William V of Montferrat (occ./piem.
Guilhem, it.
Guglielmo) (c. 1115 – 1191), also known as
William the Old to distinguish him from his eldest son,
William Longsword, was
marquess of Montferrat from c. 1136 to his death in 1191. William was the only son of marquess
Renier I and his wife Gisela, a daughter of
William I, Count of Burgundy and widow of
Count Humbert II of Savoy. It seems likely, given that he was still fit enough to participate in battle in 1187, that William was one of his parents' youngest children. He was described by
Acerbo Morena as of medium height and compact build, with a round, somewhat ruddy face and hair so fair as to be almost white. He was eloquent, intelligent and good-humoured, generous but not extravagant. Dynastically, he was extremely well-connected: a nephew of Pope
Callixtus II, a half-brother of
Amadeus III of Savoy, a brother-in-law of
Louis VI of France (through his half-sister
Adelasia of Moriana), and cousin of
Alfonso VII of Castile.
Dynastic marriage
William married
Judith or Ita von Babenberg, daughter of
Leopold III of Austria and
Agnes of Germany, sometime before
March 28,
1133. Judith was probably about 15 at the time. None of their surviving children seem to have been born before 1140 (there may have been older ones who died in infancy), and the youngest son was born in 1162. She died after 1168. They had five sons, four of whom became prominent in the affairs of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem and of
Byzantium:
- Frederick, who entered the Church and became Bishop of Alba (dates uncertain).
- Renier, married into the Byzantine imperial family
and three daughters:
- Agnes, who married Count Guido Guerra III Guidi of Ventimiglia. The marriage was annulled on grounds of childlessness before 1180, when Guido remarried, and Agnes entered the convent of Santa Maria di Rocca delle Donne.
The
vida of the
troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras claims that there was another daughter, Beatrice, who m.
Henry I del Carretto, marquess of
Savona, and that she is the
Bel Cavalher (
Fair Knight) of Vaqueiras's songs. However, the lyrics of Vaqueiras's songs (as opposed to the later
vida) describe Beatrice as Boniface's daughter, and thus William's granddaughter.
Otto (
Oddone of Montferrat, d. 1251), who became
Bishop of Porto, and Cardinal in 1227, has sometimes been identified as a son of William V, and confused with Frederick. However, his dates make it more likely that he was a son of
William VI of Montferrat, whether legitimate or not is uncertain.
William and Judith's powerful dynastic connections created difficulties in finding suitable wives for his sons, however: too many potential spouses were related within prohibited degrees. In 1167, he unsuccessfully tried to negotiate marriages for his eldest sons to daughters of
Henry II of England - but the girls were very young at the time and were related through Judith's descent from
William V of Aquitaine. He then applied for sisters of
William I of Scotland, who were not related, but were already married.
Alliances with the Western and Eastern Empires
William took part in the
Second Crusade, alongside his half-brother Amadeus of Savoy (who died during the campaign), his nephew
Louis VII of France, his brother-in-law Count
Guido of Biandrate, and his wife's German and Austrian relatives.
As supporters of the imperial party (later known as the
Ghibellines), he and his sons fought with the Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa (Judith's nephew) in his lengthy struggle against the
Lombard League. Following Barbarossa's capitulation with the
Peace of Venice in 1177, William was left to deal with the rebellious towns in the area alone. Meanwhile, the
Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos sought support for his own politics in Italy.
William broke with Barbarossa and formed an alliance with Manuel. His eldest surviving son, Conrad, was taken prisoner by Barbarossa's Chancellor,
Archbishop Christian of Mainz, but then captured the chancellor in battle at
Camerino. In 1179 Manuel suggested a marriage between his daughter
Maria, second in line to the throne, and one of William's sons. As Conrad and Boniface were already married, the youngest son, Renier, was married off to the princess, who was ten years his senior. Renier and Maria were later killed during the usurpation of
Andronikos, and the family rebuilt ties with Barbarossa.
Crusade in Outremer
In 1183, with the accession of his grandson
Baldwin V, a minor, as
co-King of Jerusalem, William, then probably in his late sixties, left the government of Montferrat to Conrad and Boniface, and returned to the east. He was granted the castle of St. Elias (present-day
El Taiyiba). He fought in the
Battle of Hattin in 1187, where he was captured by
Saladin's forces. In the meantime, his second son, Conrad, had arrived at
Tyre from
Constantinople. Conrad was given the command of the defences. During the siege of Tyre in November that year, he is said to have refused to surrender as much as a stone of its walls to liberate his father, even threatening to shoot him with a crossbow himself when Saladin had him presented as a hostage. Eventually, Saladin withdrew his army from Tyre. In 1188, William was released unharmed at Tortosa, and seems to have ended his days in Tyre, with his son. He probably died in the summer of 1191: Conrad last describes himself as "
marchionis Montisferrati filius" in a charter of May that year.
Sources
- (external link to downloadable text).
- Hamilton, Bernard. The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, 2000.
- Usseglio, Leopoldo. I Marchesi di Monferrato in Italia ed in Oriente durante i secoli XII e XIII, 1926.
Category:Marquesses of MontferratCategory:Christians of the Second CrusadeCategory:12th-century Italian peopleCategory:Italian nobilityCategory:1110s birthsCategory:1191 deathsCategory:House of Aleramicies:Guillermo V de Montferratofr:Guillaume V de Montferratit:Guglielmo V del Monferratonl:Willem V van Monferratopl:Wilhelm V z Montferraturu:Вильгельм V Старый (маркиз Монферратский)
