William VIII of Montpellier
Encyclopedia
William VIII of Montpellier (died 1202) was Lord of Montpellier, the son of William VII
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...

.

He married Eudoxie or Eudokia Komnene
Eudokia Komnene
Eudokia Komnene was a niece of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and wife of William VIII of Montpellier....

, grand-niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....

. 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 troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

s. Arnaut de Mareuil
Arnaut de Mareuil
Arnaut de Mareuil was a troubadour, composing lyric poetry in the Occitan language. Twenty-five, perhaps twenty-nine, of his songs, all cansos, survive, six with music....

 came to his court after fleeing from the entourage of Azalais of Toulouse
Azalais of Toulouse
Azalais of Toulouse was the daughter of count Raymond V of Toulouse and Constance of France. Her maternal grandparents were Louis VI of France and his second wife Adélaide de Maurienne....

, 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
Marie of Montpellier
Marie of Montpellier , was by birth heiress and later Sovereign Lady of Montpellier and by her three marriages Viscountess of Marseille, Countess of Comminges and Queen of Aragon....

 who was to benefit from the terms of the marriage agreement.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK