William of Blois (dramatist)

William
Abbot of Matina
Appointed	c. 1167
Term ended	after 1167
Personal details
Profession	clergyman and writer

William of Blois was a French medieval poet and dramatist. He wrote at least one poetical work, which has not survived, and some dramas. Besides being an author, William was also an ecclesiastic, being considered for a Sicilian bishopric and serving as abbot of a monastery in Italy.

William was from the Loire Valley, the brother of fellow poet Peter of Blois. While named after Blois, there is no documentary evidence that either brother was born there. The family's origins may have been in Brittany. The family, which also included sisters, had some nobility if not much wealth, and William was well educated. William moved to the Kingdom of Sicily, arriving shortly after his brother Peter.

William wrote in the 12th century and was the author of at least one work, the Flaura et Marcus, which has not survived. It was written in Latin. He is also credited with two other works, although his authorship is uncertain. These two works are the Alda, which survives in three manuscripts, and the Iurgia muscae et pulicis, surviving in one manuscript. Both of these other works were also written in Latin. The Alda was modeled closely on the style of Matthew of Vendôme, so much so that it is difficult to distinguish the Alda from Matthew's own works. One of the plot lines of the Alda is the seduction of a woman who is immured by the device of pretending to be a woman.

Some at least of William's works were dramas. William's works are part of a group of works known as the "Latin Elegiac comedies", although other names such as "Latin comedies", "Latin fabliaux", or "Latin comic tales" have also been employed. Major themes were guile, deception, lust and sexual scheming and were produced in elegiac verse modeled on that of Ovid.

In 1167 William was the candidate of the French party that had come to Sicily in the following of the chancellor Stephen du Perche for the vacant diocese of Catania. He also had the support of the queen, Margaret of Navarre. By November he had definitively lost the election to John of Ajello, candidate of the "xenophobe party" led by Matthew of Ajello.

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