William of Gellone

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Saint William of Gellone
William of Gellone, Guillaume d'Orange, William of Aquitaine by Guercino
Bornc. 755
somewhere in northern France
Died(812-05-28)28 May 812 or (814-05-28)28 May 814
Gellone, near Lodève?
Spouse(s)Cunegonde and Witburgis
ChildrenBernard, Witcher, Gotzelm, Heribert, Helimburgis, Gerberge and (perhaps) Rotlinde
Venerated in
Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert in Gellone, France
FeastMay 28
Romanesque apse of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, originally Gellone, the monastery William founded in 804 and entered in 806

William of Gellone (c. 755 – 28 May 812 or 814), the medieval William of Orange,

canonized a saint in 1066 by Pope Alexander II.[2]

In the tenth or eleventh century,

chansons de geste, the earliest of which is the Chanson de Guillaume of about 1140. In the chansons, he is nicknamed Fièrebrace (fierce or strong arm)[4]
on account of his strength and the marquis au court nez (margrave with the short nose) on account of an injury suffered in battle with a giant.

William in history

William was born in northern France in the mid-8th century,[citation needed] to Thierry IV, Count of Autun, and his wife Aldana. His son, and likely William himself, was a relative of Charlemagne. The relationship is speculated to have come through William's mother, perhaps a daughter of Charles Martel, or through Thierry, apparently a close kinsman of Charlemagne's maternal great-grandmother (Bertrada of Prüm), with the two relationships not mutually exclusive.[5] As a kinsman and trusted comes, he spent his youth in the court of Charlemagne. In 788, Chorso, Count of Toulouse, was captured by the Basque Adalric, and made to swear an oath of allegiance to the Duke of Gascony, Lupus II. Upon his release Charlemagne replaced him with his Frankish cousin William (790). William, in turn, successfully subdued the Gascons.

In 793,

Abd ar-Rahman I, proclaimed a holy war against the Christians to the north. He amassed an army of 100,000 men, half of which attacked the Kingdom of Asturias while the other half invaded Languedoc, penetrating as far as Narbonne
.

William met this force and defeated them. He met the Muslim forces again near the river

Ummayads
.

In 804, he founded the

diocese of Maguelonne. He granted property to Gellone and placed the monastery under the general control of Benedict of Aniane, whose monastery was nearby.[6] Among his gifts to the abbey he founded was a piece of the True Cross, a present from his cousin Charlemagne. Charlemagne had received the relic from the Patriarch of Jerusalem
according to the Vita of William.

In 806, William retired to Gellone as a monk and eventually died there[6] on 28 May 812 (or 814). When he died, it was said the bells at Orange rang on their own accord.

William mentioned both his family and monastery in his will:[7] his will of 28 January 804, names his wives Cunegonde and Witburgis, his deceased parents, Theodoric/Thierry and Aldana, two brothers, Theodino and Adalelmo, two sisters, Abbana and Bertana, four children, Barnard, Witcher, Gotzelm and Helimburgis, and a nephew, Bertrano.[8] In addition, he had a son Heribert, a daughter Gerberge, and perhaps a daughter Rotlinde.

Gellone remained under the control of the abbots of Aniane. It became a subject of contention, however, as the reputation of William grew. So many pilgrims were attracted to Gellone that his corpse was exhumed from the modest site in the

Sacramentary of Gellone
, dating to the late 8th century, is a famous manuscript.

William in romance

Main article: La Geste de Garin de Monglane

William's faithful service to Charlemagne is portrayed as an example of

chansons de geste
that actually center around William, the great-grandson of the largely legendary Garin.

One section of the cycle, however, is devoted to the feats of his father, there named

viscount of Narbonne from 1108 to 1134. In the chanson he is awarded Ermengart, daughter of Didier, and sister of Boniface, king of the Lombards
. Among his seven sons and five daughters (one of whom marries Louis the Pious) is William.

The defeat of the Moors at Orange was given legendary treatment in the 12th-century epic

La Prise d'Orange
. There, he was made Count of Toulouse in the stead of the disgraced Chorso, then King of Aquitaine in 778. He is difficult to separate from the legends and poems that gave him feats of arms, lineage and titles: Guillaume Fièrebras, Guillaum au Court-Nez (broken in a battle with a giant), Guillaum de Narbonne and Guillaume d'Orange. These legends turn his wife into a converted Saracen, Orable, later christened Guibourc.

References

  • Bouchard, Constance Brittain Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 2001.
  • "L'Abbaye de Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert" (in French)
  • Metropolitan Museum:The Saint-Guilhem Cloister
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Guillaume d'Orange" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 692–694.

External links

Preceded by
Torson
 Count of Toulouse
790–811 		Succeeded by
Beggo
  1. ^ Occitan: Guilhem d'Aurenga, French: Guillaume d'Orange
  2. ^ "William of Aquitaine, St.". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-17.
  3. ^ Written before the 11th century, according to Jean Mabillon, or during the 11th century according to the Bollandist Godfrey Henschen.
  4. ^ Cf. Firapel in the Roman de Renart: strong skin, like iron-hide
  5. ^ Bouchard, Those of My Blood, pp. 186-188
  6. ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. William of Gellone". newadvent.org.
  7. ^ "Livre des sources m di vales: Testament de Saint Guilhem". www.fordham.edu. Archived from the original on 2000-02-26.
  8. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". fordham.edu.
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