Fulk IV "The Surly", count of Anjou

Fulk IV / Foulques IV (1043-1109)

• Father: Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais
• Mother: Ermengarde of Anjou (ca 1018-1076)
• Spouse (5)

1. Hildegard de Baugency / m. 1068 – wid. 1070
2. Ermengarde de Bourbon / m. 1070 – div. ca. 1075
3. Orengarde de Châtellailon / m. 1076 – div. 1080
4. Mantie de Bienne / m. 1080 – div. 1087
5. Bertrade de Montfort / m. 1089 – div. 1092?

• Children (3)

1. Ermengarde of Anjou ( - 1146) (by Hildegarde)
2. Geoffrey IV, count of Anjou (by Ermengarde)
3. Fulk of Jerusalem (by Betrade)

• *Hope this helps clear some things up**

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Although the medieval and twelfth century sources agree that the father of Fulk IV and Geoffroy III le Barbu was a count of Gâtinais, they disagree on their father's name, some claiming Aubry (Albericus) and others Geoffroy (Gaufridus, Gosfredus, etc.). Contemporary sources, however, clearly prove that their father's name was Geoffroy. Fulk IV names his parents as Gauffridus and Ermengardis in a donation of 1074×6. Additionally, The Historiæ Andegavensis, supposedly written by Fulk IV, names his parents as Goffridi and Ermengardis ["Ego Fulco Comes Andegavensis, qui filius fui Goffridi de Castro Landono & Ermengardis filiae Fulconis Comitis Andegavensis, & nepos Gofridi Martelli, qui fuit filius ejusdem avi mei Fulconis & frater matris meae, cum tenuissem Consulatum Andegavinum vifinti octo annis ..."]. The Saint-Aubin genealogies, evidently composed during the reign of Fulk IV, not only give the name of the father of Fulk IV and his brother Geoffroy III le Barbu, but provide the maternal ancestry of their father as Beatirx, daughter of Albericus, son of Letaldus ["Letaldus comes Vesconsiosis (et Umbertus comes Matisconiensis fratres fuerunt ...); ex Letaldo Albericus natus est; ex Alberico Beatrix; ex Beatrice Gosfridus comes de Castello Landonensi. Ex Gaufrido Gaufridus et Fulco presens."]. Geoffroy III le Barbu, in a charter of 1060×8 gave a donation for the soul of his uncle and predecessor Geoffroy and his father Geoffroy ["Ipsi vero constitutum habent pro isto beneficio annis singulis facere anniversarium patris mei Gaufridi quod est II kalendas maii, non minus diligenter quam abbatum suorum anniversaria"].

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulk_IV,_Count_of_Anjou

and in French:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foulque_IV_d%27Anjou

Fulk IV (1043–1109), called le Réchin, was the Count of Anjou from 1068 until his death. The nickname by which he is usually referred has no certain translation. Philologists have made numerous very different suggestions, including "quarreler", "sullen", and "heroic".

Biography

He was the younger son of Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais (sometimes known as Aubri), and Ermengarde of Anjou, a daughter of Fulk the Black, count of Anjou, and sister of Geoffrey Martel, also 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.

Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067. 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.

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.

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.

In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou", though the authorship and authenticity of this work is disputed. 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.[1]

Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding two of the marriages.

His first wife was Hildegarde of Baugency. After her death, before 1070, he married Ermengarde de Borbon, and then possibly Orengarde de Châtellailon. Both these were repudiated (Ermengarde de Borbon in 1075 and Orengarde de Chatellailon in 1080), possibly on grounds of consanguinity.

By 1080 he may have married Mantie, daughter of Walter I of Brienne. This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1087. Finally, he married Bertrade de Montfort, who was apparently "abducted" by King Philip I of France in 1092.

He had two sons. The eldest (a son of Ermengarde de Borbon), Geoffrey IV Martel, ruled jointly with him for some time, but died in 1106. The younger (a son of Bertrade de Montfort) succeeded him as Fulk V.

He also had a daughter by Hildegarde of Baugency, Ermengarde, who married firstly with William IX, count of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine and secondly with Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.

Count of Anjou

Reign 1068 – 1109

Predecessor Geoffrey III

Successor Fulk V

Joint rule Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou (until 1106)

Spouse Hildegarde of Baugency ? - ca. 1070

Ermengarde de Bourbon ? - ca. 1075

Orengarde de Châtellailon ? - ca. 1080

Mantie of Brienne 1080-1087

Bertrade de Montfort 1087 - 1092?

Issue

(by Hildegarde) Ermengarde of Anjou (d. 1146)

(by Ermengarde) Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou

(by Bertrade) Fulk of Jerusalem

House Angevin

Father Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais

Mother Ermengarde of Anjou

Born 1043

Died 1109

Fulk IV "Rechin" 7th Count of Anjou "The Quarrelller"

Duke of Anjou 1067 - 1109

Battle of Hastings (?) Supplied 40 ships

b 1043

d 14 Apr 1109

Parents: Aubri-Geoffrey of Gatinais & Ermengarde of Anjou

Spouse 1: Hildegarde de Baugency d by 1070

Child: Hermengarde d' Anjou m Alain Fergant IV

Spouse 2: Ermengarde de Bourbon m abt 1070

Child: Geoffrey IV Martel, 8th Count of Anjou, assassinated in 1106

Spouse 3:? Orengarde de Châtellailon

Spouse 1: Bertrade de Montfort

Child: Foulques V of Anjou m Ermengarde du Maine

Spouse 5?: Mantie, divorced 1087

Sources:

1. 15. "Ancestral roots of certain American colonists who came to America before 1700", Frederick Lewis Weis, 1992, seventh edition. and/or " Ancestral Roots Of Sixty Colonists", 6th edition, Line 50, by Dr. Frederich Lewis Weis.

2. 52 "British Kings & Queens" by Mike Ashley, Carroll & Graf Publications, Inc, 1998 (in Lady Anne's library)

The oft-married Count Fulk IV of Anjou was married to the mother of his son in 1089, when the lovely Bertrade caught his eye. According to the chronicler John of Marmoutier:

"The lecherous Fulk then fell passionately in love with the sister of Amaury of Montfort, whom no good man ever praised save for her beauty. For her sake, he divorced the mother of Geoffrey II Martel..."

Bertrade and Fulk were married, and they became the parents of a son, Fulk, but in 1092 Bertrade left her husband and took up with King Philip I of France. Philip married her on May 15, 1092, despite the fact that they both had spouses living. He was so enamoured of Bertrade that he refused to leave her even when threatened with excommunication. Pope Urban II did excommunicate him in 1095, and Philip was prevented from taking part in the First Crusade.

Astonishingly, Bertrade even persuaded Philip and Fulk to become friends.

Fulk IV

b. 1043, Château Landon, Fr.

d. April 14, 1109, Angers

byname FULK THE SURLY, FRENCH FOULQUES LE RÉCHIN , count of Anjou(1068-1109).

Geoffrey II Martel, son of Fulk III, pursued the policy of expansion begun by his father but left no sons as heirs. The countship went to his eldest nephew, Geoffrey III the Bearded. But the latter's brother, Fulk, discontented over having inherited only a few small appanages, took advantage of the general discontent aroused by Geoffrey III's inept rule, seized Saumur and Angers (1067), and cast Geoffrey first into prison at Sablé and later in the confines of Chinon castle (1068). Fulk's reign then had to endure a series of conflicts against the several barons, Philip I of France, and the duke of Normandy. He lost some lands but secured, through battle and marriage, the countship of Maine for his son, Fulk V.

Copyright c 1994-2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

https://fasg.org/projects/henryproject/data/fulk0004.htm