William Busac
William Busac (1020-1076), son of William I, Count of Eu, and his wife Lesceline. Count of Eu, Count of Soissons, de jure uxoris. William was given the nickname Busac by the medieval chronicler Robert of Torigni.
William inherited his father’s countship and was Count of Eu when he rebelled against then duke William and was dislodged from his fortress of Eu, stripped of his county and forced into exile around 1050. The county of Eu then passed to William’s brother Robert.
William appealed to King Henry I of France, who gave him in marriage Adelaide, the heiress of the county of Soissons.[1] Adelaide was daughter of Renaud I, Count of Soissons, and Grand Master of the Hotel de France. William then became Count of Soissons in right of his wife. William and Adelaide had four children:
- Renaud II, Count of Soissons
- John I, Count of Soissons, married to Aveline de Pierrefonds
- Manasses of Soissons, Bishop of Cambrai, Bishop of Soissons (d. 1 Mar 1108)
- Lithuise de Blois, married to Milo I of Montlhéry
- Unnamed daughter, married to Yves I of Nesle, founder of the House of Nesle.
William was succeeded by his brother Robert as Count of Eu. His son Renaud became Count of Soissons upon William’s death, and he was succeeded by his brother John.
Notes
- ↑ David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty, (Hambledon Continuum, 2002), 65-66.
Sources
- Waters, Edmund C., The Counts of Eu, Sometime Lords of the Honour of Tickhill, The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, No. 9, 1886
- Douglas, David, The Earliest Norman Counts, The English Historical Review, vol. 61, no 240 1946