William III, Count of Toulouse

William III Taillefer (also spelled Tallefer or Tallifer; 975 – September 1037) was the Count of Toulouse, Albi, and Quercy from 972 or 978 to his death. He was the first of the Toulousain branch of his family to bear the title marchio, which he inherited (c.975) from Raymond II of Rouergue.

His parentage has been subject to reevaluation. He has traditionally been called son of Raymond Pons and Garsinda. However, recent research has revealed that several historical Counts of Toulouse have been overlooked, and that William was actually the son of Raymond III of Toulouse, whom he succeeded in 978, and Adelais of Anjou.

He and his vassals were notorious usurpers of church property. He stole from the abbey of Lézat, but gave it back between 1015 and 1025. Pope John XIX ordered him to stop his vassals from taking the lands of Moissac, a problem later remedied by his successor, Pons, who gave Moissac to Cluny.

William became the most powerful prince in western Languedoc and he saw the rise of the House of Capet in France and a corresponding decrease in royal authority recognised in the south. He bore the title of marchio prefatus in pago Tholosano: "prefect margrave in the Toulousain country." His influence extended into the Narbonensis and even Provence, on behalf of his wife. His power did not remain undiminished in his own city of Toulouse, where he was forced by a council of local noblemen and clerics to give up dues imposed on the market there.

Before 992, William married Emma, daughter of Rotbold III of Provence. From her he gained titles and lands to Provence. From a prior marriage, he had two sons, Raymond and Hugh, who died young. His eldest son by Emma, Pons, , inherited Toulouse and the title of Margrave of Provence. His second son Bertrand became Count of Forcalquier, a Provençal fief. He had two daughters: Rangarda, wife of Peter Raymond of Carcassonne by Emma, and Ildegarda Elisa, wife of Fulk Bertrand of Provence by Emma. He had an illegitimate daughter that married Otto Raymond of L'Isle-Jourdain.

Sources

• Lewis, Archibald R. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
• Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Toulouse.
• Thierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou. Sa famille, ses mariages, sa descendance", Le Moyen Age 103,1 (1997): 9-52
• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 185-2, 185A-5