William II of Angoulême

William Taillefer (c. 952 – March 1028), numbered William II (as the second with the sobriquet Taillefer) or William IV (as the fourth William in his family), was the Count of Angoulême from 987. He was the son of Count Arnald II Manzer and grandson of Count William Taillefer I. He stood at the head of the family which controlled not only the Angoumois, but also the Agenais and part of Saintonge. By the time of his death he was "the leading magnate in [the west] of Aquitaine[, but his] eminence ... proved temporary and illusory," evaporating on his death in succession squabbles, revolts and the predations of his erstwhile allies. The principal sources for William's career are Ademar of Chabannes and the anonymous Historia pontificum et comitum Engolismensium.

Between 994 and 1000 William married Ermengarde-Gerberga, widow of Conan I of Brittany and sister of Fulk III of Anjou, who held some castles in Saintonge and Poitou from William as fiefs (pro bene fico). William was perhaps countering the growing strength of the Counts of La Marche in northern Aquitaine since their family succeeded to the County of Périgord, previously dominated by Angoulême, in 975. Fulk was also an ally of Duke William V of Aquitaine, nominal suzerain of Angoulême, and William Taillefer entered into their alliance through marriage. It is also probable that Fulk saw William as a potential ally against the duke and his county of Angoulême as providing a bulwark against aggressions aimed at Fulk's recent acquisition of Saintes and its citadel, the Capitolium. William, exercising the secular control of the church typical of this era, gave the abbacy of Saint-Cybard and later the Bishopric of Angoulême to Grimoard, a brother of Islo, who was both allied with Fulk by marriage and serving as bishop in Fulk's city of Saintes.

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