William Busac, Count of Soissons

William Busac (1020-1076), son of William I, Count of Eu, and his wife Lesceline. Count of Eu, Count of Soissons, de jure uxoris. William was given the nickname Busac by the medieval chronicler Robert of Torigni.

William inherited his father’s countship and was Count of Eu when he rebelled against then duke William and was dislodged His fortress of Eu, stripped of his county and forced into exile around 1050. The county of Eu then passed to William’s brother Robert.

William appealed to King Henry I of France, who gave him in marriage, Adelaide, the heiress of the county of Soissons. Adelaide was daughter of Renaud, grand master of the Hotel de France. William then became Count of Soissons in right of his wife. William and Adelaide had four children:

John, Count of Soissons (d. 1118), married Aveline de Pierrefonds
Renaud II, Count of Soissons (d. 1146)
Manasses of Soissons (d. 1 Mar 1108)
Lithuise de Blois, married to Milo I of Montlhéry.

William was succeeded by his brother Robert as Count of Eu. His son John became Count of Soissons upon William’s death, and he was succeeded by his brother Renaud II.

Sources

Waters, Edmund C., The Counts of Eu, Sometime Lords of the Honour of Tickhill, The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, No. 9, 1886
Douglas, David, The Earliest Norman Counts, The English Historical Review, vol. 61, no 240 1946

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