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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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