William I, Count of Anjou

## William I of Anjou

Count of Anjou

**William of England** (November 28, 1172 - April 10, 1225) was the second child and son of John I of England and Isabella of Auvergne. From birth he was heir apparent to the County of Anjou in the request of his mother. William and John had an abusive relationship, John hated his son and arrested his older brother Henry of England whom William was close to. William grew up hating his father and expelled his father from his house-hold, when he was 19, his mother was murdered by his father. William so furious he attempted to invade England, but his forces were pushed off bay, and William fled to France in the court of Charles VII of France, he stayed there for 3 months, until he attempted a second invasion of England, he lost again and he was stranded in Ireland, he tried to hide in the Earl of Desmond's Castle, but the Earl of Desmond betray him and sold him to John for 10,000 pounds. He was imprisoned for 8 month's, before he escaped after Charles VII of France sent a secret force to free William and John did not know Charles freed William and blamed it on the guards whom he executed. William spent 13 year's in exile at the court of the King of France, until his father's death in 1206, upon his death, William inherited the County of Anjou. William secured his position in France, and his older-half brother Henry III of England cancelled the exile John had placed. William married Luitgarde of Vermandois, William had one child also named Henry. While William was in Richmond Palace, he died of fever. He was buried in Westminister Abbey.

## Early Life

### Childhood

William was born in the Château de Chinon, in November 28, 1172 as the second child of John I of England and his second wife Isabella of Auvergne, William had 3 older half-siblings, Eleanor, Henry Plantagenet and Joan, and he had an older brother named Henry who is often called "Henry the Tall" to distinguish him from his older-half brother with the same name. William was very close to his mother and he was raised with his older brother Henry the Tall. William was described as a talented and bright child who never lacked positivity and strength. But when he was only 10 year's old, his brother was captured by his father, and arrested. William never saw him again, William was so furious he and his mother moved to Auvergne where her mother ruled as Countess in her own right.

### Education

William was mostly trained in war as that was his only interest, William was not smart and could not read or write which concerned his mother. William also never bothered to learn math and history which where seen as the most important thing for men to learn about, William though spoke 9 languages, and did well with a sword, he was seen as a great warrior, but an utterly stupid child, but his piety and fairness made up for it.

### First attempted invasion of England

When William was 15, he left Auvergne from his grand-mother's house, and looked foward to invading England, killing his older half-brother, deposing his father, and becoming King, his mother sent him with an army and he headed for the English channel where he set troop's in Cornwall, William did not speak Cornish and failed to understand what an Arch-Bishop who was trying to help him was saying. The troop's crossed Devonshire and then Somerset, but John who was alerted of the attack sent a larger army from Dorset into Somerset, William and his army was forced back into France where William attempted to free his brother in Brittany, whom he had not seen in 6 year's, but he was not about to get in another battle with the Breton guards. But he was not done, he planned for a second invasion in Auvergne.

### Second Attempted invasion of England

When he was 19, his father murdered his mother and younger sister Matilda of England, hungry for revenge he planned to go through east-Sussex to have a closer route through London, but a storm in the English channel pushed William to Cornwall once again, according to a Bishop accompanying him, William knew he was in Cornwall because he saw the Cornish flag, his father at the time was in Warwick, and as soon as he heard of an invasion, he sent troops from Devonshire and Somerset, William and his men quickly rushed pass them and made it to Wiltshire, but Wiltshire was so cold because of the winter, a lot of them froze to death. William allowed 8 of his sickly men to retreat to Normandy, but he was merceless on the rest. But John's army pushed William's off bay, and William retreated to the court of Charles VII of France with his army.

### Third Attempted invasion and imprisonment

When William was 22, he was not done trying to invade England, his father indeed knew that and attempted to poison William by giving him poisoned wine, but William was weary of his father and his so called "Kindness" and ordered the drink be tossed into a fire, William then gathered an army, and ended up in Kent, he wen't to London after 2 days of marching, his father was on crusade while William raided London, he stormed the treasury and stole 60% of his father's riches. He then declared himself de facto King of England, though when his father returned, William was deposed as head-of-state forced to give up the items he stole, and he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for 3 month's before he was freed by Charles VII of France who sent a few men to get him. John dictated a script that exiled William from England.

## Count of Anjou

William's older-half brother wanted to poison King John for the throne, he decided to make peace with his brother and invited him from exile along with the Margrave of Tuscany, Eleanor of Provence, and other English nobles to help poison John. William agreed and secretly made his way to Dorset where the group was staying, William was greeted by his half-nieces Edward of England and Mary of England, William's job in the plot was to choose to location, he chose London. William along with others gathered in a secret bunker as they watched John drink the poison and die, William inherited Anjou and moved there after the murder.

### Marriage

After he became Count, he decided to finally marry, and go on crusades, he had never been betrothed so he was in a unique position to chose his own bride, he was advised by his older-half brother to attend a party in France and find a bride there, William agreed and he met Luitgarde of Vermandois who was considered to poor and petty of a noblewoman to marry William, but he fell-in-love with her and married her anyway in 1207. The marital life of William and Luitgarde is unknown, but they had one child: Henry of Anjou who was William's heir.

### Crusades

William who had skipped many crusades because of constant attempts to invade England, wanted to get back on track with the rest of medieval Europe, he was invited to the Phillip II's Crusade, which was a Crusade led by Phillip II of France. William took the oppertunity to join after a long time refusal to join the Crusades, William though thought the Crusades would just be like his attempts to invade England, just mere violence, but he was shook and overwhelmed at the war, the Crusades was a series of war's waged against the expanding Ottoman Empire over mainly Jerusalem. The war was much more bloodier and violenter, Phillip II of France reportedly laughed when William complained about the war being violent he said back "Oh child, you have much worse things to worry about, plus, what do you expect? This is war!" William was dragged to Jerusalem along with 18,000 others and it was indeed a fight to the death, William was struck in the back with an sword, and had to be taken to Antioch which was the only safe territory during the fight. He never fully recovered, he stayed in the palace for 2 years, before he was able to get back on his horse to Jerusalem, William arrived in Jaffa, where a storm forced William to go to Lebanon where he was indeed unwelcomed, after the storm stopped, he marched back with his men to Jaffa to join Phillip II of France's army, after the Crusades, William was left still in poor condition, and often complained of pain in his back.

## Death

William visited England on April 3, 1225 to visit Simon de Montfort to make peace with him after he imprisoned most of the English royal family, Simon de Montfort also happened to be mildly ill with fever and William quickly caught it, when William started constantly vomiting, Simon was very worried and sent nurses to care for William. On April 10, 1225, William died in the comfort of Simon de Montort in Richmond Palace, he was buried in Westminister Abbey, and his son succeeded him.