Phillipa's death, Ermengarde, William's first wife, stormed down from Abbey at Fontevraud to the Aquitainian court. She demanded to be reinstated as the Duchess of Aquitaine. In October 1119, she popped up at the Council of Reims, presided over by Pope Calixtus II, demanding that the Pope excommunicate William (though he was already excommunicated), oust Dangereuse from the ducal palace, and restore her (Erningarde) to her rightful place. The Pope declined to accommodate her, and William's existing excommunication was lifted in 1220, but she continued to trouble William for several years afterwards, which may have contributed to his decision to join the armies fighting the Moors in Spain. William joined forces with the kingdoms of Castile and León. Between 1120 and 1123, Aquitanian troops fought side by side with Queen Urraca of Castile, in an effort to conquer the Moors of Cordoba and complete the Reconquista.
In 1122, he lost Toulouse, Philippa's dower land and now rightfully the domain of his eldest son, to Alphonse Jordan of Toulouse.
William added to the palace of the counts of Poitou which had stood since the Merovingian Era. Later added to by his granddaughter Eleanor of Aquitaine. It survives as the Palace of Justice in Poitiers to the present day. (Imagine that, a thousand years and we demolish buildings which are less than fifty years of age in America, the throw-away society.)
William's greatest legacy to history was as a poet. He was the first known Troubadour, or lyric poet employing the Occitan language. Eleven of his songs survive. They are attributed to him under his title as Count of Poitou (lo coms de Peitieus). The topics vary, treating sex, love, women, his own sexual prowess, and feudal politics. He is among the first Romance poets of the Middle Ages, one of the founders of the troubadour tradition.
His frankness, wit and vivacity caused scandal and won admiration at the same time. William was a man who loved scandal and no doubt enjoyed shocking his audiences. He composed a song about founding a convent in his lands, where the nuns would be picked from among the most beautiful whores in the region, depending on the translation. By most standards he can fairly be described as a character. An anonymous 13th century biography of William, forming part of the collection Biographies des Troubadours, remembers him as follows:
[William] The Count of Poitiers was one of the most courtly men in the world and one of the greatest deceivers of women. He was a fine knight at arms, liberal in his womanizing, and a fine composer and singer of songs. He traveled much through the world, seducing women.
William X, Duke of Aquitaine "the Saint" (1099 – April 9, 1137)
Guilhèm X duc d'Aquitània e de Gasconha, Guilhèm VIII comte de Peitieus
Guilaume X duc d'Aquitaine
William was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VIII of Poitiers between 1126 and 1137.
William was born in Toulouse during the brief period when his parents ruled the capital. Later that same year, 1126, his father William IX mortgaged Toulouse to his wife's cousin, Bertrand of Toulouse. His wife, Philippa of Toulouse was less than pleased, and less pleased still when he then left on Crusade. Philippa and her infant son were left in Poitiers.
Long after William IX's return, he took up with the wife of one of his vassals, and set aside his wife, Philippa. This caused strain between father and son, although the strife seems to have been resolved when the younger William married Ænor of Châtellerault (the daughter of his father's mistress) in 1121. The couple had three children:
Aliaenor, or Eleanor, who would later become heiress to the Duchy;
Aelith ( aka Petronilla), who married Raoul I of Vermandois;
William Aigret, who died young.
William's wife Ænor and their son William Aigret both died in 1130.
Like his father before him, William X was a patron of troubadour music and literature. He was an educated man and gave his two daughters an excellent education. One example of the gap between the sophisticated culture of Occitania and the rest of western Christendom (It was rare enough to give boys a good education, and generally considered "unnatural" and even blasphemous to educate girls. Senior churchmen objected loudly and often).
William became involved in conflicts with Normandy and France. Inside his own borders he faced an alliance of the Lusignans and the Parthenays against him, happily resolved by total destruction of the enemies.
In 1137, Duke William X set out from Poitiers to Bordeaux, taking his daughters with him. In Bordeaux, he left Eleanor and Petronilla in the charge of the Archbishop of Bordeaux who could be entrusted with the safety of the Duke's daughters. The Duke then set out for the Shrine of Saint James of Compostela in North-western Spain, in the company of other pilgrims; however, on 9th April (Good Friday) 1137 he was stricken with sickness, probably food poisoning. He died that evening, having bequeathed Aquitaine to his fifteen-year-old daughter, Eleanor. On his deathbed, he expressed his wish to have King Louis VI of France as protector of Eleanor, and to charge him with finding her a suitable husband. Louis VI, putting his own interests first, as ever, married Eleanor the new Duchess of Aquaitaine to his own son, also called Louis, later King Louis VII.
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–April 1, 1204)
Aliénor d'Aquitània,
Eléanor d'Aquitaine)
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages. She was Queen consort in turn of both France and England and took part in the Second Crusade. Her father was William X Duke Aquaitaine, and her mother was Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimeric I, Vicomte of Chatellerault. William's and Aenor's marriage had been arranged by his father, William IX of Aquitaine "the Troubadour", and her mother, Dangereuse, William IX's long-time mistress. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree) Eleanor was named after her mother and called Aliénor, which means "another Aenor" in Occitan, but she is better known by variations of her name (Eleanor, Eléanor).
Eleanor was the eldest of three children. She was raised in one of Europe's most cultured courts, the birthplace of courtly love. By all accounts, Eleanor was the apple of her father's eye, who made sure she had the best education possible: she could read, speak Latin, and was well-versed in music and literature. She also enjoyed riding, hawking, and hunting. Eleanor was very outgoing and stubborn. She was regarded as very beautiful during her time; most likely she was red-haired and brown-eyed as her father and grandfather were. After the death of her brother, William Aigret, at age 4, along with their mother she became heiress to Aquitaine and 7 other counties, She had only one other sibling, a younger sister named Aelith in Occitan, but more commonly known by the name of Petronilla.
About the age of 15 Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine, and the most eligible heiress in Europe. As these were the days when kidnapping an heiress was seen as a viable option for attaining title, William had dictated a will on the very day he died on his way to Compostella in Spain, bequeathing his domains to Eleanor and appointing King Louis VI "the Fat" as her guardian. He requested that the King take care of both the lands and the Duchess, and to find a suitable husband for Eleanor. Until a husband was found, the King had the right to enjoy Eleanor's lands. The Duke also insisted to his companions that his death be kept a secret until Louis was informed - the men were to journey from Saint James across the Pyrenees as quickly as possible, to call at Bordeaux to notify the Archbishop, and then to make
