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Birth:          1179 Ponthieu, Flanders
Death:          4 Oct 1221 France

Notes
commanded the right wing for the French at Bouvines, on the Albigensian Crusade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IV,_Count_of_Ponthieu
William IV Talvas (1179 – October 4, 1221) was William III, Count of Ponthieu and 
William IV (of the house of Belleme/Montgomery). He was Count of Ponthieu, ruler of a 
small province in northern France that fell under the suzerainty of the dukes of 
Normandy (later also kings of England) since at least the mid 11th century. He was 
son and heir of John I, Count of Ponthieu (died 1191) by his third wife Beatrice de St 
Pol.
Family history and background[edit]

His father Jean I, Count of Ponthieu (died 1191) was the son of Guy II, Count of 
Ponthieu (who died on the Second Crusade 1147) and grandson of William III of 
Ponthieu, also frequently called William III Talvas, and who represented the senior 
line of the lords of Montgomery, once trusted vassals and allies of William the 
Conqueror.

Marriage to Alys, Countess of the Vexin[edit]

Talvas was married on August 20, 1195 to Alys, Countess of the Vexin, the daughter 
of King Louis VII of France. She was some eighteen years older than he, and was said 
by some to have been seduced by King Henry II of England while betrothed to his son, 
King Richard the Lionheart. Richard sent her back to her brother, King Philip II of 
France, refusing to marry his father's mistress.

Philip then arranged for Alys to marry William Talvas, with the intent that the couple 
would be childless, and he would thus gain control of Ponthieu, a small but 
strategically important county. However, Alys then gave birth to a daughter and 
heiress, Marie, in 1199. This daughter was the maternal grandmother of Eleanor of 
Castile, first wife of Edward I, King of England, to whom Ponthieu and the disputed 
Vexin inheritance would eventually pass as Eleanor's dowry. William Talvas died in 
1221, his daughter Marie being his heiress.

Life[edit]

William was an important army commander in the Anglo-French War (1202–1214).
 He also participated in the Albigensian Crusade, particularly in the Siege of Termes in 
1210.
 He led the left wing of the victorious French army in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.

Parents
____ John I (Jean) I (ABT 1135 - 30 Jun 1191)
CANDAVENE DE ST. POL Beatrice (ABT 1135 - )

Siblings
DE PONTHIEU Adele (ABT 1155 - )
TALVAS William (Guillaume) III (1179 - 4 Oct 1221)

Marriage To OF FRANCE Alice (Alix) (4 Oct 1160 - 1221)
    m. 20 Aug 1195 Meudon

Notes

Parents
____ Louis VII "the Young" (1119 - 18 Sep 1180)
OF CASTILE Constance (ABT 1140 - 4 Oct 1160)

Children by OF FRANCE Alice (Alix) 4 Oct 1160 - 1221
OF PONTHIEU Marie (Jeanne) (17 Apr 1199 - 21 Sep 1250)

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