WILLIAM IX, DUKE OF AQUITAINE AND Cot•sr or Poems:. the first great Provencal poet: h. 1071; d. 1127. He appears to have led a 'Very licentious life, which is constantly re flected in his poems. His poetical work is of special interest as it stands at the beginning of the t_lassical period in Provencal literature, and marks the transition from the popular minstrel ballads to the more Classical and arbitrary literature of the courts of the sev eral Provencal principalities. Much of the work of William of Aquitaine is very close to the popular poetry that be must have found existing in the south of France when he began to write. One of his poems—a romance of licentious adventure, probably quite in the style of the approved poetry of his time—shows spe cial signs of being dose, not only to the popular ballad, but bears imprinted upon it the stamp of the loose manners and customs of the age in which it was written. In his poetry there is already developed the stereotyped poem de scribing the devotion of the knight to his lady. So assured is this form even at this early day, in the mouth of one who, on his own confes sion, was true to no lady, that it would seem as if it must have already existed long enough to have acquired a set form and character. But the disappearance of practically all the Provençal poetry of the time preceding the practical activity of William of Aquitaine, has obliterated the record of the past upon which he undoubtedly builded William of Aquitaine lcd a very active life, most of which was taken up with wars against the neighboring rulers.
He led a plundering expedition into Normandy and conquered Toulouse. But his greatest ex ploit was the crusade of the year 1100, on which he started out for Palestine with an army of 60.000. He reached Jerusalem, but was finally defeated and forced to flee with a handful of followers. On the way back he was shipwrecked; so that it was over three years before he reached home. Notwith standing this religious expedition William quarreled with the Church, defied the papal au thority and was twice excommunicated_ A poem written toward the dose of his life, how ever, expresses repentance for his sins and his ecclesiastical attitude and repentance.- In it he vows the renunciation of all worldly pleasures and the dedication of himself to the service of God. It seems probable, in view of what is known of his life, that his execu tion was not equal to the facility of his poeti cal expression. Consult Holland and Kellar for an incomplete edition of his works (1a50); Sachse, '1:ber des and die Lieder des Trot' adours W.ilheLm IX Graf von Puitou' (Leip,ig ls.s2