Fulk III, Count of Anjou

Fulk III, Count of Anjou
Seal of Fulk III
Born	Fulk Nerra c.970
Died	(1040-06-21)21 June 1040 (aged 69–70) Metz
Noble family	House of Ingelger
Spouse(s)	Elisabeth of Vendôme Hildegarde of Sundgau
Issue	Adele of Vendome-Anjou Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy
Father	Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou
Mother	Adelaide of Vermandois

Fulk III, the Black(c.970–1040;Old French:Foulque Nerra) was an earlyCount of Anjoucelebrated as one of the first great builders ofmedieval castles.It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles as well as abbeys throughout theLoire Valleyin what is now France. He fought successive wars with neighbors inBrittany,Blois,PoitouandAquitaineand made fourpilgrimagestoJerusalemduring the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.

Fulk was a natural horseman and fearsome warrior with a keen sense of military strategy that bested most of his opponents. He was allied with the goals and aims of theCapetiansagainst the dissipatedCarolingiansof his era. With his county seat atAngers,Fulk's bitter enemy wasOdo II of Blois,his neighbor 128 km east along theLoireriver, atTours.The two men traded towns, followers and insults throughout their lives.

Fulk finished his first castle atLangeais,104 km east of Angers, on the banks of the Loire.Like many of his constructions, it began as a wooden tower, and was eventually replaced with a stone structure, fortified with exterior walls, and equipped with a thick-walled tower called adonjonin French (source of the English word "dungeon", which, however, implies a cellar rather than a tower). He built it in the territory ofOdo I, Count of Blois,and they fought a battle over it in 994. But Odo I died of a sudden illness, and his son and successor, Odo II, did not manage to evict Fulk.

Fulk continued building more towers in a slow encirclement of Tours:Montbazon,Montrésor, Mirebeau,Montrichard,Loches,and even the tower of Montboyau, erected just across the Loire from Tours in 1016. He also fortified the castles atAngers,Amboise,Chateau-Gontier,Chinon,MayenneandSemblançay,among many others. "The construction of castles for the purpose of extending a ruler's power was part of FulkNerra'sstrategy, "wrote Peter Fraser Purton, inA History of Medieval Siege, c. 450–1220.

Fulk was also a devout Christian who built, enlarged or endowed several abbeys and monasteries, such as the Abbey ofBeaulieu-lès-Loches,Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Saint-Aubin, and a convent, Notre Dame de la Charité, at Ronceray in Angers. Although he never learned to write, he endowed a school with revenue to provide poor students with an education. Fulk also undertook fourpilgrimagesto Jerusalem.

Family

Fulk was the son ofGeoffrey I of Anjou,also known as GeoffreyGrisegonelle,andAdele of Meaux,daughter ofRobert of Vermandois,Count of Meaux and Troyes, and Adelaide of Burgundy. He had an older sister,Ermengarde-Gerberga of Anjou,who marriedConan of Brittany,and a younger brother, Geoffrey.A half-brother, Maurice, was born in 980.

Fulk married Elisabeth of Vendôme (c. 979–999), daughter of Count Bouchard of Vendôme,and they had one daughter, Adèle,who married Bodon, son of Landry,Count of Nevers.Their eldest son, Bouchard, inherited Vendôme. Elisabeth's death was recounted in theChronicles of Saint-Florent:Elisabeth occupied the citadel at Angers with some supporters and while under siege from Fulk, she fell from a great height, and then was burnt at the stake foradultery.

Fulk subsequently married Hildegarde ofSundgau,whose family was fromLorraine,around December 1005.They had two children:

• Geoffrey II,in 1006,who became known as Geoffrey Martel and succeeded Fulk asCount of Anjouin 1040.
• Ermengarde-Blanche,born sometime in 1017.

Combat

Fulk Nerra's first victory was in June 992 at theBattle of Conquereuil,where he managed to defeatConan I, Duke of Brittany.Conan's territorial ambitions had been quashed by Geoffroy Grisgonelle in 980, and seven years later, he planned an ambush on Angers while Fulk was attending the crowning ofRobert the Pious.Fulk and his men foiled the ambush, killing Conan's son, Alain, in the process. In 992 Fulk laid siege to Conan's castle atNantes,but he slipped away toConquereuil.Conan was killed in the subsequent battle, and Fulk installed a governor/regent, as the succeeding count was a child.

While Fulk and Odo II fought many skirmishes over territory and alliances, their biggest battle occurred in July 1016 at theBattle of Pontlevoy.Odo marched 10,000 men southward toward Fulk's tower at Montboyau; meanwhile, Fulk and his much smaller group attacked him from behind. Fulk's men were routed, retreated, and Odo, thinking the battle won, went for a swim in theCher River.Reinforcements led byCount Herbert Wake-Dog of Mainearrived to help Fulk, routing Odo's surprised men. Several thousand were reported killed.

Pilgrimages

Fulk also undertook four pilgrimages to Jerusalem—the first and second as a penitent seeking forgiveness for sins, and the third and fourth to protect pilgrims. In 1003, Fulk traveled to Jerusalem for his first pilgrimage. The voyage crossed the Alps at the Grand Bernard Pass in present-day Switzerland, then overland to Bari in the southern Italian peninsula (a stop in Rome was usually made) and by ship to the Holy Land. The journey took as long as six months, through deeply dangerous territory.

Fulk made a second pilgrimage in 1008, obliged to do so by the king as punishment after Fulk ordered the murder of an enemy. For his third and fourth trips, Fulk had a moral obligation to protect pilgrims in the years following the desecration of Jerusalem by the "Mad Caliph"Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah,and provided armed security against robbers, murderers and enslavers along the route. In 1035, he embarked upon a third pilgrimage withRobert I, Duke of Normandy,and in 1038, he made his final pilgrimage. He died inMetzin 1040 on his return from that trip, and was buried in the chapel of his monastery atBeaulieu.

FulkNerra'scastle keep atLoches

Succession

His son Geoffrey II (Geoffrey Martel) succeeded him as Count of Anjou in 1040 and held the title until 1060. Since he had no living male children from either of his two marriages, the title to Anjou passed to his nephews, the two sons of his sister Ermengarde-Blanche (m. Geoffroy V of Château-Landon), upon his death.Geoffroy IIILe Barbu(the Bearded)was Count of Anjou from 1060 to 1068;Fulk IV Réchin (the Mouth)was count from 1068 to 1109. Fulk IV's grandson,Geoffrey Plantagenet,marriedMatilda,heir to the English throne, and began theHouse of Plantagenetline of English kings.

Sources

• Bachrach, Bernard S.(1993).Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987–1040.University of California Press.
• Kennedy, Hugh(1995).Crusader Castles.Cambridge University Press.