He was the eldest son of William V the Great by his first wife, Adalmode of Limoges.
[1] Throughout his reign, he had to face the hostility of his stepmother, Agnes of Burgundy, the third wife of his father, who had remarried to Geoffrey Martel, then count of Vendôme.
[2] He was freed in 1036, after nearly three years imprisonment,[3] only by ceding the cities of Saintes and Bordeaux.
He immediately reopened the war, but was defeated again and had to cede the isle of Oléron.
He reformed the administration of Poitiers by naming a provost, and died there, being succeeded by his half-brother Odo.