Généalogie and Heritage

Source: History of Anjou - archives départementales du Maine-et-Loire re: Foulque Nerra, Count of Anjou (987)

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Titre	History of Anjou - archives départementales du Maine-et-Loire re: Foulque Nerra, Count of Anjou (987)

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GEOFFROY I 'Grisegonelle' Comte d'Anjou

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translated from French 10TH CENTURY Foulque Nerra, count of Anjou (987) In 987, Hugues Capet was elected king of France, inaugurating, after the Merovingians and the Carolingians, the third royal dynasty. That same year, Foulque III became Count of Anjou upon the death of his father Geoffroy Grisegonelle. Begins a long reign (987-1040) and energetic, that of a conqueror and a builder, which really established the first house of Anjou, that of the Ingelgériens. His eponymous ancestor, Ingelger or Enjeuger, of whom almost nothing is known, distinguished himself against the Normans and the Bretons, which earned him, on the recommendation of the bishop of Angers, the command of the eastern half of the county around880. His son Foulque I le Roux receives the title of viscount of Angers from Charles the Simple and in 929 is cited, in the only text that has come down to us, as count of Anjou. The 10thcentury saw the last Carolingians and Robertians, descendants of Robert-le-Fort, Marquis d'Anjou, alternate on the throne of France. The weakening of royal authority led to the advent of territorial prerogatives who granted themselves sovereign prerogatives and acquired de facto autonomy. It is in this context that the principality of Anjou, whose outline recalls the pagus franc (Loudun and part of the Mauges are included but not the Saumurois), seeks to assert itself against powerful neighbors (counts of Rennes , Nantes, Blois, Maine, Duke of Aquitaine). The Normans were definitively driven out of Basse-Loire in 937. The county then experienced a period of peace under Foulque II le Bon. Under his son Geoffroy Ier Grisegonelle, the clashes resumed. He lends a hand to Guérech, the count of Nantes, against the count of Rennes Conan during the first battle of Conquereuil (982) then pushes back the Bretons who try to surprise Angers. Through the game of feudalism, the Counts of Anjou are both suzerains (Geoffroy extends his vassalic network to Nantes and Thouars) and vassals (of the Duke of Aquitaine and Hugues Capet, dux francorum), while remaining faithful to the king: Foulque le Bon marries his daughter to the last Carolingian, Louis V , while Geoffroy comes to the aid of Lothaire, first against the Duke of Normandy and the Danes, then against the Emperor Otto II during the siege of Paris in 978. From his feats of arms were born legend and epic magnifying the Angevin hero. He died on July 21, 987, a few days after the coronation of Hugues Capet, while he was fighting in his service near Château-du-Loir, in Marçon. His son Foulque, third of the name, succeeds him; called after his death “the Elder” or “the Jerosolimitan” because of the two or three pilgrimages he made to Jerusalem, he only received the nickname “Nerra”, “the black”, in a very later chronicle, in the12th century. He married Élisabeth de Vendôme then Hildegarde “of high Lorraine lineage”. He successfully continued his father's policy by fighting against Count Conan during the second battle of Conquereuil (992), and Count Eudes de Blois (construction of the Langeaisdungeon in 994, taken of Tours in 996). Foulque is a man of war. his tactic: speed. He leads a war of movement, carrying his armies in a very short time to distant points, operating large-scale retreats. His strength: the establishment of fortresses, often in wood, which he then subjugated to vassals responsible for perfecting their defenses. 27 are attributed to him: Mirebeau, Montreuil-Bellay, Passavant-sur-Layon, Maulévrier, Baugé, Durtal, Château-Gontier ... Foulque is excessive: brutal and cruel, he is capable of the worst atrocities; it burns, it loots, cities (Angers, Tours) as well as sacred places (Saint-Martin basilica in Tours, Saint-Florent in Saumur), passing men to the edge of the sword. But Foulque was also a political shrewd and an administrator: he organized his county, surrounded himself with the faithful and knew how to secure the support of the clergy through pious foundations (Le Ronceray), through support for the abbeys (Saint-Aubin, Saint -Serge), without forgetting his good will to atone for his sins by pilgrimages to the Holy Land. At the dawn of the second millennium, Anjou rose again and its territory extended under the rule of the formidable “black falcon”. Chronological benchmarks: c. 929: death of Ingelger, eponymous ancestor of the Ingelgériens ( 1st house of Anjou) 907: death of Alain Barbe-Torte, count of Nantes, who held the western part of Anjou. Foulque becomes count of Nantes 919: Coot driven out of Nantes by the Normans 937: the Normans are definitively driven out of the Basse-Loire c. 886-941: Foulque Ier le Roux, viscount of Angers then count of Anjou c. 941-c. 960: Foulque II le Bon, count of Anjou around 960 - 987: Geoffroy Ier Grisegonelle, count of Anjou 971-1040: Foulque III Nerra, count of Anjou in 987 982: first battle of Conquereuil against the Bretons 987: advent of Hugues Capet 992: second battle of Conquereuil against the Bretons. capture of Nantes 994: construction of the Langeais keep 996: capture of Tours 1002-1003: Foulque Nerra's first pilgrimage to Jerusalem

translated from French
10TH CENTURY
Foulque Nerra, count of Anjou (987)
In 987, Hugues Capet was elected king of France, inaugurating, after the Merovingians and the Carolingians, the third royal dynasty. That same year, Foulque III became Count of Anjou upon the death of his father Geoffroy Grisegonelle. Begins a long reign (987-1040) and energetic, that of a conqueror and a builder, which really established the first house of Anjou, that of the Ingelgériens.

His eponymous ancestor, Ingelger or Enjeuger, of whom almost nothing is known, distinguished himself against the Normans and the Bretons, which earned him, on the recommendation of the bishop of Angers, the command of the eastern half of the county around880. His son Foulque I le Roux receives the title of viscount of Angers from Charles the Simple and in 929 is cited, in the only text that has come down to us, as count of Anjou.
The 10thcentury saw the last Carolingians and Robertians, descendants of Robert-le-Fort, Marquis d'Anjou, alternate on the throne of France. The weakening of royal authority led to the advent of territorial prerogatives who granted themselves sovereign prerogatives and acquired de facto autonomy. It is in this context that the principality of Anjou, whose outline recalls the pagus franc (Loudun and part of the Mauges are included but not the Saumurois), seeks to assert itself against powerful neighbors (counts of Rennes , Nantes, Blois, Maine, Duke of Aquitaine).

The Normans were definitively driven out of Basse-Loire in 937. The county then experienced a period of peace under Foulque II le Bon. Under his son Geoffroy Ier Grisegonelle, the clashes resumed. He lends a hand to Guérech, the count of Nantes, against the count of Rennes Conan during the first battle of Conquereuil (982) then pushes back the Bretons who try to surprise Angers.

Through the game of feudalism, the Counts of Anjou are both suzerains (Geoffroy extends his vassalic network to Nantes and Thouars) and vassals (of the Duke of Aquitaine and Hugues Capet, dux francorum), while remaining faithful to the king: Foulque le Bon marries his daughter to the last Carolingian, Louis V , while Geoffroy comes to the aid of Lothaire, first against the Duke of Normandy and the Danes, then against the Emperor Otto II during the siege of Paris in 978. From his feats of arms were born legend and epic magnifying the Angevin hero. He died on July 21, 987, a few days after the coronation of Hugues Capet, while he was fighting in his service near Château-du-Loir, in Marçon.

His son Foulque, third of the name, succeeds him; called after his death “the Elder” or “the Jerosolimitan” because of the two or three pilgrimages he made to Jerusalem, he only received the nickname “Nerra”, “the black”, in a very later chronicle, in the12th century.

He married Élisabeth de Vendôme then Hildegarde “of high Lorraine lineage”. He successfully continued his father's policy by fighting against Count Conan during the second battle of Conquereuil (992), and Count Eudes de Blois (construction of the Langeaisdungeon in 994, taken of Tours in 996).

Foulque is a man of war. his tactic: speed. He leads a war of movement, carrying his armies in a very short time to distant points, operating large-scale retreats. His strength: the establishment of fortresses, often in wood, which he then subjugated to vassals responsible for perfecting their defenses. 27 are attributed to him: Mirebeau, Montreuil-Bellay, Passavant-sur-Layon, Maulévrier, Baugé, Durtal, Château-Gontier ... Foulque is excessive: brutal and cruel, he is capable of the worst atrocities; it burns, it loots, cities (Angers, Tours) as well as sacred places (Saint-Martin basilica in Tours, Saint-Florent in Saumur), passing men to the edge of the sword.

But Foulque was also a political shrewd and an administrator: he organized his county, surrounded himself with the faithful and knew how to secure the support of the clergy through pious foundations (Le Ronceray), through support for the abbeys (Saint-Aubin, Saint -Serge), without forgetting his good will to atone for his sins by pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

At the dawn of the second millennium, Anjou rose again and its territory extended under the rule of the formidable “black falcon”.

Chronological benchmarks:
c. 929: death of Ingelger, eponymous ancestor of the Ingelgériens ( 1st house of Anjou)
907: death of Alain Barbe-Torte, count of Nantes, who held the western part of Anjou. Foulque becomes count of Nantes
919: Coot driven out of Nantes by the Normans
937: the Normans are definitively driven out of the Basse-Loire
c. 886-941: Foulque Ier le Roux, viscount of Angers then count of Anjou
c. 941-c. 960: Foulque II le Bon, count of Anjou
around 960 - 987: Geoffroy Ier Grisegonelle, count of Anjou
971-1040: Foulque III Nerra, count of Anjou in 987
982: first battle of Conquereuil against the Bretons
987: advent of Hugues Capet
992: second battle of Conquereuil against the Bretons. capture of Nantes
994: construction of the Langeais keep
996: capture of Tours
1002-1003: Foulque Nerra's first pilgrimage to Jerusalem