Fulk IV, Count of Anjou

Fulk IV
"le Réchin"
Count of Anjou
Reign 1068–1109
Predecessor Geoffrey III
Successor Fulk V
Joint rule Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou (until 1106)
Born 1043
Died 1109
Spouse Hildegarde of Baugency
m. 1068 – wid. 1070
Ermengarde de Bourbon
m. 1070 – div. ca. 1075
Orengarde de Châtellailon
m. 1076 – div. 1080
N of Brienne
m. 1080 – div. 1087
Bertrade de Montfort
m. 1089 – div. 1092?
Issue by Hildegarde:
Ermengarde, Duchess of Brittany
by Ermengarde:
Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou
by Bertrade:
Fulk of Jerusalem
House House of Anjou
Father Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais
Mother Ermengarde of Anjou
Coins minted by Fulk.

Fulk IV (in French Foulques IV) (1043–14 April 1109), called le Réchin, was the Count of Anjou from 1068 until his death.[1][2] The nickname by which he is usually referred has no certain translation. Philologists have made numerous very different suggestions, including "quarreler", "rude", "sullen", "surly" and "heroic". He was noted to be " a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderic Vitalis.[3]

Early life

Fulk, born 1043,[4] was the younger son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais (sometimes known as Aubri), and Ermengarde of Anjou. Ermengarde was a daughter of Fulk the Black, count of Anjou,[2] and the sister of Geoffrey Martel who preceded Fulk and his brother Geoffrey as Count of Anjou.[2]

Count of Anjou

When Geoffrey Martel died without direct heirs he left Anjou to his nephew Geoffrey III of Anjou, Fulk le Réchin's older brother.[5] Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067.[6] Under pressure from the Church he released Geoffrey. The two brothers soon fell to fighting again, and the next year Geoffrey was again imprisoned by Fulk, this time for good.[7] Substantial territory was lost to Angevin control due to the difficulties resulting from Geoffrey's poor rule and the subsequent civil war. Saintonge was lost, and Fulk had to give the Gâtinais to Philip I of France to placate the king.[8] Much of Fulk's rule was devoted to regaining control over the Angevin baronage, and to a complex struggle with Normandy for influence in Maine and Brittany.[9]

Author of the History of Anjou

In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou." The authorship and authenticity of this work is disputed.[10] Only the first part of the history, describing Fulk's ancestry, is extant. The second part, supposedly describing Fulk's own rule, has not been recovered. If he did write it, it is one of the first medieval works of history written by a layman.[lower-alpha 1][11]

Succession

He died in 1109 leaving the restoration of the countship, as it was under Geoffrey Martel, to his successors.[12]

Family

Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding the exact number or how many he repudiated.[13]

His first wife was Hildegarde of Beaugency.[2] Together they had a daughter:

After her death, before or by 1070, he married Ermengarde de Bourbon. Together they had a son before Fulk repudiated her in 1075, possibly on grounds of consanguinity:

Around 1076 he married Orengarde de Châtellailon.[2] He repudiated her in 1080, possibly on grounds of consanguinity.

He then married an unnamed daughter of Walter I of Brienne by 1080. This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1087.

Lastly, in 1089, he married Bertrade de Montfort,[2] who was apparently "abducted" by King Philip I of France in or around 1092.[lower-alpha 2] They had a son:

Notes

  1. ↑ It is entirely plausible that Fulk may have made use of scribes to write this work. See: Nicholas L. Paul, The Chronicle of Fulk le Rechin: a reassessment, Haskins Society Journal 18: Studies in Medieval History, 2006, eds. Stephen Morillo; Diane Korngiebel (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007), pp. 19–35.
  2. ↑ It remains uncertain whether Philip had her taken by force or whether she left Fulk of her own accord as chroniclers presented differing versions. See: Bradbury, The Capetians (2007) p. 119.

References

  1. ↑ K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Family Trees and the Root of Politics; A Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1997), p. 257
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II: Die Ausserdeutschen Staaten Die Regierenden Häuser der Übrigen Staaten Europas (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A., Stargardt, 1984) Tafel 82
  3. ↑ Orderic Vitalis (1973). Chibnall, Marjorie, ed. The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, vol. IV. London: Oxford University Press. p. 187. ISBN 9780198222286.
  4. ↑ Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Rechin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, eds. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 27
  5. ↑ Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 27
  6. ↑ Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 31
  7. ↑ Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 32
  8. ↑ Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making, 843-1180, Second Edition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 189
  9. ↑ Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making, 843-1180, Second Edition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 189–90
  10. ↑ Nicholas L. Paul, 'The Chronicle of Fulk le Rechin: a Reassessment', The Haskins Society Journal 18: Studies in Medieval History, ed. Stephen Morillo, Diane Korngiebel (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2007) pp. 20-1
  11. ↑ Louis Halphen; René Poupardin, eds. (1913). "From Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise". Paris. pp. 232–38. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  12. ↑ Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making, 843-1180, Second Edition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 190
  13. ↑ Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 36
Preceded by
Geoffrey III		 Count of Anjou
with Geoffrey IV
1068–1109 		Succeeded by
Fulk V
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