Seigneur de Montpellier. A charter dated to [1080] records an agreement between "Petrus comes" and "Guillelmo de Montepessulano et…Guillelmo-Aimono et…infantibus suis" to settle disputes, naming "pater suus Bernardus Willelmus", and includes the betrothal of "filiam suam" and "Guillelmum suprascriptum". A charter dated 20 Dec 1090 records an agreement between the bishop of Maguelone and "Guillelmum de Monte peslier filium Ermengarde".
He took part in the First Crusade. Albert of Aix names "…Willelmus de Montphelyr…" among those who took part in the siege of Nikaia, dated to mid-1097 from the context. Tudebodus names "Willelmo de Monte Pislerio" among those who sailed with Raymond de Saint-Gilles Comte de Toulouse in 1097 as part of the First Crusade. William of Tyre names "Willelmus de Monte Pessulano" among those present at the capture of Antioch in 1098. In Dec 1098, he commanded a contingent which captured Maarat an-Numan. Before going to Palestine, Guillaume [V] borrowed money from Bernard Guillaume and Raimond Guillaume Bishop of Nîmes, both sons of Guillaume Aimon, giving in exchange several feudal rights which he strained to recover when he returned. William of Malmesbury records that "William of Montpellier" accompanied the widow and young son of Raymond de Saint-Gilles Comte de Toulouse back to Europe in [1105]. Under his testament dated 1114 made “pergens contra paganos ad expugnandam Majoricam insulam”, “Guillelmus Montipessulani” bequeathed “castellum d´Omelas” to “Bernardo de Andusia fratri meo et infantibus suis”. This testament confirms the second marriage of Guillaume´s mother, although Europäische Stammtafeln interprets this strangely as meaning that Bernard was the son of Guillaume [IV]. "Guillelmus de Montepessulano filius Guillelmi de Monte pessulano" swore allegiance to the bishop of Maguelone by charter dated to [1119]. Under his testament dated 1121, "Guillelmi Montispessulani, filii Ermeniardis" bequeathed the town of Montpellier to "Guillelmo filio meo majori", the castra of Aumelas, Montarnaud, Popian, Saint-Pons[-de-Mauchiens] and Maderns {ruins in Fontès} {all Hérault} to "Guillelmo filio meo minori", the castrum of Villeneuve [-lès-Maguelone, Hérault} to "Bernardo filio meo", specifying the order of possible substitutions his daughters Guillemette, then Ermenardis and finally Adelais, and also specifying that his wife was pregnant requesting a male child to be made a monk at "Sancti Salvatori Aniane".
Betrothed, about 1080, --- de Melgeuil, daughter of Pierre Comte de Melgueil & his wife Almodis de Toulouse. A charter dated to [1080] records an agreement between "Petrus comes" and "Guillelmo de Montepessulano et…Guillelmo-Aimono et…infantibus suis" to settle disputes and includes the betrothal of "filiam suam" and "Guillelmum suprascriptum".
Married Ermesende, daughter of ---. The name of Guillaume [V]’s wife is confirmed by the charter of her son "Guillelmus de Montispessulano, filius Ermesende". No primary source has been found which confirms that Ermesende was the daughter of Pierre de Melgueil to whom Guillaume was betrothed in [1080]. The chronology is not ideal for this co-identity. Pierre de Melgueil’s marriage is dated to [1065]. His daughter could have been born between 1066 and (assuming that she was still a young child when betrothed) [1075/78]. Assuming twelve years old as the minimum age for a daughter’s marriage at the time, the ceremony would have taken place between 1080 and [1090], a date range which is early when compared with the likely births of Guillaume [V]’s children in the late 1090s/early 1100s (estimated from the marriage dates of three of them). Another problem with this possible co-identity arises from the marriage of Ermesende’s daughter with Bernard [V] Comte de Melgueil, who would have been his wife’s first cousin if Ermesende had been Pierre de Melgueil’s daughter: no reference has been found to a Papal dispensation for this marriage, which may in any case have been difficult to obtain given such a close family relationship. Reference to one of Ermesende’s family connections is provided by the testament of [her son] "Guillelmus de Montispessulano, filius Ermesende", dated 11 Dec 1146, which names “Poncio de Mataplana consobrino mei” [Ponce de Mataplana, son of Bernat Ug [de Mataplana] & his second wife Estefanía [Etiennette/Stéphanie] ---] taking an eventual role in the guardianship of his children with the consent of “matris mee”. The term “consobrinus” would normally translate as “first cousin” (although it could indicate more remote family relationships, while the requirement for the consent of the testator’s mother suggests that the relationship was on the maternal side of Guillaume [VI]’s family. If that is correct, one of Pons’s parents would have been Ermesende’s sibling. A tentative reconstruction of the Mataplana family suggests that this would have been Ponce’s mother Estefanía [Etiennette/Stéphanie].... The testament of [her son] “Guillelmus de Omellacio”, dated 5 Jun 1156, bequeathes “usumfructum honoris...de Valle“ to “matri meæ Ermesendi“. 1
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