William VII, Marquess of Montferrat

William VII ("circa" 1240 – 6 February 1292), called the Great ( _it. il Gran Marchese), was the twelfth Margrave of Montferrat from 1253 to his death. He was also the titular King of Thessalonica.

Youth

William was the eldest son of Boniface II and Margaret. He was named his father's heir in a testament of 1253, the year of his father's passing and his succession. He remained under his mother's regency until 1257. Upon attaining his majority, he married Isabella, daughter Richard de Clare, in 1258.

cquote|"...Quel che più basso tra costor s'atterra,
guardando in suso, è Guiglielmo marchese,
per cui e Alessandria e la sua guerra
fa pianger Monferrato e Canavese...
":::::— Dante Alighieri, "Purgatorio"; canto VII.

Piedmontese politics

In his first years, William looked to exert his power in the southern Piedmont, as many of his predecessors had tried. The lords of Montferrat had always been combatting the independence of the communes of Alessandria and Asti. In order to subdue them and bring them under his control, William sought alliance and support from the Kingdom of France and the Roman Catholic Church. However, his relationship and proximity to the Holy Roman Emperor left him at odds with the Ghibellines. His anti-imperial, pro-French, Guelph policy left him not insignificant problems concerning the imperial authority and his imperialist neighbours.

His taking part with Guelph politics and cohorting with Charles I of Sicily in a Lombard invasion, brought upon him the wrath of Oberto Pelavicino, the chief Ghibelline commander in the region, in 1264. William resisted him with determination and effectiveness. William even occupied the fortresses of Acqui Terme, Tortona, and Novi Ligure, stabilising his hold on Nizza Monferrato. In 1265, French reinforcements arrived. Less than eight years from his accession, William had extended his power to Lanzo and the vicinity of Alessandria.

upport for Alfonso X

Though aided immensely by the Angevins, the lords of Montferrat had never been known for loyalty to a cause or party and William was no different, abandoning Charles soon after his success, probably fearful of Charles' rising power in Italy and of being encircled by an Angevin state.

William found an ally in Alfonso X of Castile, who had declared himself the heir of Manfred of Sicily and therefore of the Emperor Frederick II. He joined Alfonso at the head of an anti-Angevin coalition. In order to cement an alliance with the Spanish king, the margrave (widow since 1270) married Beatrice, Alfonso's daughter, at Murcia in 1271. A future marriage between William's only daughter by his first marriage with Isabella de Clare, Margaret, and the "infante" John of Valencia was also planned.

From Alfonso, William received the promise of military aid in the case of an Angevin attack. Alfonso named his son-in-law as vicar-general of Lombardy, in opposition to Charles' vicar. This last attacked William's lands and despite the promises, he received no aid from Alfonso.

Victory

Left alone and seeing his domains under attack by his enemies and Tortona and Acqui lost, William scrambled to form an alliance with the Ghibelline cities of Pavia, Asti, and Genoa. He continued to wait for aid from Alfonso, but the king had given up on Germany and Italy. Nevertheless, a small troupe of Spanish soldiers found their way to Montferrat. With these and his allies, despite the excommunication of Pope Gregory X, William prepared to defend his territories. On 10 November 1274, at the Battle of Roccavione, William and the Ghibellines definitively defeated Charles I and routed his forces. He advanced far, taking Trino Vercellese and Turin, which offended the House of Savoy, which considered itself the rightful possessor of the city on the Po.

Towards 1278, the commune of Vercelli recognised William as its lord and Alessandria named him captain and put itself under his dominion. Casale and Tortona also nominated him their captain and William exited the war in a superior position to that with which he had begun.

Captain of Milan

Having become the military leader of various Lombard cities, including Pavia, Vercelli, Alessandria, Tortona, Genoa, Turin, Asti, Alba, Novara, Brescia, Cremona, and Lodi, he was also elected head of the anti-Angevin coalition. At the height of his career, Ottone Visconti requested William to fight the Torriani. On 5 August 1278, he was named captain of Milan and given an annual salary of 10,000 "lire". Soon defeated, however, he was forced to leave the city for Montferrat.

Milan, however, was left bereft of military leadership and Ottone Visconti soon requested William's aid again. He was invited back to the city and accepted, demanding the lordship of Milan for ten years.

William did not long enjoy his time in Milan, for his authority was soon challenged in Alessandria and Asti. He left Milan in the hands of a vicar and went to fight the rebellious cities. Unfortunately, he did not enjoy swift victory, but was instead captured by Thomas III of Savoy, whom he had made his enemy in taking Turin. In order to obtain his liberty, he ceded Turin, as well as Grugliasco and Collegno, and a huge sum of gold. He was freed on 21 June 1280. From that moment, power in the Piedmont would slowly devolve to the Savoyards.

Weakened by continuous warfare, William soon lost control of Milan. On 27 December 1281, he was chased from the city by the one who had brought him there, Ottone Visconti.

Final war

In compensation for the loss of Milan, William received Alba. His daughter by Beatrice of Castile, Violante (Yolanda), married the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus, taking the name Irene (Eirene). Through this marriage, his political situation appeared stabilised. But William was soon campaigning again. He saw a continuous flow of alternating defeats and victories. Having reduced Alessandria to submission, the citizens of Asti paid the Alessandrians a large sum of money and induced them to revolt against the margrave again. Constrained to deal with Alessandria once and for all, William encamped with a large army in front of the city walls. Heeding the appeals of the citizens, he enterred the city to negotiate a peace, but was imprisoned in an iron cage and died a year later, probably of hunger, certainly still a captive.

uccession

William left a son, John, who inherited the margraviate. The margraviate he inherited was divided by years of constant war and few communes remained faithful. Sent to Saluzzo for his safety, John stayed there a year.

William's body was given back to his family and was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Santa Maria di Lucedio, alongside his father. His obituary remembers him as "fundator huius monasterii": "founder of this monastery." In fact, he was just a member of the founding family and an endower. The real founder was Renier.

Legacy

The margraviate of Montferrat was torn to pieces by the incessant expansionistic wars of William VII's reign. Chivasso, the centre of margravial power, the veritable capital and seat of the "marca Aleramica", was but an unimportant provincial town at the time. Never again would the Aleramici succeed in establishing their authority over the Piedmont.

The war with Charles of Sicily, the other chief objective, after Piedmont, of William's rule, was essential to the defence of his domain. The victory at Roccavione did not, however, sustain his power in the Piedmont.

Despite these political and military failures, William's liberality was praised by his contemporaries. He ran a government without oppression or corruption attaching to his name. According to Dante Alighieri ("Convivio"; IV, XI 12):

ources

*Caravale, Mario (ed). "Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: LX Grosso – Guglielmo da Forlì". Rome, 2003.
*Morelli, Maurizio. "La Grande Storia del Piemonte". Florence, 2006.
* [http://www.marchesimonferrato.com/Guglielmo%20VII.htm Marchesi di Monferrato: Guglielmo VII.]