Person:Guillaume Ier de Provence (1)

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William I ( 950 – after 29 August 993), called the Liberator, was Count of Provence from 968 to his abdication. In 975 or 979, he took the title of marchio or margrave. He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence. He and his elder brother Rotbold I were sons of Boson II of Arles and his wife Constance, who, based on her name, has been speculated to be daughter of Charles Constantine of Vienne. They both carried the title of 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 Isarn, Bishop of Grenoble, he repopulated Dauphiné 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.

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 as the castles of his vassals, which he had kept carefully under ducal control, soon became allods of their possessors.

1.   William I of Provence, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2.   GUILLAUME [II] “le Libérateur”, son of BOSON Comte [d´Arles] & his wife Constantia --- ([955]-Avignon 993 after 29 Aug, bur Sarrians, église de Sainte-Croix), in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
3. ↑ Guillaume I (or II) "le Libérateur", in Baldwin, Stewart, and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project (King Henry II ): Ancestors of King Henry II.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Biographie en Wikipedia FR, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
   [[1]], trouvée 2015.

   Guillaume Ier de Provence dit le Libérateur, (né v. 955 - mort devant Avignon en 993, après le 29 août).
   Fils de Boson II, comte d'Arles et de Constance de Provence, il fut successivement comte d'Avignon (962), comte de Provence (972), marquis de la Provence arlésienne (979) et prince de toute la Provence (991)1.
   En raison d'un oncle appelé lui aussi Guillaume2, il est parfois dénommé Guillaume II de Provence.