William IV of Ponthieu

William III Talvas (1179 – October 4, 1221) was William II (or III), Count of Ponthieu and William IV Talvas (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 (d 1191) by his third wife Beatrice de St Pol.

Family history and background

His father Jean I, Count of Ponthieu (d 1191 was the son and heir of Guy II, Count of Ponthieu (who died on the Second Crusade 1147), himself the son and heir of William III of Ponthieu. The great-grandfather William I, Count of Ponthieu (or William III Talvas) had surrendered the county of Ponthieu to his son Guy I for his lifetime, and then reobtained it after Guy's early death, which might explain why his great-grandson is usually known as William III Talvas. William I Talvas, Count of Ponthieu was himself the son of Agnes, Countess of Ponthieu (d by 1105) by her husband, a notorious and powerful Norman baron Robert de Belleme, 3rd and last Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord of Montgomery; thus William III Talvas 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

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 had previously been the mistress of King Henry II of England while betrothed to his son, King Richard the Lion-Hearted. 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 1197/1198. This daughter, the middle of three children, was the maternal grandmother of Eleanor of Castile, first wife of Edward I, King of England. Another genealogical table says that Alys and William III Talvas also had a son Jean (1199-1214 killed at Bouvines), while others attribute at least one more daughter to William and Alys. In either case, at the death (in 1221) of William III Talvas, his daughter Marie was his heiress until her own death in 1251. For his marriage with Simon de Dammartin, count of Aumale, she bore four daughters, and Ponthieu then passed to her eldest daughter, Jeanne, wife of St Ferdinand, King of Castile and Leon. Jeanne died 1279, and Ponthieu and the disputed Vexin inheritance apparently formed the dowry/inheritance of Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I For the history of Ponthieu, which was claimed by the English crown since 1279, see the relevant article. The important Battle of Crécy (1346) was fought in the province of Ponthieu.

Notes

The first William to be Count of Ponthieu was undoubtedly Agnes's son. I have found no sources for this, but it appears that he may also be William II of Ponthieu, having taken back the government of Ponthieu after his son's death in 1147 and his grandson being a minor. It is not clear why William Talvas ever gave up Ponthieu to his son, except that this abdication might have been dictated by Guy's marriage to the mysterious Ida, whose family is not known. The page below on the Counts of Alencon claim that William Talvas died 1143, but most other sources say that he died 1171.

Sources

Monicat, M.J. Recueil des Actes de Philippe Auguste Roi de France, 1996.

External links

• The First Dynasty of Ponthieu - in French
• The Dynasty of Belleme/Montgomery - in French
• Montgomery family The Montgomery Family, Earls of Shrewsbury albeit with some mistakes, attributing Robert de Belleme's sister-in-law to his first wife.