William I of Baux (, archaic ''Guillem'' or ''Guilhem dels Baus'', or ''du Baus'', ; c. 1155 – June 1218) was the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by the stadtholders of, and then the heirs apparent of ...

from 1182 until his death. He was an important

Provençal Provençal may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Provence, a region of France ** Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France ** ''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language * Provenca ...

nobleman in the

Kingdom of Arles The Kingdom of Burgundy, known from the 12th century as the Kingdom of Arles, was a realm established in 933 by the merger of the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy under King Rudolf II. It was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033 ...

in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. William was the son of

Bertrand I of Baux Bertrand I of Baux was Lords of Baux, lord of Baux of the house of Baux. He was a younger son of Raymond of Baux. Life His mother was Étiennette de Provence (died around 1163), daughter of Gilbert I of Gévaudan, Viscount of Millau and Lodèv ...

, the first Prince of Orange and a major patron of Occitan poetry, and

Tibors de Sarenom Tibors de Sarenom (French ''Tiburge''; c. 1130 – aft. 1198) is the earliest attestable trobairitz, active during the classical period of medieval Occitan literature at the height of the popularity of the troubadours. Biography Tibors is ...

, a sister of Raimbaut d'Aurenga and herself a

trobairitz The ''trobairitz'' () were Occitania, Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260. ''Trobairitz'' is both singular and plural. The word ''trobairitz'' is first attested in the 13th-c ...

. In 1215 when the

Emperor Frederick II Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI of the Ho ...

sought to make his power effective in the

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various successive Monarchy, kingdoms centered in the historical region of Burgundy during the Middle Ages. The heartland of historical Burgundy correlates with the border area between France and Switze ...

, he granted to William at

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

the whole "Kingdom of Arles and Vienne", probably referring to the

viceroyalty A viceroyalty was an entity headed by a viceroy. It dates back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the sixteenth century. British Empire India * British Raj, India was governed by the Governor-General of India, Governor-General and Vi ...

of the kingdom. William was imprisoned in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

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

troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

, inheriting his love of

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...

from his patron-composer parents. Two ''

coblas A ''cobla esparsa'' ( literally meaning "scattered stanza") in Old Occitan is the name used for a single-stanza poem in troubadour poetry. They constitute about 15% of the troubadour output, and they are the dominant form among late (after 1220) a ...

'' and a ''

sirventes The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours. The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly wr ...

'' are preserved from William's writings. He was also in contact with other troubadours. The lone surviving ''sirventes'' of

Gui de Cavalhon Gui de Cavalhon, Cavaillo, or Gavaillo (fl. 1200–1229) was a Provençal nobleman: a diplomat, warrior, and man of letters. He was probably also the Guionet who composed ''tensos'' and ''partimens'' with Cadenet, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Mainart Ro ...

was written against William. An anecdotal ''

razo A ''razo'' (, literally "cause", "reason") was a short piece of Old Occitan, Occitan prose detailing the circumstances of a troubadour composition. A ''razo'' normally introduced an individual poem, acting as a prose preface and explanation; it mi ...

'' is preserved describing how William robbed a French merchant, who subsequently took his case to the king,

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

, but was rejected because "it had taken place too far away" (i.e. out of French jurisdiction in Provence). The merchant subsequently counterfeited the

royal seal A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with ...

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 The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

. This event inspired a ''cobla'' from the troubadour

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras __NOTOC__ Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras (fl. 1180 – 1207) was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courtsAmelia E. Van Vleck, ''The Lyric Texts'' p. 33, in ''Handbook of the Troub ...

, 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 XIII^e siècle''. Aubier, 1989. *Cook, Theodore Andrea. ''Old Provence''. Signal Books, 2001. . *Egan, Margarita, ed. ''The Vidas of the Troubadours''. New York: Garland, 1984. . *Guida, Saverio. "Per la biografia di Gui de Cavaillon e di Bertran Folco d'Avignon." ''Cultura neolatina'', 32 (1972), pp. 189–210. {{DEFAULTSORT:William 01 Of Baux 1150s births 1218 deaths 12th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire House of Baux Princes of Orange 12th-century troubadours