Boso II Bosonid (Count) of ARLES

Boson II of Arles (928 - 965/67) was Count of Avignon from 935 and Count of Arles from 949. Around 953, Boso II married Constance of Provence, a daughter of the Buviniden Karl Konstantin, Count of Vienne, from which he got two sons: Rotbold II (Roubaud), and William I (Guillaume the Liberator) (* c. 952; † 994), Count of Arles and Provence, and then Margrave of Provence.[1] His origin is controversial, even though his life is relatively well known.[2][3][4] Origin According to a first hypothesis, Boson II, son of Rotbold (Roubaud) or Roadboald of Agel, a Mâconnais noble is given the title of Count of Provence in 903 by Louis the Blind. The ancestors of Rotbold are unknown. Some historians consider that it could be the husband of either a daughter of William I or Ermengarde, one of the daughters of Boso of Provence. This hypothesis is based on the fact that his ancestor being a male descendant of the Margrave Boso is rejected by some historians due to this Boso only having female descendants. According to the French historian Jean-Pierre Poly, who sides with this hypothesis, the family holding the county who was put into power by Hugh of Italy, probably came from Septimania, their most important member, Boson, switched sides around 947-948 by cancelling his marriage with Berthe, the niece of Hugh, and marrying a noblewoman named Constance, considered by some as Constance de Provence, who gave her name to her grand-daughter Constance of Arles, queen of Robert II of France. His brother Guilhem gave his name to one of Boson's sons and makes him possibly related to the Guilhelmides of Auvergne. Conrad I of Burgundy, the new king of Provence may have found in Boson a less threathening and ambitious count from a minor family, and more likely to go along with Provencal dignitaries.[5] References d'Abbans, A.F.É.J. (1854). Dictionnaire des inventions et découvertes anciennes et modernes; publ. par l'abbé Migne. Dictionnaire des inventions et découvertes anciennes et modernes; publ. par l'abbé Migne (in French). p. 516. Retrieved 27 August 2018. Paul-Albert Février: La Provence of the origines à l'an mil . Editions Ouest-France Université, Rennes 1989, ISBN 2-7373-0456-3 "PROVENCE". fmg.ac. The origins of Provence in the year one thousand - Editions Ouest-France University, 1989 ISBN 2737304563 Poly, Jean-Pierre. La Provence et la société féodale 879-1166. p. 33.

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