Agnes of Aquitaine, Countess of Savoy

Agnes of Aquitaine (c.1052 – after 18 June 1089) was a daughter of "Count William of Poitiers", probably William VII, Duke of Aquitaine and his wife Ermesinde. Agnes herself was Countess consort of Savoy and possibly Queen consort of Aragon.

Life

Possible wife of Ramiro I of Aragon

Agnes became a popular name in the House of Poitiers following the marriage of William V, Duke of Aquitaine to Agnes of Burgundy. Three Aquitainian women sharing the name Agnes are known to have married Iberian monarchs, and a fourth Iberian consort also named Agnes has been speculated to have been Aquitainian.^[1]

Ramiro I of Aragon married a second wife named Agnes, who based on the name is believed to be of Aquitainian origins.^[2] The woman's parentage is disputed; she may have been daughter of William VI, Duke of Aquitaine or his half-brother William VII, Duke of Aquitaine. It is believed by some ^[3] that Duke William VI died childless, while being son of an earlier wife of William V, he would be less likely to name a daughter for his step-mother. On the other hand, any child of Duke William VII would have been no older than about six years old at the time of Ramiro's marriage, which could explain the lack of children born to Ramiro and his second wife.

Ramiro I died on 8 May 1063 leaving his wife a widow.

Countess of Savoy

In 1064, an Agnes, daughter of "Count William of Poitiers," married Peter I, Count of Savoy. Duke William VI is probably excluded as her father from thus, as Agnes would have been over 26 years old at the time of her marriage if she had been his daughter (he died in 1038). Unless she was a widow, this seems improbable as noble girls often married when aged 12 to 15. Duke William VII is therefore left as the most likely candidate to be Agnes's father.

Three children are assigned to Peter and Agnes:

• Agnes (c. 1066 – after 13 March 1110) married Frederick of Montbéliard and had issue
• Alix (died after 21 December 1099) married Boniface del Vasto and had issue.
• (hypothesized) Bertha (c. 1075 – before 1111) married Peter I of Aragon, a grandson of Ramiro I. The prior marriage of Agnes would have provided the political context for this marriage. Bertha had no known issue.

Peter died on July 9, 1078, leaving Agnes a widow. A charter confirms that Agnes, widow of Count Peter was still alive in June 1089.^[4]

Sources

• Cawley, Charles, AQUITAINE, Medieval Lands, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,
• Cawley, Charles, SAVOY, Medieval Lands, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, retrieved August 2012 ,

Footnotes