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- He was the Count of Provence 979-993.
He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence. He and his elder brother Rotbold II, sons of Boso II of Arles, both carried the title of comes or count concurrently, but it is unknown if they were joint-counts of the whole of Provence or if the region was divided. His brother never bore any other title than count so long as William lived, so the latter seems to have attained a certain supremacy.
In 980, he was installed as Count of Arles. His sobriquet comes from his victories against the Saracens by which he liberated Provence from their threat, which had been constant since the establishment of a base at Fraxinet. At the Battle of Tourtour in 973, with the assistance of the counts of the High Alps and the viscounts of Marseille and Fos, he definitively routed the Saracens, chasing them forever from Provence. He reorganised the region east of the Rhône, which he conquered from the Saracens and which had been given him as a gift from King Conrad of Burgundy. Also by royal consent, he and his descendants controlled the fisc in Provence. With the Isarn, Bishop of Grenoble, he repopulated the Dauphiny and settled an Italian count named Ugo Blavia near Fréjus in 970 in order to bring that land back to cultivation. For all this, he figures prominently in Ralph Glaber's chronicle with the title of dux and he appears in a charter of 992 as pater patriae.
Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_Provence
(Research):Alt. Birth; 947
Guillaume married Arsinde DE COMMINGES, daughter of Arnaud I DE COMMINGES Count of Comminges & Carcassonne and Arsinde DE CARCASSONNE (Arsinde DE COMMINGES was born about 953 in Comminges, Haute Garonne, Midi Pyrenees, France and died before 984.)
Guillaume also married Adélaïde (Azalais, Adèle) D' ANJOU, daughter of Cte Foulques (Fulk) II "Le Bon" D' ANJOU and Gerberga DU GÂTINAIS, after 984 (Adélaïde (Azalais, Adèle) D' ANJOU was born about 942 in Anjou/Pays-de-la-Loire, France and died on 16 Oct 1026 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence, France
SURNAME: Also shown as De Provence
GIVEN NAMES: Also shown as William
SUFFIX: Also shown as I / II
PREFIX: Also shown as Count/Toulouse
BIRTH: Also shown as Born Abt 947, of, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France.
DEATH: Also shown as Died Aft 29 Aug 993
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950 - 1037 (87 years)