Constance of Burgundy, Queen of Castile and Léon

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Burgundy

The daughter of Duke Robert I of Burgundy and Helie de Semur-en-Brionnais, she was Queen consort of Castile and León by her marriage to Alfonso VI of León and Castile. Also she was the granddaughter of King Robert II of France, the second monarch of the French Capetian dynasty. She was the mother of Urraca of León, who succeeded her father in both Castile and León.

In 1065, Constance married her first husband, Hugh II, Count of Chalon. They were married for fourteen years until Hughes' death in 1079, they had no children.

In late 1079, Constance remarried to Alfonso VI of León and Castile. The marriage appears to have been orchestrated via the Cluniac connections at Alfonso's court. He had previously been married to Agnes of Aquitaine, whom he had either divorced or had been widowed by. The marriage of Constance and Alfonso initially faced papal opposition, apparently due to a kinship between Constance and Agnes.

Constance and Alfonso had several children but only one of these lived to adulthood:

Urraca (b. April 1079-March 8, 1126) Queen of Castile and León in her own right. Married firstly to Raymond of Burgundy, and arried secondly to Alfonso the Battler.

Constance died in 1093 leaving her fourteen-year-old daughter and her husband a widower. He went on to marry three further wives after her death, but only had a son by his Muslim mistress, Zaida of Seville.

After her death, the corpse of Constance was taken to the town of Sahagún and was buried in the Monastery of St. Facundo and Primitivo, where her husband, King Alfonso VI would be buried along with all his wives. The grave that contained the remains of Alfonso VI was destroyed in 1810 during a fire in the Monastery. Today, the remains of Alfonso VI are buried in the Royal Monastery of San Benito in Sahagún, at the foot of the temple, in a stone chest covered with smooth, modern marble and in a tomb near equally plain, lie the remains of several of the king's wives, including those of Constance.

Constance married Alfonso VI of León and Castile, King of León, Castille and Galicia. Alfonso was born ca 1047, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; died Jul 1109, Toledo, Castilla, Spain; was buried , Sahagun Monastery, Sahagun, Provincia de León Castilla y León, Spain. [Group Sheet]

1. Urraca of León, Queen of León, Castile, and Galicia was born Apr 1079, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; died 08 Mar 1126, Saldaña, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; was buried , Basilica Of San Isidoro, León, Provincia de León, Castilla y León, Spain.

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I,_Duke_of_Burgundy

Known as Robert the Old and "Tete-Hardi", he was Duke of Burgundy from 1032 to his death. Robert was son of King Robert II of France and brother of Henry I of France.

In 1025, with the death of his eldest brother Hugh Magnus, he and Henry rebelled against their father and defeated him, forcing him back to Paris. In 1031, after the death of his father the king, Robert participated in a rebellion against his brother, in which he was supported by his mother, Constance of Arles. Peace was only achieved when Robert was given Burgundy in 1032.

Throughout his reign, he was little more than a robber baron who had no control over his vassals, whose estates he often plundered, especially those of the Church. He seized the income of the diocese of Autun and the wine of the canons of Dijon. He burgled the abbey of St-Germain at Auxerre. In 1048, he repudiated his wife, Helie of Semur followed by the assassination of her brother Joceran and the murdering her father, his father-in-law, Lord Dalmace I of Semur, with his own hands. In that same year, the Bishop of Langres, Harduoin, refused to dedicate the church of Sennecy so as not "to be exposed to the violence of the duke."

His first son, Hugh, died in battle at a young age and his second son, Henry, also predeceased him. He was succeeded by Henry's eldest son, his grandson, Hugh I.

He married his first wife, Helie of Semur about 1033, and repudiated her in 1048. Robert and Helie had five children:

1. Hugh (1034-1059), killed in battle

2, Henry (1035-ca.1074). He died shortly before his father, thus making his son Robert's heir. His children included Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy (1057-1093), Odo I, Duke of Burgundy (1058-1103), and Henry, Count of Portugal (1066-1112), among others

3. Robert (1040-1113), poisoned; married Violante of Sicily, daughter of Roger I of Sicily

4. Simon (1045-1087)

5. Constance (1046-1093), married Alfonso VI of León and Castile

From his second wife, Ermengarde, daughter of Fulk III of Anjou, he had one daughter:

1. Hildegarde (c.1056-1104), married William VIII of Aquitaine

Robert married Helie of Semur-en-Brionnais. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I,_Duke_of_Burgundy

She was the daughter of Lord Dalmace I of Semur and married Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, who was little more than a robber baron who had no control over his vassals, whose estates he often plundered, especially those of the Church. In 1048, he repudiated Helie, followed by the assassination of her brother Joceran and the murdering her father with his own hands.

Robert and Helie had five children:

1. Hugh (1034-1059), killed in battle

2, Henry (1035-ca.1074). He died shortly before his father, thus making his son Robert's heir. His children included Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy (1057-1093), Odo I, Duke of Burgundy (1058-1103), and Henry, Count of Portugal (1066-1112), among others

3. Robert (1040-1113), poisoned; married Violante of Sicily, daughter of Roger I of Sicily

4. Simon (1045-1087)

5. Constance (1046-1093), married Alfonso VI of León and Castile

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_II_of_France

Called the Pious (French: le Pieux) or the Wise (French: le Sage), he was King of the Franks from 996 until his death. The second reigning member of the House of Capet, he was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine.

Immediately after his own coronation, Robert's father Hugh Capet, Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December 987. A measure of Hugh's success is that when Hugh died in 996, Robert continued to reign without any succession dispute, but during his long reign actual royal power dissipated into the hands of the great territorial magnates. began to push for the coronation of Robert. "The essential means by which the early Capetians were seen to have kept the throne in their family was through the association of the eldest surviving son in the royalty during the father's lifetime," Andrew W. Lewis has observed, in tracing the phenomenon in this line of kings who lacked dynastic legitimacy.

Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December 987. A measure of Hugh's success is that when Hugh died in 996, Robert continued to reign without any succession dispute, but during his long reign actual royal power dissipated into the hands of the great territorial magnates.

He was a devout Catholic, hence his sobriquet "the Pious." He was musically inclined, being a composer, chorister, and poet, and made his palace a place of religious seclusion where he conducted the matins and vespers in his royal robes. Robert's reputation for piety also resulted from his lack of toleration for heretics, whom he harshly punished. He is credited with advocating forced conversions of local Jewry. He supported riots against the Jews of Orléans who were accused of conspiring to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Robert reinstated the Roman imperial custom of burning heretics at the stake.

The kingdom Robert inherited was not large, and in an effort to increase his power, he vigorously pursued his claim to any feudal lands that became vacant, usually resulting in war with a counter-claimant. In 1003, his invasion of the Duchy of Burgundy was thwarted, and it would not be until 1016 that he was finally able to get the support of the Church to be recognized as Duke of Burgundy.

The pious Robert made few friends and many enemies, including his own sons: Hugh, Henry, and Robert. They turned against their father in a civil war over power and property. Hugh died in revolt in 1025. In a conflict with Henry and the younger Robert, King Robert's army was defeated, and he retreated to Beaugency outside Paris, his capital. He died in the middle of the war with his sons on 20 July 1031 at Melun. He was interred with Constance in Saint Denis Basilica and succeeded by his son Henry, in both France and Burgundy.

As early as 989, having been rebuffed in his search for a Byzantine princess, Hugh Capet arranged for Robert to marry Rozala, the recently widowed daughter of Berengar II of Italy, many years his senior, who took the name of Susanna upon becoming Queen. She was the widow of Arnulf II of Flanders, with whom she had two children. Robert divorced her within a year of his father's death in 996.

He tried instead to marry Bertha, daughter of Conrad of Burgundy, around the time of his father's death. She was a widow of Odo I of Blois, but was also Robert's cousin. For reasons of consanguinity, Pope Gregory V refused to sanction the marriage, and Robert was excommunicated. After long negotiations with Gregory's successor, Sylvester II, the marriage was annulled.

Finally, in 1001, Robert entered into his final and longest-lasting marriage to Constance of Arles, the daughter of William I of Provence. Her southern customs and entourage were regarded with suspicion at court. After his companion Hugh of Beauvais urged the king to repudiate her as well, knights of her kinsman Fulk III, Count of Anjou had Beauvais murdered. The king and Bertha then went to Rome to ask Pope Sergius IV for an annulment so they could remarry. After this was refused, he went back to Constance and fathered several children by her. Her ambition alienated the chroniclers of her day, who blamed her for several of the king's decisions. Constance and Robert remained married until his death in 1031.

They had the following children:

1. Hedwig (or Advisa), Countess of Auxerre (c. 1003-after 1063), married Renauld I, Count of Nevers on 25 January 1016 and had issue.

2. Hugh Magnus, co-king (1007-17 September 1025)

3. Henry I, successor (4 May 1008-4 August 1060)

4. Adela, Countess of Contenance (1009-5 June 1063), married (a) Richard III of Normandy and (b) Count Baldwin V of Flanders.

5. Robert (1011-21 March 1076) Duke of Burgundy

6. Odo or Eudes (1013-c.1056), who may have been intellectually disabled and died after his brother's failed invasion of Normandy

7. Constance (1014-1052), married Count Manasses de Dammartin.

Robert married Constance of Arles, Queen of the Franks. Constance (daughter of William I of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou) was born ca 986, Arles, France; died 28 Jul 1032, Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France; was buried , Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Arles

Born ca 986 Constance was the daughter of William I, count of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, daughter of Fulk II of Anjou.

Constance was married to King Robert, after his divorce from his second wife, Bertha of Burgundy. The marriage was stormy; Bertha's family opposed her, and Constance was despised for importing her Provençal kinfolk and customs. Robert's friend, Hugh of Beauvais, tried to convince the king to repudiate her in 1007. Possibly at her request twelve knights of her kinsman, Fulk Nerra, then murdered Beauvais.

In 1010 Robert went to Rome, followed by his former wife Bertha, to seek permission to divorce Constance and remarry Bertha. Pope Sergius IV was not about to allow a consanguineous marriage which had been formally condemned by Pope Gregory V and Robert had already repudiated two wives. So the request was denied. After his return according to one source Robert "loved his wife more."

Robert and Constance had the following children:

1. Hedwig (or Advisa), Countess of Auxerre (c. 1003-after 1063), married Renauld I, Count of Nevers on 25 January 1016 and had issue.

2. Hugh Magnus, co-king (1007-17 September 1025)

3. Henry I, successor (4 May 1008-4 August 1060)

4. Adela, Countess of Contenance (1009-5 June 1063), married (a) Richard III of Normandy and (b) Count Baldwin V of Flanders.

5. Robert (1011-21 March 1076) Duke of Burgundy

6. Odo or Eudes (1013-c.1056), who may have been intellectually disabled and died after his brother's failed invasion of Normandy

7. Constance (1014-1052), married Count Manasses de Dammartin.

At Constance's urging, her eldest son Hugh Magnus was crowned co-king alongside his father in 1017. But later Hugh demanded his parents share power with him, and rebelled against his father in 1025. Constance, however, on learning of her son's rebellion was furious with him, rebuking him at every turn. At some point Hugh was reconciled with his parents but shortly thereafter died, probably about age eighteen.

Robert and Constance quarreled over which of their surviving sons should inherit the throne; Robert favored their second son Henry, while Constance favored their third son, Robert. Despite his mother's protests and her support by several bishops, Henry was crowned in 1027. Constance, however, was not graceful when she didn't get her way.

Constance encouraged her sons to rebel, and they began attacking and pillaging the towns and castles belonging to their father. Son Robert attacked Burgundy, the duchy he had been promised but had never received, and Henry seized Dreux. At last King Robert agreed to their demands and peace was made which lasted until the king's death.

King Robert died on 20 July 1031. Soon afterwards Constance was at odds with both her surviving sons. Constance seized her dower lands and refused to surrender them. Henry fled to Normandy, where he received aid, weapons and soldiers from his brother Robert. He returned to besiege his mother at Poissy but Constance escaped to Pontoise. She only surrendered when Henry began the siege of Le Puiset and swore to slaughter all the inhabitants.

Constance died 28 July 1032. and was buried beside her husband Robert at Saint-Denis Basilica

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet

Hugh was the first King of the Franks of the House of Capet from his election in 987 until his death, and was the son of Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler.

Born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the royal houses of France and Germany, he was the nephew to: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor; Henry I, Duke of Bavaria; Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne; and finally, Gerberga of Saxony, Queen of France. Gerberga was the wife of Louis IV, King of France and mother of Lothair of France and Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine. His father's father had been King Robert I.

Hugh was a seventh-generation descendant of Charlemagne as follows:

Hugh Capet, son of
Hugh the Great, son of
Béatrice of Vermandois, daughter of
Herbert I, Count of Vermandois, son of
Pepin, Count of Vermandois, son of
Bernard of Italy, King of the Lombards, son of
Pepin of Italy, King of the Lombards, son of
Charlemagne.

After the end of the ninth century, the descendants of Robert the Strong became indispensable in carrying out royal policies. As Carolingian power failed, the great nobles of West Francia began to assert that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and twice chose Robertians (Odo I (888-898) and Robert I (922-923)) as kings, instead of Carolingians. Hugh's father, Hugh the Great, allied himself with King Louis IV to become the most powerful person in France in the first half of the tenth century. Once in power, Louis IV granted him the title of dux Francorum (Duke of the Franks). Hugh the Great came to dominate a wide swath of central France, from Orléans and Senlis to Auxerre and Sens, while the king was rather confined to the area northeast of Paris (Compiègne, Laon, Soissons).

The realm in which Hugh Capet grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore little resemblance to modern France. It was a a divided patchwork of dukedoms and fiefs with everyone fighting to protect and acquire more territory. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves kings of France, and that title was not used by his successors until the time of his descendant, Philip II. The lands they ruled comprised only a small part of the former Carolingian Empire.

In 956, when his father Hugh the Great died, Hugh, the eldest son, was then about fifteen years old and had two younger brothers. Otto I, King of Germany, intended to bring western Francia under his control, which was possible since he was the maternal uncle of Hugh Capet, and Lothair of France, the new king of the Franks, who succeeded Louis IV in 954, at the age of 13. Otto I appointed his brother Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine, as guardian of Lothair and regent of the kingdom of France. In 956, Otto gave him the same role over Hugh and the Robertian principality. With these young princes under his control, Otto aimed to maintain the balance between Robertians, Carolingians, and Ottonians.

Although Hugh inherited his father's estates, in theory making him one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced kingdom of West Francia, he was not yet an adult so his mother acted as his guardian, and young Hugh's neighbors took advantage. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh's father, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.

When Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor died in 973, Lothair of France moved to recover Lorraine, "cradle of Carolingians". Accompanied by the nobles of the kingdom, Lothair surprised and plundered Aachen, residence of Otto II, forcing the imperial family to flee. After occupying Aachen for five days, Lothair returned to France after symbolically disgracing the city. In September 978, Otto II retaliated against Lothair by invading France.He met with little resistance on French territory, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon. Lothair then fled to the French capital of Paris where he was besieged by Otto II and Charles. Sickness among his troops brought on by winter and a French relief army under Hugh Capet forced Otto II and Charles to lift the siege on November 30, and return to Germany. This victory allowed Hugh Capet to regain his position as the first noble of the Frankish kingdom.

The Archbishop of Reims was the most important clerical leader and traditionally had supported the ruling family and had long been central to the royal policy. Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, was assisted by one of the most advanced minds of his time, the schoolmaster and future Pope, Gerbert of Aurillac. Adalberon and Gerbert worked for the restoration of a single dominant empire in Europe. King Lothair became independent, which defeated their plans to bring the whole of Europe under a single crown. Therefore, they turned their support from Lothair to Hugh Capet. Hugh was for them the ideal candidate, especially since he actively supported monastic reform in the abbeys while other contenders continued to distribute church revenues to their own partisans.

With the support of Adalberon of Reims, Hugh became the new leader of the kingdom. In a letter Gerbert of Aurillac wrote to Archbishop Adalberon that "Lothair is king of France in name alone; Hugh is, however, not in name but in effect and deed." In 979, Lothair sought to ensure his succession by associating his eldest son with the throne. Hugh Capet supported him and summoned the great nobles of the kingdom. The following year, Lothair, seeing the growing power of Hugh, decided to reconcile with the Emperor Otto II by agreeing to renounce Lorraine. Tension mounted between Lothair and Hugh.

When Lothair died in March 986, his son, Louis V, became king and wished to launch an offensive against Reims and Laon. But while hunting in the forest of Senlis, the king was killed in a riding accident on 21 or 22 May 987. He died childless. The apparent successor was Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, brother of Lothair, uncle of Louis V, first cousin of Hugh Capet through their mothers.

For ten years, Hugh Capet had been openly competing against his king, and appeared to have subjected the great vassals. Charles of Lorraine was accused of all evils: he wanted to usurp the crown, had allied himself with the emperor against his brother, and had defamed Queen Emma of Italy, his brother's wife. The archbishop of Reims convened the greatest lords of France at Senlis and denounced Charles of Lorraine for not maintaining his dignity, having made himself a vassal of the emperor Otto II and marrying a woman from a lower class of nobility. Then he promoted the candidacy of Hugh Capet to be King. Hugh was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the House of Capet.

Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. The archbishop, wary of establishing hereditary kingship in the Capetian line, answered that two kings cannot be created in the same year. Hugh claimed, however, that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II, Count of Barcelona (a vassal of the French crown), and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition. Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year.

Chess was to become a popular game in the Middle Ages, and the pieces of knight, king, queen bishop, rook [castle] and pawn and reflected the events happening at this time France as sides of nobles and clergy competed for territory and alliances.

Charles of Lorraine, the Carolingian heir, contested the succession. He drew support from the Count of Vermandois, a cadet of the Carolingian dynasty; and from the Count of Flanders, loyal to the Carolingian cause. Adding to the complication was the death of Hugh's ally and kingmaker, the Archbishop of Reims, Adalberon. The position was was contested by his right-hand man, Gerbert of Aurillac, and Arnulf, illegitimate son of King Lothair of France (and nephew of Charles of Lorraine). Arnulf was installed and shortly after sent one of his agents and opened the gates of the city to his uncle, Charles. Arnulf acted as if terrified, and the city of Reims was compelled to surrender. To keep up appearances, Arnulf and Charles denounced each other, until Arnulf swore fealty to Charles.

Hugh was in a predicament as it would be difficult to take Reims by force. Adalberon, bishop of Laon, whom Charles expelled when he took the city, had sought the protection of Hugh Capet. The bishop made overtures to Arnulf and Charles, to mediate a peace between them and Hugh Capet. Adalberon was received by Charles favorably. That very night the bishop seized Charles and Arnulf in their sleep, and delivered them to Hugh. Charles was imprisoned in Orléans until his death. His sons, born in prison, were released.

The reaction in the southern half of the kingdom were not favorable. The Duke of Aquitaine refuses to submit to his king, "condemning the crime of the Franks [the capture of Charles]" and the Bishop of Laon is compared to Judas the "traitor." Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles. His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though his life would be largely safe.

Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages. Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. Therefore, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.

Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power center. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.

He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royals since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Furthermore, allied branches of the House continue to reign in Spain and Luxembourg.

All monarchs of the Kingdom of France from Hugh Capet to Philip II of France were titled King of the Franks. Philip II of France was the first to use the title of King of France. Many people make this minor error in writing or doing genealogy.

Hugh Capet married Adelaide, daughter of William Towhead, Count of Poitou. Their children are as follows:

1. Gisela, or Gisele, who married Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu
2. Hedwig, or Hathui, who married Reginar IV, Count of Hainaut
3. Robert II, who became king after the death of his father







Buried:
Grave location, biography, and historical portraits:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=capet&GSfn=hugh&GSiman=1&GScid=1974848&GRid=11420947&

Hugh married Adelaide of Aquitaine. Adelaide was born ca 945, Normandy, France; died 1004, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_of_Aquitaine

She was queen consort of France by marriage to Hugh Capet. Adelaide was the daughter of William III, Duke of Aquitaine and Adele of Normandy, daughter of Rollo of Normandy. Her father used her as security for a truce with Hugh Capet, whom she married in 969.

In 987, after the death of Louis V, the last Carolingian king of France, Hugh was elected the new king with Adelaide as queen. They were proclaimed at Senlis and blessed at Noyon. They were the founders of the Capetian dynasty of France.

Hugh apparently trusted in her judgement and allowed her to take part in government: he proposed her to negotiate for him with the regent of the German Empire, empress Theophanu, committing himself beforehand to their agreement.

Adeleide and Hugh's children were:

1. Hedwig, Countess of Mons (or Hadevide, or Avoise) (c. 969-after 1013), wife of Reginar IV, Count of Mons

2. Robert II (972-1031), the future king of France. Crowned co-king 987 in order to consolidate the new dynasty

3. Gisèle, Countess of Ponthieu (c. 970-1002), wife of Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu.


Buried:
Memorial, biography and portrait"
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122680964

Notes:

Wikipeida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_Provence

He was called the Liberator and was Count of Provence from 968 to his abdication. He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence. He and his elder brother Rotbold I were sons of Boso II of Arles and Constance of Viennois, daughter of Charles-Constantine.

In 980, he was installed as Count of Arles. His sobriquet comes from his victories against the Saracens [Muslims] 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.

He married first Arsenda, daughter of Arnold of Comminges and their son was William II of Provence.

He married second (against papal advice) in 984, Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, daughter of Fulk II of Anjou and Gerberga, and their daughter was Constance of Arles (986?1034), married Robert II of France.

He donated land to Cluny and retired to become a monk, dying at Avignon, where he was buried in the church of Saint-Croix at Sarrians. He was succeeded as margrave by his brother. His great principality began to diminish soon after his death.

William married Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou. Adelaide-Blanche was born ca 940; died 1026, Avignon, France; was buried , Montmajour Abbey, Arles, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide-Blanche_of_Anjou

She was the daughter of Fulk II, Count of Anjou, and Gerberga. She successfully increased Angevin fortunes, being married a total of five times. Her family had become upwardly mobile to the point that, as a member of just the third generation from Ingelger, Adelaide-Blanche had married into the highest ranks of the older nobility of western Franks.

Her first marriage was to Stephen, the powerful Count of Gévaudan and Forez in eastern Aquitaine. She was no more than fifteen at the time and he was much older. Still, they had three children who survived to adulthood.

Stephen died in the early 960s and after his death she ruled the lands as regent for her sons William, Pons and Bertrand. She continued to govern Gevaudan and Forez while her remaining two sons learned to rule their father's counties. Additionally, after her oldest son William's death in 975 she raised his infant son Stephen. Her brother Guy (Guido II) was made Count-Bishop of le Puy in 975 amidst local opposition and at his request Adelaide, acting for her sons Guy and Bertrand, led an army to aid him in establishing the "Peace of God" in le Puy.

In 982, as the widow of her second husband, Raymond, count of Toulouse, she wed Louis, son of King Lothair of France. The two were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine at Brioude by her brother Bishop Guy of le Puy. The marriage lasted just over a year due to the couple being unable to peacefully live together. There was also a significant age difference?he being fifteen and Adelaide-Blanche being over forty. Adelaide found herself in a precarious situation with King Lothair but was rescued by Count William I of Provence whom she subsequently married in c.?984. Count William of Provence died in 994 shortly after becoming a monk at Avignon.

In 1010 king Robert II of France along with Odo II, Count of Blois went to Rome to secure an annulment from Robert's second wife, Constance of Arles, Adelaide-Blanche's daughter by William I. Pope Sergius IV, a friend to the Angevin counts, upheld the marriage and additionally upheld Adelaide's struggle to maintain control of lands at Montmajour Abbey. These lands, at Perth, had been donated by Count William I of Provence with his wife Adelaide-Blanche, as well as by a previous donation by William's father, Boson. A dispute over these lands arose by four brothers, sons of Nevolongus, who pope Sergius threatened with excommunication if they did not withdraw their claim. The claim was withdrawn and the lands remained under the control of Adelaide-Blanche acting as regent for her son William II of Provence.

Her fifth marriage was to Otto-William, Count of Burgundy, who subsequently died 21 September 1026. Adelaide-Blanche herself died in 1026, aged approximately eighty-six.

She married first, c.? 955, Stephen, Count of Gévaudan. Children of this marriage were:

1. William, (c.? 955-975).

2.Pons, Count of Gévaudan and Forez. He died aft. 26 February 1011.

3. Bertrand, Count of Gévaudan.

4. Almodis of Gévaudan, she married Adalbert I de Charroux, Count de la Haute March.


Her second marriage was to Raymond, Count of Toulouse and Prince of Gothia, in 975. He died in 978. She had by him at least one child:

5. William III, Count of Toulouse

She married as her third husband Louis V of France and the two were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine but the marriage ended in annulment.

As her fourth husband she married, c.?984, William I of Provence. Together they had:

6. Constance of Arles, who later married Robert II of France.

7. Ermengarde, she married Robert I, Count of Auvergne.

8. Tota-Adelaide, she married Bernard I, Count of Besalú.

Her final marriage was to Otto-William, Count of Burgundy. He and Adelaide had no children.

The location of her death was probably at Avignon, since the year of her death is recorded by Arnoux, a monk of the abbey of Saint-André, near Avignon. She was buried in Montmajour Abbey, near Arles, considered at the time as the burial place of the family of counts of Provence.