William of Gellone

Saint William of Gellone (755 - traditionally May 28, ca. 812-814), more correctly Guilhem, was the second count of Toulouse from 790. He is the hero of the chanson de geste Roman de Guillaume-au-court nez, but there is also a less legend-filled Vita that was written before the 11th century according to Jean Mabillon, or during the 11th century according to the Bollandist Henschen. William was the son of Theoderic (Thierry) of the Merovingian royal house; his mother Aldana (Aude) was the daughter of Charles Martel and sister of Pippin the Short and thus he was a high kinsman as well as trusted comes of Charlemagne, at whose court he was present as a youth, as was his right. His kin and his Benedictine monastery are mentioned in his testament http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/french/g1.htm.

Related Topics:
May 28 - Count of Toulouse - Chanson de geste - Jean Mabillon - Bollandist - Merovingian - Charles Martel - Pippin the Short - Charlemagne

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In an unspoken subtext, the career of this high-born Merovingian in the faithful service of Charlemagne served to validate the Carolingian monarchy. William's secular feudal career battling Saracens is sung in poems in the 12th and 13th century cycle called La Geste de Garin de Monglane, some two dozen chansons de geste that actually center around William, the great-grandson of the largely legendary Garin.

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One section of the cycle, however, is devoted to the feats of his father, there named Aimeric de Narbonne, who has received Narbonne as his seigneurie after his return from Spain with Charlemagne. Details of the "Aimeric" of the poem are conflated with a later historic figure who was truly the vicomte of Narbonne, 1108 - 1134. In the chanson he is awarded Ermengart, daughter of Didier, and sister of Boniface, king of the Lombards. Among his seven sons and five daughters (one of whom marries Louis, the son of Charlemagne) is William.

Related Topics:
Aimeric de Narbonne - Vicomte - Louis

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The great emperor employed the historic William against the Moors, whom he fought in Spain, where he took Barcelona and later defeated a raiding party from Septimania at Orange in 793, an event given a legendary treatment in the 12th-century roman La prise d'Orange, was made Count of Toulouse in the stead of the disgraced Chorso, then King of Aquitaine in 778. He is difficult to separate from the legends and poems that gave him feats of arms, lineage and titles: Guillaume Fièrebras, Guillaum au Court-Nez (broken in a battle with a giant), Guillaum de Narbonne, d'Orange. His wife is said to be a converted Saracen, christened Orable or Guibourc.

Related Topics:
Barcelona - Septimania - Orange - Roman

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In 804 William founded a Benedictine monastery in his valley of Gellone, since called Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, near Lodeve in the Diocese of Maguelonne, and made it subject to the famous St. Benedict of Aniane, whose monastery was nearby. Two years later (806), at the height of his feudal prowess, he renounced the world to became a monk at Gellone, where he remained until his death. Among his gifts to the abbey he founded was a piece of the True Cross a present from his cousin Charlemagne, who wept at his departure; Charlemagne had received it, according to the Vita of William, from the patriarch of Jerusalem. When he died, the bells at Orange rang of their own accord. His testament, granting certain property to Gellone, and another subjecting that monastery to the Abbot of Aniane, became subjects of contention as the reputation of William grew, attracting so many pilgrims to Gellone that his corpse was exhumed from the modest site in the narthex and given a more prominent place under the choir, to the intense dissatisfaction of the abbey of Ariane. A raft of forgeries and assertions were produced on each side that leave details of actual history in doubt. The abbey was a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. The Sacramentary of Gellone dating to the late 8th century, William's lifetime, is a famous manuscript. Its late 12th century Romanesque cloister, systematically disassembled at the French revolution, found its way to The Cloisters in New York.

Related Topics:
Maguelonne - Benedict of Aniane - True Cross - Narthex - Santiago de Compostela - Sacramentary of Gellone - Romanesque - French revolution - The Cloisters - New York

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His feast is on 28 May, which is accounted the day of his death.

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