William VIII Duke of Aquitaine

Male 1025 - 1086  (61 years)


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  • Name William VIII Duke of Aquitaine 
    Born 1025  Aquitaine Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 25 Sep 1086  Chize, Deux-Sèvres, Poitou-Charentes, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Saint-Jean l'Evangéliste de Montierneuf Poitiers Departement de la Vienne Poitou-Charentes, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Source:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_VIII,_Duke_of_Aquitaine

      Born Guy-Geoffrey, he was duke of Gascony, then duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers. He was the youngest son of William V of Aquitaine by his third wife Agnes of Burgundy.

      William VIII was one of the leaders of the allied army called to help Ramiro I of Aragon in the Siege of Barbastro (1064). This expedition was the first campaign organized by the papacy, namely Pope Alexander II, against a Muslim city, and the precursor of the later Crusades movement. Aragon and its allies conquered the city, killed its inhabitants and collected an important booty.

      However, Aragon lost the city again in the following years. During William VIII's rule, the alliance with the southern kingdoms of modern Spain was a political priority as shown by the marriage of all his daughters to Iberian kings.

      He married three times and had at least five children. After he divorced his second wife due to infertility, he remarried to a much younger woman who was also his cousin. This marriage produced a son, but William VIII had to visit Rome in the early 1070s to persuade the pope to recognize his children from his third marriage as legitimate.

      First wife: Garsende of Périgord, daughter of Count Aldabert II of Périgord (divorced November 1058), no children. She became a nun at Saintes.

      Second wife: Matoeda (divorced May 1068), one daughter
      Agnes (1052?1078), married Alfonso VI of Castile

      Third wife: Hildegarde of Burgundy (daughter of duke Robert I of Burgundy)

      Agnes (died 1097), married Peter I of Aragon
      William IX of Aquitaine, his heir
    Person ID I35268  Master File
    Last Modified 27 Jun 2016 

    Family Hildegarde of Burgundy,   b. 1056, County of Burgundy, France Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1104, Aquitaine Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 48 years) 
    Children 
     1. William IX Duke of Aquitaine,   b. 22 Oct 1071, Aquitaine Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 11 Feb 1127, Poitiers Departement de la Vienne Poitou-Charentes, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 55 years)
    Last Modified 27 Jun 2016 
    Family ID F14563  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart