William I (22 March 875 – 6 July 918), called the Pious, was the

Count of Auvergne This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. History In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom of Aquitaine. The c ...

from 886 and Duke of Aquitaine from 893, succeeding the Poitevin ruler Ebalus Manser. He made numerous monastic foundations, most important among them the foundation of Cluny Abbey on 11 September 910. William was son of Bernard Plantapilosa and Ermengard. Sometime before 898, William married the

Bosonid The Bosonids were a dynasty of Carolingian era dukes, counts, bishops and knights descended from Boso the Elder. Eventually they married into the Carolingian dynasty and produced kings and an emperor of the Frankish Empire. The first great scion ...

Engelberga, daughter of

Boso of Provence Boso (french: Boson; c. 841 – 11 January 887) was a Frankish nobleman of the Bosonid family who was related to the Carolingian dynasty and who rose to become King of Lower Burgundy and Provence. Origin Boso was the son of Bivin of Gorze, ...

and Ermengard of Italy. By inheritance, William was the ruler of

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

and the Limousin. He conquered Poitou and Aquitaine in 893 on behalf of Ebalus Manser. He kept the latter for himself and was proclaimed duke. His possessions extended from

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

and included the Autunois and

Mâconnais The Mâconnais district is located in the south of the Burgundy wine region in France, west of the Saône river. It takes its name from the town of Mâcon. It is best known as a source of good value white wines made from the Chardonnay grape; the ...

. In 910, William founded the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey of Cluny that would become an important political and religious centre. William required no control over the abbey, which he arranged should be responsible directly to the

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

(see Clunian reforms). This was especially striking since most monasteries were privately owned and the appointment of abbots and officials was left to that family or individual, leading to the appointment of untrained and unordained abbots and officials. William also nominated Cluny's first abbot, Berno of Baume. A sign of William's independence of rule in Aquitaine is that he had a '' deniers'' minted in his own name at Brioude.Rouche, p. 428. He was buried in the monastery of Saint-Julien. William had no sons of his own and was succeeded by a nephew, William the Younger, son of his sister Adelinda.

References

;Notes ;Sources *''Nouvelle Biographie Générale''. Paris, 1859. *Rouche, Michel. "Private life conquers state and society," in ''A History of Private Life'', Vol. I, Paul Veyne, ed. Harvard University Press, 1987. ---- {{Authority control 875 births 918 deaths Dukes of Aquitaine Counts of Auvergne 9th-century people from West Francia 10th-century people from West Francia Founders of Christian monasteries

See also

References