Fulk III, the Black ( 987–1040; fro, Foulque Nerra), was an early
count of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
celebrated as one of the first great builders of
medieval castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...
s. It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles, along with abbeys throughout the
Loire Valley in what is now France. He fought successive wars with neighbors in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
,
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
,
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
and
Aquitaine
Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...
and made four
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
s to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
during 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 the
Capetians against the dissipated
Carolingians of his era. With his county seat at
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
, Fulk's bitter enemy was
Odo II of Blois
Odo II () (983 – 15 November 1037) was the count of Blois, Chartres, Châteaudun, Beauvais and Tours from 1004 and count of Troyes (as Odo IV) and Meaux (as Odo I) from 1022. He twice tried to make himself a king: first in Italy after 1024 a ...
, his neighbor 128 km east along the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
river, at
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
. The two men traded towns, followers and insults throughout their lives.
Fulk finished his first castle at
Langeais
Langeais () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. On 1 January 2017, the former commune of Les Essards was merged into Langeais. , 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 a ''donjon'' in French (source of the English dungeon, which, however, implies a cellar, rather than a tower). He built it in the territory of
Odo 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 him.
Fulk continued building more towers in a slow encirclement of Tours:
Montbazon
Montbazon () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, France. It is located on the river Indre between the towns of Veigné, Monts and Sorigny. The town is about 12 km from Tours.
History
In 991, friars of Cormery complained to the ki ...
, Montrésor, Mirebeau,
Montrichard
Montrichard () is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher.
During the French Revolution, the commune was known as '' ...
,
Loches
Loches () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, central France.
It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre.
History
Loches (the Roman ''Leucae'') grew up around a monastery founded about 500 by St ...
, and even the tower of Montboyau, erected just across the Loire from Tours in 1016. He also fortified the castles at
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
,
Amboise
Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court.
Geography
Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about away ...
, Chateau-Gontier,
Chinon
Chinon () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginning in the late 15th and early 16th centur ...
, Mayenne and Semblançay, among many others. "The construction of castles for the purpose of extending a ruler's power was part of Fulk ''Nerra'' strategy," wrote Peter Fraser Purton, in ''A History of Medieval Siege, c. 450–1220''.
Fulk was a devout Christian, who built, enlarged or endowed several abbeys and monasteries, such as the Abbey of
Beaulieu-lès-Loches
Beaulieu-lès-Loches (, literally ''Beaulieu near Loches'') is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
History
A great abbey church named ''Belli Locus'' dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre was founded in the early 11th cen ...
, 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 four
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
s to Jerusalem.
Family
He was the son of
Geoffrey I of Anjou, also known as Geoffrey ''Grisegonelle'', and
Adele of Meaux
Adela of Vermandois ( – c. 982) was a French noblewoman. She was Countess of Chalon and later Countess of Anjou.
Adela was a daughter of Robert of Vermandois, Count of Meaux and Troyes, and Adelaide de Burgundy. Adele died in 982.
Family
Sh ...
, daughter of
Robert of Vermandois
Robert of Vermandois ( – ) was Count of Meaux and Count of Troyes, son of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois and his wife, Adele of France, daughter of Robert I of France.
Robert succeeded his father as Count of Meaux in 943 and became Count ...
, Count of Meaux and Troyes, and Adelaide of Burgundy. He had an older sister, Hermengarde (b. 960), who married
Conan 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 a daughter:
* Adèle, who married Bodon, son of Landry,
Count of Nevers
The counts of Nevers were the rulers of the County of Nevers, which became a French duchy in 1539, with the rulers of the duchy calling themselves dukes.
History
The history of the County of Nevers is closely connected to the Duchy of Burgundy ...
. Their eldest son, Bouchard, inherited Vendôme.
Elisabeth's death was recounted in the ''Chronicles of Saint-Florent'': Elisabeth occupied the citadel at Anger with some supporters and while under siege from Fulk, she fell from a great height, and then was burnt at the stake for
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
.
Fulk married Hildegarde of
Sundgau, whose family was from
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
, around December 1005. They had two children:
*
Geoffrey II, in 1006, who became known as Geoffrey Martel, succeeded Fulk as
Count of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
in 1040.
*
Ermengarde-Blanche, born around 1018.
Combat
Fulk Nerra's first victory was in June 992 at
Battle of Conquereuil
The Battle of Conquereuil was fought on June 27, 992 AD between the Bretons under Conan I, Duke of Brittany and the Angevins under Fulk the Black.
Siege of Nantes
Duke Conan had the Breton city of Nantes under siege, when he learned that Fulk w ...
, where he managed to defeat
Conan I, Duke of Brittany
Conan I (died 27 June 992) nicknamed ''Le Tort'' (The Crooked) was the Duke of Brittany from 990 to his death.
Life Count to Duke
Conan was the son of Judicael Berengar, succeeding his father as Count of Rennes in 970.
Conan assumed the title ...
. 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 at the crowning of
Robert the Pious
Robert II (c. 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious (french: link=no, le Pieux) or the Wise (french: link=no, le Sage), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty.
Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted h ...
. Fulk and his men foiled the ambush, killing Conan's son, Alain, in the process. In 992 Fulk laid siege to Conan's castle at
Nantes, but he slipped away to
Conquereuil
Conquereuil (; br, Konkerel) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department
The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique departm ...
. Conan was killed in the 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 the
Battle of Pontlevoy The Battle of Pontlevoy was fought on 6 July 1016 between the forces of Fulk III of Anjou and Herbert I of Maine on one side and Odo II of Blois on the other. It was one of the largest battles of early medieval France and was determining of the b ...
. 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 the Cher River. Reinforcements led by
Count Herbert Wake-Dog of Maine arrived to help Fulk, fought and routed Odo's surprised men. Several thousand were reported killed.
Pilgrimages
Fulk also undertook four pilgrimages to Jerusalem—first and second as a penitent seeking forgiveness for sins and third and fourth to protect pilgrims. In 1003, Fulk traveled to Jerusalem for his first pilgrimage. The journey was across the Alps at the Grand Bernard Pass in today's Switzerland, over land to Bari in the southern Italian peninsula (a stop in Rome was usually made), by ship to the Holy Land. The travel took as long as six months, through deeply dangerous territory.
[Jonathan Sumption, ''The Age of Pilgrimage, The Medieval Journey to God'', Paulist Press, 2003]
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, the third pilgrimage with
Robert I, Duke of Normandy
Robert the Magnificent (french: le Magnifique;He was also, although erroneously, said to have been called 'Robert the Devil' (french: le Diable). Robert I was never known by the nickname 'the devil' in his lifetime. 'Robert the Devil' was a fic ...
and in 1038, he made his final pilgrimage. He died in
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
in 1040 on his return from that trip, and was buried in the chapel of his monastery at
Beaulieu.
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 two marriages, when he died the Anjou title went to his nephews, the two sons of his sister Ermengarde-Blanche (m. Geoffroy V of Château-Landon).
Geoffroy III ''Le 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, married
Matilda
Matilda or Mathilda may refer to:
Animals
* Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder
* Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse
* Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
, heir to the English throne, and began the
House of Plantagenet line of English kings.
Notes
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulk 03 Anjou
970s births
1040 deaths
House of Ingelger
Counts of Anjou
10th-century French people