No primary source has been identified which confirms that Guillaume [II] was the son of Guillaume [I]. There is in fact a difference of opinion about whether there were three comtes de Chalon named Guillaume, as sustained by Du Chesne, or only two as indicated by Orbandale. Du Chesne’s position is more probable. Guillaume [I] was already adult when he was named in 1113, although younger than his fellow comte de Chalon Savaric whose name appears before his in the 1113 document. It is unlikely, therefore, that Guillaume [I] was involved in the attacks on Cluny, dated to 1165. The dates of the marriages of the Chalon daughters ... also indicate that there were three comtes named Guillaume: Isabelle’s marriage to Hugues de Bourgogne is dated to [1149], Alix’s first marriage to 1164, while Beatrix married firstly in [1186], which suggests that the three belonged to different generations of the family.
Guillaume succeeded [his father] as Comte de Chalon. “Odone Burgundiæ Duce et Guillelmo Comite Cabilonensi” subscribed the charter dated 14 Dec 1148 under which Humbert Bishop of Autun consecrated the church of Saint-Lazaire. Hugues le Poitevin’s Histoire de Vézelay records that Louis VII King of France attacked “Guilelmum comitem Cabilonensem” in reprisal for the attacks by “Guilelmus filius eius” against Cluny, in late 1165. The Historia Ludovici VII Regis records that “Guillelmus comes Cabilonensis diaboli vestigia sequens” attacked the church of Cluny and killed monks and that King Louis captured Guillaume and deprived him of his county, granting half to the duke of Burgundy and the other half to the comte de Nevers. The process by which the county was restored to the Chalon family, as well as the timing of this restoration, has not been traced. "Guillielmus...comes Cabilonensis", fearing his end, renounced his rights over Perrecy in favour of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire by charter dated 1174.
The name of Guillaume's wife is not known. It is possible that she was --- de Miribel-en-Dombes, daughter of ---, assuming that she was the mother of Alix, possible daughter of Guillaume [II], who is recorded as “Dame de Miribel”, and that that Miribel was Miribel-en-Dombes... 1
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