William of Gellone

Who was William of Gellone?

Saint William of Gellone, also known as William of Aquitaine, was the second Count of Toulouse from 790 until his replacement in 811. His Occitan name is Guilhem, and he is known in French as Guillaume d'Orange, Guillaume Fierabrace, and the Marquis au court nez. William was canonized a saint on 1066 by Pope Alexander II.

He is the hero of the Chanson de Guillaume, an early chanson de geste, and of several later sequels, which were categorized by thirteenth-century poets as the geste of Garin de Monglane. Another early product of oral traditions about William is a Latin Vita, written before the 11th century, according to Jean Mabillon, or during the 11th century according to the Bollandist Godfrey Henschen.