Fulk of Nevers (died 1066), known as Foulques l'Oison (meaning the Goose, the Fool, or the Idiot), was the count of Vendôme from 1028 until his expulsion in 1032 and again from 1056 to his death. He was the second son of Bodon of Nevers and Adela of Anjou.
In 1028, his elder brother, Bouchard II, died and their mother took up the regency for the young Fulk. Half of the county was entrusted to Fulk's care. Unsatisfied, Fulk sought to evict his mother from her half. Adela gave her share to Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou. Martel was not long in seizing the whole country. This state continued until 1056, when King Henry I ordered Martel to return the county of Vendôme to Fulk. Fulk was thereafter under the suzerainty of the counts of Anjou.
Henry I was King of the Franks from 1031 to 1060, the third from the House of Capet. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians. This is not entirely agreed upon, however, as other historians regard him as a strong but realistic king, who was forced to conduct a policy mindful of the limitations of the French monarchy.
Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1035 in Vendôme by Geoffrey Martel and his first wife, Agnes of Burgundy. It was consecrated on 31 May 1040, one month before Geoffrey became Count of Anjou.
He was married to Petronilla of Château-Gontier. They had a son and two daughters:
Geoffrey II, surnamed Jordan, was the lord of Preuilly from 1067 and count of Vendôme from 1085, the son of Geoffrey II of Preuilly and Almodis of Blois.
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Anjou is a historical province of France straddling the lower Loire River. Its capital was Angers and it was roughly coextensive with the diocese of Angers. It bordered Brittany to the west, Maine to the north, Touraine to the east and Poitou to the south. The adjectival form of Anjou is Angevin, and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. During the Middle Ages, the County of Anjou, ruled by the Counts of Anjou, was a prominent fief of the French crown.
Robert II, called the Pious or the Wise, was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the House of Capet. He was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine. Robert distinguished himself with an extraordinarily long reign for the time. His 35-year-long reign was marked by his attempts to expand the royal domain by any means, especially by his long struggle to gain the Duchy of Burgundy. His policies earned him many enemies, including three of his sons. He was also known for his difficult marriages: he married three times, annulling two of these and attempting to annul the third, prevented only by the Pope's refusal to accept a third annulment.
Fulk, also known as Fulk the Younger, was the Count of Anjou from 1109 to 1129 and the King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death. During his reign, the Kingdom of Jerusalem reached its largest territorial extent.
Fulk IV, 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", "rude", "sullen", "surly" and "heroic". He was noted to be "a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderic Vitalis.
Maine[mɛːn] is one of the traditional provinces of France. It corresponds to the former County of Maine, whose capital was also the city of Le Mans. The area, now divided into the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, counts about 857,000 inhabitants.
William VI, called the Fat, was Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou between 1030 and his death. He was the eldest son of William V the Great by his first wife, Adalmode of Limoges.
Fulk III, the Black was an early Count of Anjou celebrated as one of the first great builders of medieval castles. 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, Blois, Poitou and Aquitaine and made four pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.
Fulk II of Anjou, called le Bon was Count of Anjou from 942 to his death.
Geoffrey I of Anjou, known as Grisegonelle, was count of Anjou from 960 to 987.
Geoffrey II, called Martel, was Count of Anjou from 1040 to 1060. He was the son of Fulk the Black. He was bellicose and fought against William VII, Duke of Aquitaine, Theobald I, Count of Blois, and William, Duke of Normandy. During his twenty-year reign he especially had to face the ambitions of the Bishop of Le Mans, Gervais de Château-du-Loir, but he was able to maintain his authority over the County of Maine. Even before the death of his father in 1040, he had extended his power up to the Saintonge, where he founded the Abbey aux Dames. The first mention of Geoffrey in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum reads: "Geoffrey, count of the Angevins, nicknamed Martel, a treacherous man in every respect, frequently inflicted assaults and intolerable pressure on his neighbors."
Geoffrey III of Anjou (1040–1096), called le Barbu, was count of Anjou 1060-68.
Constance of Arles, also known as Constance of Provence, was a queen consort of France as the third spouse of King Robert II of France.
Theobald III of Blois (1012–1089) was count of Blois, Meaux and Troyes. He was son of Odo II, Count of Blois and Ermengarde of Auvergne.
Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou was the countess consort by marriage of Gévaudan and Forez, of Toulouse, of Provence, and of Burgundy; and queen consort of Aquitaine. She was the regent of Gevaudan during the minority of her sons in the 960s, and the regent of Provence during the minority of her stepson from 994 until 999.
Agnes of Burgundy was Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William V and Countess of Anjou by marriage to Count Geoffrey II. She served as regent of the Duchy of Aquitaine during the minority of her son from 1039 until 1044.
She was a daughter of Otto-William, Count of Burgundy and Ermentrude de Roucy and a member of the House of Ivrea.
William Taillefer, numbered William II or William IV, was the Count of Angoulême from 987. He was the son of Count Arnald II Manzer and grandson of Count William Taillefer I. He stood at the head of the family which controlled not only the Angoumois, but also the Agenais and part of Saintonge. By the time of his death he was "the leading magnate in [the west] of Aquitaine[, but his] eminence ... proved temporary and illusory," evaporating on his death in succession squabbles, revolts and the predations of his erstwhile allies. The principal sources for William's career are Ademar of Chabannes and the anonymous Historia pontificum et comitum Engolismensium.
The House of Ingelger was the first dynasty in Anjou. It was founded by Ingelger, Viscount of Angers, whose son Fulk the Red made himself count of Anjou. By inheritance, the family came into the possession of the county of Vendôme.
Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher French pronunciation: [vɑ̃dom]) is a town in central France. Most other uses of Vendome or Vendôme commemorate the famous French general Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme.
