Lords of Montpellier

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The following is a list of lords of Montpellier:

William I of Montpellier

William I or Guilhem I (d. 1019) was the founder of the dynasty which bears his name: the Guilhems, Lords of Montpellier. He received his fief (a manor) of Monspestularius (Montpellier) on 26 November 986 from Bernard, Count of Mauguio, with the permission of Ricuin, Bishop of Maguelone.

William II of Montpellier

(d. 1025)

William III of Montpellier

(d. 1058)

William IV of Montpellier

(d. 1068)

William V of Montpellier

William V or Guilhem V (1075 – 1121) was the Lord of Montpellier from an early age until his death. He was the son of Bernard William IV.

Soon after his father's death, his mother, Ermengarde, quit Montpellier to marry the Lord of Anduze. William IV had confided the tutelage of his son to the child's grandmother, Beliarde, and to his nearest relatives: William Arnold, Raymond Stephen, and William Aymoin. After a short conflict with the bishop of Maguelonne, William V rendered homage to the bishop on 10 December 1190 and was recognised as lord of Montpellier.

At the calle of Pope Urban II, William took up the cross of the First Crusade under the banner of Raymond IV of Toulouse. He served notable at the capture of the small Syrian village of Maara in 1098. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1099, William remained in the Holy Land for a while. He remained at the side of Godfrey de Bouillon and accompanied him to the Battle of Arsuf in December. He did not return to Montpellier until 1103, bringing with him a relic of Saint Cleopas.

When William returned, he found that the Aimoin brothers to whom he had confided the administration of the lordship in his absence had usurped many seigniorial rights and that he was obligated to recognise much of their newfound authority, which diminished his own, in order to retain his position.

William participated in the army of Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona which captured Majorca from the Moors in 1114. The rest of his reign was marked by the important acquisition of nearby territories, which greatly recouped his power: Montarnaud, Cournonsec, Montferrier, Frontignan, Aumelas, Montbazin, Popian.

By his marriage to Ermensenda, daughter of the Peter, Count of Mauguio, he had six children:

William VI
William, Lord of Aumelas
Bernard, Lord of Villeneuve
Guillelme, married Raymon Bernard, Count of Mauguio
Ermeniarde
Adelaide

William VI of Montpellier

William VI of Montpellier (d. aft. 1161) was the elder son of William V and his wife Ermessende (daughter of Peter of Melgueil). William succeeded his father in the lordship of Montpellier; he inherited it in 1120, while still a minor, under his mother's guardianship. William of Aumelas was his brother.

William VI's wife was named Sibylle, but her origin is uncertain. According to documents adduced at the annulment of the marriage of Marie of Montpellier, her great-granddaughter, she was the daughter of Boniface del Vasto and therefore the sister of Manfred I of Saluzzo, but this cannot be confirmed.

Inconsolable at the recent death of Sibylle, William VI made his will in 1146 and took holy orders, entering the Cistercian monastery of Grandselve in the diocese of Toulouse in early 1147. He died at some date after 1161, having settled, in that year, an inheritance dispute between his sons William (VII) and Gui.

William VI and Sibylle had five sons and three daughters:

Guillelme or Guillemette, who married Bernard Ato V, viscount of Nîmes and Agde, brother of Roger I Trencavel and Raimond I Trencavel. They had one son, Bernard Ato VI
William VII of Montpellier
William of Tortosa, who married Ermessende of Castries. He joined the Templars in 1157, undertook to remain in Jerusalem for a whole year and died there
Raymond William, who became a Cluniac monk. He was William II, bishop of Béziers, until 1166, later abbot of Amiens until 1187, and bishop of Lodève after that date. He died in 1201
Bernard William, who died before 1172
Gui Guerrejat ("the warrior")
Alais or Azalais, who married Eble III of Ventadorn
Ermessende, who married Raymond Stephen of Servian

William VII of Montpellier

William VII of Montpellier was the eldest son of William VI and of his wife Sibylle.

Aged around 15, he inherited the lordship of Montpellier from his father in 1146 under the tutelage of his grandmother, Ermessende of Melgueil. In 1156 he married Matilda of Burgundy, daughter of Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy.

He fell ill in 1171 and made his will on St Michael's day (29 September 1171), appointing his brother Gui Guerrejat and John of Montlaur, bishop of Maguelonne, as joint guardians of his young sons. He probably died in 1172.

He and Matilda had nine children:

Sibylle, who married Rayomond Gaucelm of Lunel
William VIII of Montpellier
another William, who died between 1171 and 1180
Gui, named Gui Burgundion after his mother and to distinguish him from his uncle Gui Guerrejat. He married Azalais of Conas and had a daughter, Burgundione
Raymond, who became a Cistercian monk at Grandselve, then bishop of Lodève, then (by 1192) bishop of Agde
Guillemette, who married Raymond of Anduze, son of Bernard V of Anduze
Azalais or Adelaide
Marie
Clémence, who was for some time a nun, but in 1199 married Rostaing of Sabran, constable of the count of Toulouse

William VIII of Montpellier

William VIII of Montpellier (d. 1202) was the son of William VII.

He married Eudoxie or Eudokia Komnene, niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. A condition of the marriage was that the firstborn child, boy or girl, would succeed to the lordship of Montpellier on William's death.

Wiiliam VIII was a patron of troubadours. Arnaut de Mareuil came to his court after fleeing from the entourage of Azalais of Toulouse, and at least one of Arnaut's poems is addressed to him.

William died in 1202. He and Eudoxie had no sons, and it was their daughter Marie of Montpellier who was to benefit from the terms of the marriage agreement.