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____ William I
Birth: ABT 890
Notes
a Frank or Burgundian
came to Italy in the time of the contest between the Houses of Friuli and Spoleto
A great lord in the Piedmont and Liguria
He lived under the Salic law, i.e., was a pagan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I,_Marquess_of_Montferrat
William I (floruit 921) stands at the head of the Aleramici family which ruled Montferrat
for four centuries. He was the father of the first Marquess Aleram.
According to the Gesta Berengarii Imperatoris, William was a Frank who crossed the
Alps leading 300 armed retainers in 888–889 to fight alongside Guy III of Spoleto
against Berengar of Friuli for the Iron Crown of Lombardy. He apparently established
himself in northwestern Italy, probably supported by Guy, where he eventually
received the title of comes. It is also probable that he gave his support to Berengar
after Guy's death, for he appears, in 921, along with Lambert, Archbishop of Milan,
and two other counts, Giselbert and Samson, as dilectissimi fideles of the Emperor.
The counts were also cited as illustres comites. They stood opposed to Adalbert of
Ivrea and others in rebellion against Berengar.
William transferred his allegiance again following the death of Berengar. He appears
for the last time alive in 924, intervening on behalf of the bishop of Piacenza with
Rudolf II of Burgundy, a claimant for the Italian crown. Never again does he appear in
history and a diploma of his son's dating to around 933 fixes his death sometime
between those two years (924 – 933). Nonetheless, some, including 18th-century
historian Malaspina and 20th-century historians Usseglio and Cognasso (writing in
1960), consider him to have been alive in 961, based on a faulty reading and
interpretation of the foundation charter of the monastery of Grazzano, founded that
year by Aleram and his family.
Various legendary assertions about his Saxon and Kentish origins and the origins of
his wife have been met by the definitive Dizionario Biografico with the pronouncement:
Ma tali asserzioni non sono ancora state seriamente coinprovate da documenti: "But
such assertions are not yet seriously backed up by the documents."
Marriage To ----- ----- ()
m.
Notes
Children by ----- -----
____ Aleramus (ABT 920 - AFT 991)
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