William I, Count of Burgundy

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William I (1020 – 1087), called the Great (le Grand or Tête Hardie) was Count of Burgundy and Mâcon from 1057 to 1087. He was a son of Renaud I and Adelaide, daughter of Richard II of Normandy. William was the father of several notable children, including Pope Callistus II.

In 1057, he succeeded his father and reigned over a territory larger than that of the Franche-Comté itself. In 1087, he died in Besançon and was buried there in the cathedral of St John.

William married a woman named Stephanie. Her surname and where she came from, is not known. See the dicussion at soc.genealogy.medieval Jul 28, 2006, where Todd Farmerie points out, that her identification as "de Longwy" was created by an article by Szabolics de Vajay in Annales de Bourgogne, XXXII:247-267 (Oct-Dec 1960), and that Szabolics subsequently retracted this claim without qualification.

They had several children:

• Renaud II, William's successor, died on First Crusade
• Stephen I, successor to Renaud II, Stephen died on Crusade of 1101
• Raymond, married (1090) Urraca of Castile
• Guy of Vienne, elected pope in 1119 at the Abbey of Cluny
• Sybilla (or Maud), married (1080) Eudes I of Burgundy
• Gisela, married (1090) Humbert II of Savoy and then Renier I of Montferrat
• Adelaide
• Bertha
• Eudes
• Hugh III, Archbishop of Besançon
• Clemence married Robert II, Count of Flanders and was Regent, during his absence
• Stephanie
• Ermentrude, married (1065) Thierry I of Montbéliard

[edit] References

• Portail sur Histoire Bourgogne et Histoire Franche-Comté, Gilles Maillet.

Preceded by Renaud I

Count of Burgundy 1057 – 1087

Succeeded by Renaud II