User:WillUOW/sandbox

William was an illegitimate son of Philip of Loo, who was the son of the Flemish count Robert the Frisian and younger brother of Robert II, Count of Flanders.[3]

William was an illegitimate son of Philip of Loo, who was the son of the Flemish count Robert the Frisian and younger brother of Robert II, Count of Flanders

The exact date of his birth it unknown, and although C.1090 is the commonly used date of his birth, several other dates later in the same decade are also plausible.

and her second husband Godfrey I, Count of Louvain

and of Canute IV of Denmark.

It is possibly the case that, rather than being an active participant, William was simply a figurehead manipulated by more powerful relatives; giving weight to this argument is the fact that not only did he survive the succession crisis, but he was also granted the same positions as his father, i.e. effective Count of Ypres and the surrounding localities.

Charles was assassinated on 2 March 1127 by the Erembald Clan, who then offered the countship to William, but he did not wish to be associated with them and he severed all ties with the murderers, going so far as to execute one of their members on 20 March.

Ypres was besieged a month later on the 26 April by William Clito and Louis VI of France. After bitter fighting, the gates of Ypres were opened by the citizens, and William of Ypres was imprisoned along with his brother on 10 September.

At Bruges there was an inquest into the death of Charles the Good. It is unclear how seriously William's involvement was considered, but in the end he escaped implication and was released in March 1128 having given an oath of loyalty to Clito. However, by this stage Clito had alienated most of his allies and faced a new opponent Thierry of Alsace, who was the son of Gertrude, the daughter of Robert the Frisian. Clito was killed in July 1138 at the siege of Aalst, leading to Thierry being confirmed as Count. William made one final attempt to take the county in 1130, though the events are veiled in obscurity. He was unable to prevail against Thierry and unlike his predecessors, Thierry was less than forgiving, banishing William from Flanders sometime between 1133 and 1135.

add stuff about him being called from Ypres for a reason