[2][3] According to a first hypothesis[clarification needed], Boson II, son of Rotbold (Roubaud) or Rodboald of Agel, a Mâconnais noble is given the title of Count of Provence in 903 by Louis the Blind.

[4] According to the French historian Jean-Pierre Poly, who sides with this hypothesis, the family of counts who was put into power by Hugh of Italy, probably came from Septimania.

One of them, Boson, switched sides around 947-948 by cancelling his marriage with Berthe, the niece of Hugh, and marrying a noblewoman named Constance.

His brother William's name was given to one of Boson's sons and suggests he was possibly related to the Guilhelmides of Auvergne.

Conrad III of Burgundy, the new king of Provence, may have found in Boson a less threatening and ambitious count from a minor family, and more likely to get along with Provençal notables.