- William I of Aquitaine
William I (died
July 6 ,918 ), called the Pious, was theCount of Auvergne from 886 andDuke of Aquitaine from 893, succeeding thePoitevin ruler Ebalus Manser. He made numerous monastic foundations, most important among them the foundation ofCluny Abbey onSeptember 11 ,910 .William was the son of
Bernard II of Auvergne and Ermengard. Sometime before 898, he married theBosonid Engelberga, daughter ofBoso of Provence and Ermengard.By inheritance, he was the ruler of Auvergne and the Limousin. He conquered Poitou and Aquitaine in 893 on behalf of Ebalus Manser. He kept the latter for himself and was proclaimed duke. His possessions extended from
Austrasia toToulouse and included theAutun ois andMâconnais .In 910, William founded the Benedictine abbey of Cluny that would become an important political and religious centre. William required no control over the abbey, which he arranged should be responsible directly to the
pope (see Clunian reforms). William also nominated Cluny's first abbot,Berno of Baume .A sign of William's independence of rule in Aquitaine is that he had a "deniers" minted in his own name at
Brioude . [Rouche, p 428.] He was buried in the monastery of Saint-Julien there. He had no sons of his own and was succeeded by a nephew, William the Younger, son of his sister Adelinda.ee also
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Dukes of Aquitaine family tree References
;Notes
;Sources
*"Nouvelle Biographie Générale". Paris, 1859.
*Rouche, Michel. "Private life conquers state and society," in "A History of Private Life", Vol. I, Paul Veyne, ed. Harvard University Press, 1987. ISBN 0 674 39974 9----
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