William IX (1153- )

Individual Events and Attributes

Individual Note

William (17 August 1153 – April 1156) was the first child of Henry, Duke of Normandy (later Henry II of England) and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was born in Normandy on the same day that his father's rival, Eustace IV of Boulogne, died.

William was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie and Alix of France. He was an older brother of Henry the Young King, Matilda, Duchess of Saxony, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Queen Eleanor of Castile, Queen Joan of Sicily and John of England.

He died in April 1156, aged two years due to a seizure at Wallingford Castle and was buried in Reading Abbey at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I.

At the time of his death, he was reigning as Count of Poitiers, as his mother had ceded the county to him. For centuries, the dukes of Aquitaine had held this as one of their minor titles, so it had passed to Eleanor from her father; giving it to her son was effectively a revival of the title, separating it from the duchy. Some authorities say he also held the title of "Archbishop of York", but this is probably an error. His half-brother Geoffrey Plantagenet (died 1212), who was born within months of William, did later hold that office, causing the confusion.