Agnes of Burgundy had blue blood as the grand-daughter of a King of Italy but had to scheme and plot to make sure she and her children would not lose influence when her first husband died.

She is my 25 x great-grandmother.

She was born in Macon, France¹ sometime between 990 and 995², daughter of Othon Guillaume Comte de Mâcon Bourgogne-Comté and his wife Ermentrude de Roucy². Othon was the son of Adalberto II King of Italy¹.

Titles

While married to William V, the Duke of Aquitaine, she held the title of Duchess of Aquitaine².

Agnes was Regent of Aquitaine for her son William the VIII Duke of Aquitaine between 1039 and 1044².

Family

In 1019 she married Duke William V of Aquitaine, as his third wife^{1 2}.

In 1023 she gave birth to:

• Pierre and Guy Geoffrey, twins. Guy Geoffrey became William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine.
• Agnes, who married Holy Roman Emperor Henry III.

She later married Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou.

Notable events

In 1020, she donated property to the Abbey of Cluny². This abbey had been founded by Duke William I in 910³.

When William died in 1030, his son from a previous marriage inherited the duchy leaving her in a precarious position⁴. When the new Duke died in 1038, Guy Geoffrey inherited the title^{2 4}. He took the name William to become Duke William VIII of Aquitaine².

On 31 May 1040 she and her second husband founded the abbey of La Trinité de Vendôme. I wrote about the abbey and the legend behind it.

In 1047 after separating from her second husband she founded the abbey of Notre-Dame de Saintes and joined the abbey as a nun in 1068².

She also founded the abbey of Saint-Nicolas at Poitou with the consent of her sons². This could have been in 1050².

Death

She died in the abbey of Notre-Dame de Saintes on 10 November 1068^{1 4} but I don’t know what she died of. They buried her in the priory of Saint-Nicolas de Poitiers^{1 2}.

Lineage

She is my 25 x great-grandmother.

References

1. Fmg.ac. (2023). BURGUNDY DUCHY NOBILITY – MÁCON & BEAUJEU. [online] Available at: http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BURGUNDIAN%20NOBILITY.htm [Accessed 31 Jul. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Aquitaine, Dukes; Medieval Lands; Charles Cawley; 2019-02-16[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Crusaders: An Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands; Dan Jones; 05 September 2019[↩]
4. Agnes of Aquitaine; Encyclopedia.com; 2019-12-17[↩][↩][↩]