William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon

William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon

William of Montferrat (early 1140s – 1177), also called William Longsword (modern Italian Guglielmo Lungaspada; original Occitan Guilhem Longa-Espia), was the count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the eldest son of Marquess William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg. He was the older brother of Conrad, Boniface, Azalaïs, and Renier, and a cousin of both Emperor Frederick I and King Louis VII of France. The earliest surviving mention of William's epithet, Longsword, said to refer to his military abilities, and differentiating him from his father, known as "William the Elder", is in the song En abril, quan vei verdeyar, composed in late 1176-early 1177 by the troubadour Peire Bremon lo Tort: Chanzos, tu.t n'iras outra mar, e, per Deu, vai a midons dir qu'en gran dolor et en cossir me fai la nuoit e.l jorn estar. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon has received more than 144,680 page views. His biography is available in 16 different languages on Wikipedia. William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon is the 6,504th most popular politician (down from 6,421st in 2019).