Latin: Guillelmus de Balcio; c. 1155 – June 1218) was the Prince of Orange from 1182 until his death. He was an important Provençal
nobleman.
William was the son of
Emperor Frederick II sought to make his power effective in the Kingdom of Burgundy, he granted to William at Metz the whole "Kingdom of Arles and Vienne", probably referring to the viceroyalty of the kingdom. William was imprisoned in Avignon
in the summer of 1216 and remained there until his death in June 1218. William's descendants continued to claim the Kingdom of Arles until 1393.
William was a man of letters and a
coblas and a sirventes are preserved from William's writings. He was also in contact with other troubadours. The lone surviving sirventes of Gui de Cavalhon
was written against William.
An anecdotal
royal seal and used it to lure William to his (unnamed) city with promises of rewards. When William and his companions arrived in the city the merchant had them arrested and imprisoned until he had made amends for what he had taken. On his return to Provence, William allegedly planned to annex a piece of land ("la Osteilla" or "Estella") belonging to Ademar II of Valentinois when he was captured by Ademar's fisherman in a small boat on the Rhône. This event inspired a cobla from the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
, who nicknamed William Engles ("the Englishman", for unknown reasons).
William married Ermengarde, daughter of Raymond of Mévouillon, but divorced her on 21 March 1203. Their child, Raymond I of Baux, succeeded his father as Prince of Orange and King of Arles. William later remarried to a woman named Alix. His sons by her, William II and Bertrand II, both later inherited Orange. William also had a daughter named Tibors who married Giraud III Amic, lord of Thor de Châteauneuf.
Sources
Aurell, Martin. La vielle et l'épée: Troubadours et politique en Provence au XIIIe siècle. Aubier, 1989.
Cook, Theodore Andrea. Old Provence. Signal Books, 2001.
