelona from the Moors.

In 804, he founded the abbey in Gellone (now Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert) near Lodève in 
the diocese of Maguelonne. He granted property to Gellone and placed the monastery 
under the general control of Benedict of Aniane, whose monastery was nearby.[2] 
Among his gifts to the abbey he founded was a piece of the True Cross, a present 
from his cousin Charlemagne. Charlemagne had received the relic from the Patriarch of 
Jerusalem according to the Vita of William.

In 806, William retired to Gellone as a monk and eventually died there[2] on 28 May 
812 (or 814). When he died, it was said the bells at Orange rang on their own accord.

William mentioned both his family and monastery in his will:[3] His will of 28 January 
804, names his living wives Gunegunde and Guitburgi, his deceased parents, 
Teuderico (Theodoric / Thierry IV) and Aldana van Martel (daughter of Charles 
Martel), two brothers, Teudoino and Adalelmo, two sisters, Abbana and Bertana, four 
sons, Barnardo, Guitcario, Gotcelmo, and Helmbruc, not his daughter (Rotlinde van 
Bobbio van Gellone), and one nephew, Bertrano.[4] His wife Guitburgi is said to have 
been the widow of the Moorish wali of Orange taken by William in his battles against 
the Umayyad army of Hisham I in and around the county of Narbona about 793-796. 
His son Barnardo is said to have been by Guitburgi. Her name before her baptism was 
Orable.[5] It is not clear if she married William or was held in concubinage, although 
he calls her his wife in his will.

Gellone remained under the control of the abbots of Aniane. It became a subject of 
contention however as the reputation of William grew. So many pilgrims were attracted 
to Gellone that his corpse was exhumed from the modest site in the narthex and given 
a more prominent place under the choir, to the intense dissatisfaction of the Abbey of 
Aniane. A number of forged documents and assertions were produced on each side 
that leave details of actual history doubtful. The Abbey was a major stop for pilgrims 
on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Its late 12th century Romanesque cloister, 
systematically dismantled during the French revolution, found its way to The Cloisters 
in New York. The Sacramentary of Gellone, dating to the late 8th century, is a famous 
manuscript.

William in romance[edit]

Main article: La Geste de Garin de Monglane

William's faithful service to Charlemagne is portrayed as an example of feudal loyalty. 
William's career battling Saracens is sung in epic poems in the 12th and 13th century 
cycle called La Geste de Garin de Monglane, some two dozen chansons de geste that 
actually center around William, the great-grandson of the largely legendary Garin.

One section of the cycle, however, is devoted to the feats of his father, there named 
Aymeri de Narbonne, who has received Narbonne as his seigniory after his return from 
Spain with Charlemagne. Details of the "Aymeri" of the poem are conflated with a later 
historic figure who was truly the viscount of Narbonne from 1108 to 1134. In the 
chanson he is awarded Ermengart, daughter of Didier, and sister of Boniface, king of 
the Lombards. Among his seven sons and five daughters (one of whom marries Louis 
the Pious) is William.

The defeat of the Moors at Orange was given legendary treatment in the 12th century 
epic La Prise d'Orange. There, he was made Count of Toulouse in the stead of the 
disgraced Chorso, then King of Aquitaine in 778. He is difficult to separate from the 
legends and poems that gave him feats of arms, lineage and titles: Guillaume 
Fièrebras, Guillaum au Court-Nez (broken in a battle with a giant), Guillaum de 
Narbonne, Guillaume d'Orange. His wife is said to have been a converted Saracen, 
Orable later christened Guibourc.

Parents
D'AUTUN Makir (Thierry) (Theodoric(us)) (Dietrich) (ABT  710 - ABT  782)
DE FRANCIA Aude (Aldane) (ABT  720 - BEF  805)

Siblings
____ Theodoen ( 745 - BEF  804)
OF AUTUN Dunne (ABT  750 - )
DE GELLONE William (ABT  752 - 28 May  812)
D'AUTUN Bertha (Auba) (ABT  755 - )

Marriage To OF HORNBACH Guibour (ABT  760 - )
    m.  

Notes
his second (first was to Kunigunde of Austrasia)

Parents
____ Lambert (ABT  720 - AFT  783)
----- ----- ()

Children by OF HORNBACH Guibour ABT  760 - 
____ Bertha (Rothais) ()
DE SEPTIMANIA Bernard (ABT  795 -  844)

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