Fulk IV, Count of Anjou

Fulk IV (in French Foulques IV) (1043 – 14 April 1109), called le Réchin, was the Count of Anjou from 1068 until his death.[1] 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.[2]

Fulk IV
Count of Anjou
Reign1068 – 14 April 1109
PredecessorGeoffrey III
SuccessorFulk V
Joint ruleGeoffrey IV, Count of Anjou (until 1106)
Born1043
Died14 April 1109
Spouses
Hildegarde of Beaugency
​
​
(m. 1068; died 1070)​
    Ermengarde de Bourbon
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1070; div. 1075)​
      Orengarde de Châtelaillon
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1076; div. 1080)​
        N de Brienne
        ​
        ​
        (m. 1080; div. 1087)​
          ​
          ​
          (m. 1089; div. 1092)​
          IssueErmengarde, Duchess of Brittany
          Geoffrey IV, Count of Anjou
          Fulk, King of Jerusalem
          HouseHouse of Anjou
          FatherGeoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais
          MotherErmengarde of Anjou
          Coins minted by Fulk

          Early life

          Fulk, born 1043,[3] 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,[4] and the sister of Geoffrey Martel who preceded Fulk and his brother Geoffrey as Count of Anjou.

          Count of Anjou

          When Geoffrey Martel died without direct heirs he left Anjou to his nephew Geoffrey III of Anjou, Fulk's older brother.[3] Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

          Before 1106, Fulk made a major gift to the Fontevraud Abbey.[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 are 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]

          Death and succession

          Fulk died on 14 April 1109 leaving the restoration of the countship,[12] as it was under Geoffrey Martel, to his successors.[13]

          Family

          Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding the exact number or how many he repudiated.[14]

          His first wife was Hildegarde of Beaugency.[15] Together they had a daughter:

          After her death, before or by 1070, he married Ermengarde de Bourbon.[17] Together they had a son before Fulk repudiated her in 1075, possibly on grounds of consanguinity:

          Around 1076 he married Orengarde de Châtaillon.[18] He repudiated her in 1080, possibly on grounds of consanguinity.

          He then married an unnamed daughter of Walter I of Brienne by 1080.[18] This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1087.

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

          • Fulk V "the Young", Count of Anjou and King of Jerusalem.[20]

          Notes
          1. It is entirely plausible that Fulk made use of scribes to write this work.[11]
          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.[19]

          References
          1. Keats-Rohan 1997, p. 257.
          2. Orderic Vitalis 1973, p. 187.
          3. Bradbury 1989, p. 27.
          4. Bachrach 1993, p. 262.
          5. Bradbury 1989, p. 31.
          6. Bradbury 1989, p. 32.
          7. Dunbabin 2005, p. 189.
          8. Dunbabin 2005, pp. 189–190.
          9. Mews 2006, p. 135.
          10. Paul 2007, pp. 20–21.
          11. Paul 2007, pp. 19–35.
          12. Barlow 2014, p. 156.
          13. Dunbabin 2005, p. 190.
          14. Bradbury 1989, p. 36.
          15. Choffel 1988, p. 152.
          16. William of Jumieges 1992, p. 260.
          17. Vaughn 2002, p. 106.
          18. Mews 2006, p. 132.
          19. Bradbury2007, p. 119.
          20. Webster 2015, p. 90.

          Sources
          • Bachrach, Bernard S. (1993). Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987–1040. University of California Press.
          • Barlow, Frank (2014). The Feudal Kingdom of England: 1042–1216. Routledge.
          • Bradbury, Jim (1989). Harper-Bill, Christopher; Holdsworth, Christopher J.; Nelson, Janet L. (eds.). "Fulk le Rechin and the Origin of the Plantagenets". Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown. The Boydell Press.
          • Bradbury, Jim (2007). The Capetians: Kings of France, 987–1328. Hambledon Continuum.
          • Orderic Vitalis (1973). Chibnall, Marjorie (ed.). The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, vol. IV. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198222286.
          • Choffel, Jacques (1988). Mais où sont les Normandes d'antan (in French). F.Sorlet.
          • Dunbabin, Jean (2005). France in the Making, 843–1180 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
          • Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. (1997). Family Trees and the Root of Politics; A Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century. The Boydell Press.
          • Mews, Constant J. (2006). "Negotiating the Boundaries of Gender in Religious Life: Robert of Arbrissel and Hersende, Abelard and Heloise". Viator. CMRS Center for Early Global Studies. 37: 113–148.
          • Paul, Nicholas L. (2007). Morillo, Stephen; Korngiebel, Diane (eds.). "The Chronicle of Fulk le Rechin: a Reassessment". The Haskins Society Journal 18: Studies in Medieval History. The Boydell Press.
          • Vaughn, Sally N. (2002). St. Anselm and the Handmaidens of God: A Study of Anselm's Correspondence with Women. Brepols.
          • Webster, Paul (2015). King John and Religion. Boydell Press.
          • William of Jumieges (1992). The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni. Vol. viii. Clarendon Press.


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