William I, the Valiant
Lived: 1031-1080
Head of House of Graziano: 1075-1080
Count of Acre: 1075-1080
William I is the traditional founding father of the House of Graziano which would later go on to such incredible feats. William spent most of his life as a minor knight in the Italo-Norman armies. His history before the First Crusade is rather vague and this history shall rely heavily upon the account of Alexander of Naples – an Italian born Catholic priest of Greek ancestry who wrote the most trustworthy account of the Sicilian Crusade and who later stayed on in Acre where he wrote the story of William’s life (it appears mostly from information given to him by William and other Norman knights who stayed in Acre). Therefore throughout history William has become known as the Valiant for his exploits whilst just a knight but perhaps these stories must be taken with a pinch of salt. Nether the less William was clearly an extraordinary character who catapulted the House of Graziano from utter obscurity to worldwide fame as the bastion of Christianity in Palestine.
It is unclear exactly who William Graziano’s parent’s were but it seems he was among the first generation of Normans to be born in Italy. His first major appearance in history occurred in 1053 when – at the age of just 22 – he fought as a knight at the Battle of Civitate for the Italo-Normans against the combined might of both Pope and Emperor and helped his people to glorious victory. William is indeed mentioned in some of the accounts of the Battle made during the 1050s as a knight who ‘’fought hard and fought bravely’’.
Alexander of Naples gives various accounts of how in the two decades following William’s baptism of fire into the knighthood at Civitate the penniless knight would go on to fight in countless campaigns in Italy and Sicily in the Norman armies as the entire region was conquered. Alexander speaks of the great battles and sieges in which William fought, the piety with which he lived and the heroics with which he made his name in the unforgiving world of 11th century Italy.
It matters little what is true and what is exaggeration as by 1075 William Graziano was a famous warrior. Over his years of battle he had made a name for valour and incredible skill in combat. He had amassed a small fortune from nothing (more than enough to pay his way to Palestine for the Crusade) and most importantly of all had gained exclusive access to King Robert Guiscard’s personal circle.
When the King of Sicily set out for Palestine in mid 1075 as the first wave of the First Crusade William Graziano was given a place of seniority in the King’s personal bodyguard.
When the Normans first arrived in Palestine their King, Robert Guiscard, looked to immediately take the invaluable port city of Acre which was defended by high walls. Luckily the Normans received a shipment of lumber from a group of Italian traders from Venice (the Venetians perhaps already noting financial the possibilities a Christian port in the Levant would provide) and the Normans constructed siege towers. William Graziano was given command of one of the towers as the King stayed out of the battle itself. Alexander of Naples claims William was the first man on the walls of Acre and several other Chroniclers substantiate his claim – therefore William can be credited with playing a significant role in the capture of the important city perhaps pointing to another reason he was later granted it.
However it is not the siege of Acre but the Battle of Beit Nuba (12 miles form Jerusalem) that William is most famous for.
At Beit Nuba the Normans faced defeat after the King’s own bodyguard was overwhelmed but the actions of William at that Battle forever left an imprint on the psyche of the Crusading movement and perhaps just as importantly gave the House of Graziano a sense of identity. In the infamous engagement Robert Guiscard foolishly sought battle against an army nearly twice the size of his own against a commander even more skilled than himself in an army in which his force was out of its own and his adversary was at home. Worse still Robert, seeking personal glory, led the Norman cavalry in a disastrous charge against the more nimble Egyptian cavalry. This charge was simply evaded by the Muslim cavalry who pulled back and allowed the Norman horses to tire whilst many fell to the Egyptian arrows. With his priceless knights tired and demoralised Robert pulled back to a small hill where the Egyptians attacked from all sides. Here the Normans fought incredibly and here William made his name. Outnumbered and seemingly broken the brave Crusaders fought ‘’their entire bodies became drenched in the blood of the infidel’’ and they continued to fight. The entire Crusading movement might have died that day had men like William not fought tooth and nail to preserve the Norman army from annihilation. Of all the knights at Beit Nuba William fought the bravest sometimes charging alone into entire ranks of Muslim attackers and holding them at bay. However the King was struck down by an Egyptian arrow – at this moment it seemed that all was lost and the army would be destroyed yet William stepped up to the moment. First the valiant knight managed to save the King’s body from capture, this in itself was important as had the King’s body not been tended to his soul would have gone to hell something that would further demoralise the army due to Robert’s popularity. With things starting to crumble it was not the new King Roger Borsa but William Graziano who rallied the men and raised the banner of Christ in a rallying cry to fight on. Indeed William kept the Crusader army from collapsing for long enough for the Egyptians to tire and allow them to escape.
After Beit Nuba the Crusaders withdrew back towards Acre and, obviously, command of the army was turned over to the teenage King Roger Borsa who had been brought on Crusade by his father in hope that they could both adore at the Sepulchre of Christ. Yet that dream was over, this situation would need pragmatism not idealism.
The Egyptian King pursued the Normans to Acre, hoping to return the city to Egyptian hands, putting the city under siege just after King Roger returned to it. However the men who had escaped Beit Nuba (around 10 of the original 12 thousand) were able to join with the 4,000 men who had been left in Acre as well as at least 1,000 eager men who had come to Acre for the Crusade independently. That gave the Normans 15,000 men to oppose the Egyptian army now some 16,000 strong. After realising the strength of the Crusaders King Ismail Fatimid withdrew from his siege and set up a defensive position a few miles from the city. Roger, now desperate to return home due to his brother Bohemund’s rebellion, marched out to meet the Egyptians and won a stinging victory that forced the Egyptian withdrawal.
For several weeks after the engagement the Norman Crusade lingered in Acre, strong enough to hold the city but not strong enough to march on Jerusalem. Whilst every day Bohemund grew stronger in Italy. The Norman camp was divided about what to do and it seems William was a strong supporter of the King’s wish to negotiate with the Muslims – it is perhaps this less idealistic approach that made King Roger think William would be better able to survive in the East. Whatever William’s input into the decision a peace was signed with Ismail Fatimid in November which recognised Norman rule of Acre and promised to respect this control, Ismail also agreed to end the foolish restrictions put in place against Christian pilgrims hoping to enter the Holy Land (these restrictions were a major reason for the birth of the Crusading movement). Many had mixed feelings – for intensive purposes the Crusade was a failure as Jerusalem and the majority of the Holy Land remained in Muslim hands however the Latins now had a base in the east for trade, pilgrims and future expeditions whilst pilgrimage could return to normal.
As King Roger looked to return to Italy to deal with his brother he took the extraordinary decision to raise William Graziano from the status as a minor noble but important knight to Count of Acre and Lord of the only Latin city in the East. King Roger granted William funds for the bolstering of Acre’s defences and around 100 knights to defend the city before leaving William all alone in a dangerous world.
In a difficult situation William was able to transform Acre into an endangered and rather poor city into a strong, outward looking and rather wealthy one.
Firstly the work on Acre’s city walls was extensive and was helpful but there was no use in city walls if there was no one to defend them. William tried desperately to encourage immigration to Acre from Europe in the form of soldiers; in particular knights (William obviously had a preference for Normans). The Count of Acre went so far as to send a request to the Pope for encouragement of immigration to Acre. Yet despite this the number of immigrants remained small and even by 1078 the city’s population of resident knights had swollen to just 500, not nearly enough to defned the city should Ismail Fatimid tire of its existence. So in that year William looked to make an agreement with the Hospital Order of St John of Jerusalem.
The Hospitaller Order, as they were better known, had been founded in the early 11th century simply as a group of monks providing a hospital in Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims. However after Ismail Fatimid expelled the Christians from Jerusalem following tensions between pilgrims and Muslims the order radicalised. After its expulsion from Jerusalem many of its members moved to other properties in Palestine and began a rapid transformation into a militant group. By the time it was returned to Jerusalem following the Norman Crusade in 1075 many had started to call the group an Order of Knights rather than of Monks. By 1078 the militant actions of these ‘Knights’ had put heavy pressure upon the Grandmaster, Bladwin Thom, to leave the Egyptian ruled city. The Knights had grown rather numerous and in 1078 William found an end to his problems when he requested that Baldwin bring the Hospitallers to Acre – in one fell swoop 1,000 additional, highly trained, knights had given Acre the security it needed.
The next problem William solved in his short tenure was the economic one. This was easily solved through an alliance with the Venetians agreed in 1079. The Venetians were granted a reasonably large district within Acre along with a section of the harbour in return for a small toll charged by the city on their trading activities which would within a few years balloon in frequency as the Venetians greedily gobbled up all the wares of the East, becoming wealthy beyond belief. This agreement also benefited William’s defensive support for Acre as the Venetians left a permanent force of a few hundred soldiers along with a few ships to defend Acre. But should the city come under threat they would most certainly use their naval and economic power to defend the city.
Yet for all his success in this brief rule William was not long for this earth and his death in 1080 (under suspicious circumstances) left the city in a major crisis. William had had two children by two different wives (one in Italy, one in Acre) but both were totally unsuited to rule and could be used as puppets of their respective supporters. The Norman faction backed William’s 3 year old son Jordan who had been born in the East to a daughter of a Count. The Venetians, meanwhile, backed William’s 18 year old son to his unknown wife back in Italy (thought to be dead), however Richard had the mind of a very small child and could barely take care of himself never mind his country (making perhaps even more malleable than baby Jordan). However the Venetian candidate, despite being older, had the disadvantage of actually being written out of the will left by William Graziano in which the Count requested that all his holdings be passed to his younger boy Jordan. Thus in 1080 the 3 year old Jordan Graziano was made the 2nd Count of Acre and 2nd Head of the newly forged House.