William IV, Count of Ponthieu

William IV Talvas, depending on how you count Wilhelm II Talvas (* 1179; † 4 October 1221 ) out of the house was Count of Ponthieu Montgomery and thus a vassal of the Duke of Normandy. He was the son and heir of Count Johann I († 1191 ) and Beatrice of Saint- Pol.

Marriage to Alix of France

Wilhelm Talvas married on August 20, 1195 Alix of France, daughter of King Louis VII His wife was much older than him ( depending on the source about 10 or 20 years) and before the fiancee of Richard the Lionheart and -. Rumored - the been mistress of his father, King Henry II of England. After his accession to the throne in 1189, Richard finally refused to marry Alix, and sent them to his return from the Third Crusade to her (half - ) brother Philip II of France back.

Philip then arranged the marriage between Alix and William in the expectation that the marriage would remain childless and he then gains control of the Ponthieu. Alix however, was (probably 1197/98 ), mother of a daughter, Mary, who inherited the county of Ponthieu after William's death. Mary was the maternal grandmother of Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290), the first wife of the English King Edward I. According to some sources had William and Alix beyond a son John, who died in the battle of Bouvines 1214, the existence of previously but could not be saved.

In the summer of 1210 William took part in the Albigensian Crusade and the siege of Termes. In the battle of Bouvines he commanded the left wing of the army of Philip II