William (II) was the margrave (''comes terminalis'', "frontier count") of the

March of Pannonia The March of Pannonia or Eastern March ( la, marcha orientalis) was a frontier march of the Carolingian Empire, named after the former Roman province of ''Pannonia'' and carved out of the preceding and larger Avar march. It was referred to in s ...

in the mid ninth century until his death on campaign against the

Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Si ...

in 871. In his day, the ''march orientalis'' corresponded to a front along the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

from the

Traun Traun () is an Austrian city located on the north bank of the river Traun and borders Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, to the east. The name ''Traun'' is derived from the Celtic word for river (''dru''). Traun is the fifth largest city in U ...

gau to

Szombathely Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...

and the

Rába The Rába (german: Raab; hu, Rába; sl, Raba ) is a river in southeastern Austria and western Hungary and a right tributary of the Danube. Geography Its source is in Austria, some kilometres east of Bruck an der Mur below Heubodenhöhe Hill. ...

river and including the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

basin. It was a military frontier zone against Avaria. William co-ruled the march with his brother

Engelschalk I Engelschalk I was the margrave (''comes terminalis'', "frontier count") of the March of Pannonia in the mid ninth century until his death on campaign against the Moravians in 871. In his day, the ''march orientalis'' corresponded to a front along t ...

and both died on the same campaign. They were replaced by Aribo, but Engelschalk's son

Engelschalk II Engelschalk II was the margrave (''comes terminalis'', "frontier count") of the March of Pannonia in the late ninth century in opposition to Aribo. In his day, the ''march orientalis'' corresponded to a front along the Danube from the Traungau t ...

led their heirs in rebellion against Aribo in what became known as the

Wilhelminer War Wilhelminer War was a minor war fought in the March of Pannonia (later Austria) from 882 to 884. It was initially a rebellion of the sons of the margraves William II and Engelschalk I, led by Engelschalk II, against the new margrave Aribo. Svato ...

from 882 to 884. The "Wilhelminers" were descendants of William's father,

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

Sources

*MacLean, Simon. ''Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire''. Cambridge University Press: 2003. Wilhelminer dynasty 871 deaths Year of birth unknown 9th-century people from East Francia {{Germany-noble-stub