William VIII (in
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
: Guilhem; died 1202) was
Lord of Montpellier
The Lordship of Montpellier was a feudal jurisdiction in Languedoc with its centre in the city of Montpellier, that existed between 986 and 1344.
Formation
Ricuin II, the bishop of Mauguio gave these lands in fief to a knight named Guiu I. He w ...
, the son of
William VII and
Matilda of Burgundy.
William VIII married
Eudokia Komnene, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...
. They had one daughter,
Marie of Montpellier
Marie of Montpellier (adapted from Occitan language, Occitan: Maria de Montpelhièr) (1182 – 21 April 1213) was Lady of Montpellier and by her three marriages Viscountess of Marseille, Countess of Comminges and Queen of Aragon.
She was the ...
.
Lacking a male heir, William separated from Eudokia, sending her to a monastery in Ariane.
William then married
Agnes of Castile and sired eight more children:
*
William IX of Montpellier William IX ( Occitan ''Guilhem'' or ''Guillem'') was the lord of Montpellier from 1202 until 1204. He was the last lord of the Guilhem lineage.
William IX was the eldest son of William VIII of Montpellier. His mother, Agnes (Spanish ''Inés''), wa ...
[''The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon'', ed. Damian J. Smith and Helena Buffery, (Ashgate Publishing, 2010), 19.]
*Aymard, d. 1199
[William M. Reddy, ''The Making of Romantic Love'', (University of Chicago Press, 2012), 126.]
*
Bernat William,
married Jussiana d’Entença, daughter of Ponç Hug d’Entença
*Tortoseta (Thomas)
*Bergunyo,
a priest
*Gui, a priest
*Agnes, married in 1203
Raymond Roger Trencavel, viscount of Carcassonne, Béziers, Albi and Razès.
*Adalaïs.
The Pope ruled William's marriage to Agnes as illegitimate and Marie was given the throne.
William VIII was a patron of
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 ...
s.
Arnaut de Mareuil came to his court after fleeing from the entourage of
Azalais of Toulouse, and at least one of Arnaut's poems is addressed to him.
References
12th-century births
1202 deaths
12th-century French nobility
13th-century French nobility
Guilhem dynasty
French patrons of literature
Year of birth unknown
{{France-noble-stub