William I of Baux (1173–1218)
Born 1173 CE, died 1218 CE.
William I of Baux (Occitan: Guilhèm dei Bauç, archaic Guillem or Guilhem dels Baus, French: Guillaume des Baux or du Baus, Latin: Guillelmus de Balcio; c. 1155 – June 1218) was the Prince of Orange from 1182 until his death. He was an important Provençal nobleman in the Kingdom of Arles in the Holy Roman Empire. William was the son of Bertrand I of Baux, the first Prince of Orange and a major patron of Occitan poetry, and Tibors de Sarenom, a sister of Raimbaut d'Aurenga and herself a trobairitz. In 1215 when the Emperor Frederick II sought to make his power effective in the Kingdom of Burgundy, he granted to William at Metz the whole "Kingdom of Arles and Vienne", probably referring to the viceroyalty of the kingdom. William was imprisoned in Avignon in the summer of 1216 and remained there until his death in June 1218. William's descendants continued to claim the Kingdom of Arles until 1393. William was a man of letters and a troubadour, inheriting his love of lyric poetry from his patron-composer parents. Two coblas and a sirventes are preserved from William's writings. He was also in contact with other troubadours.
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