Fulk IV (Anjou)

A seal of Fulkos IV from 1090.

Fulko IV. (French: Foulque , English: Fulk ; * 1043 ; † April 14, 1109 ), called the brawler (le Réchin) or also the curmudgeon , was a count of Anjou and Tours from 1068 until his death , from the house of Château-Landon . He was the younger son of Count Gottfried Ferréol von Gâtinais († 1042/45) and his wife Ermengarde von Anjou († 1076) , daughter of Count Fulko III. Nerra of Anjou († 1040).

Life

Together with his older brother Gottfried the Bearded , Fulko entered the service of his maternal uncle Count Gottfried II Martel von Anjou , by whom Fulko was knighted in 1060. After the uncle died a little later, Gottfried the Bearded took over his extensive inheritance, and Fulko entrusted the government of the Aquitaine Saintonge . Together they fended off an attack by Duke Wilhelm VIII of Aquitaine in this area in 1062 .

Soon Fulko was in a dispute with his brother, who had fallen over the possession of the important castle of Saumur . After Gottfried was excommunicated in 1067 , Fulko rose against his brother and imprisoned him, but had to release him again under pressure from the church. The two brothers soon began their argument again, and the following year, after a fight at Brissac-Quincé, Fulko succeeded again in imprisoning his brother, this time permanently.

In contrast to his powerful ancestors, Fulko's rule was not glamorous. Major parts of the property had to be given up due to Gottfried's weak government and the ensuing fratricidal war: the Saintonge was lost to the Duke of Aquitaine, as was the paternal Gâtinais , which had to be ceded to King Philip I in order to appease him. Furthermore, Fulko had to use a lot of strength to maintain the rule over his own barons, who rose against him several times. Among them was Fulko's eldest son Gottfried, who took Angers in 1103 and forced his father to take part in the reign.

Fulko entered into a close alliance with the Dukes of Brittany in the fight for supremacy in Maine against the Dukes of Normandy . There he was able to strengthen his influence after he supported Count Hugo V against Robert Kurzhose in 1069 and besieged La Flèche for the first time in 1071 and conquered Le Mans in 1072 , in return Robert’s father, William the Conqueror, crossed the Channel with an army from England and recaptured Le Mans in March 1073. In 1076 Fulko supported the Bretons in the defense of Dol against Wilhelm, who suffered one of his few defeats there. In Maine, Fulko besieged La Flèche a second time in 1081, which forced Wilhelm to cross the canal a second time. In 1093, Fulko supported his close friend Elias de La Flèche , who was able to assert himself as a count in Maine during the absence of Robert's shorts in the first crusade .

In 1096, Fulko wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers ( Fragmentum Historiae Andegavensis ), whereby its authorship and the authenticity of the work are disputed. If he wrote it himself, it will be one of the first medieval historical works to be written by a layperson.

Marriages and offspring

Fulko has had up to five marriages in his life, but two of them are doubtful.

His first wife was Hildegarde de Beaugency († before 1070), daughter of Lancelin II. De Beaugency since about 1068. From this marriage a daughter was born:

• Emengarde (* 1068; † June 1, 1146 in Jerusalem , buried in Redon )

1. ⚭ 1089 Duke Wilhelm IX. of Aquitaine († 1127), the marriage was divorced in 1090
2. ⚭ 1093 Duke Alain IV Ferguson of Brittany († 1119)

In his second marriage Fulko was married to Ermengarde von Bourbon, daughter of Archambaud IV. Von Bourbon , the marriage was later divorced. Both son was:

• Gottfried IV Martel (* around 1073; † killed on May 19, 1106 in front of Candé), Count of Anjou

In his third and fourth marriage he was probably married to Ermengarde of Châtelaillon and a daughter of Count Walter I of Brienne, whose name was unknown . After some time, both women expelled from Fulko, possibly because they were too closely related by blood .

His fifth wife was Bertrada von Montfort whom he married in 1089. She was kidnapped in 1092 by King Philip I , who married her on May 15 that year, although she had not yet been divorced from Fulko. She left a son of the same name to Fulko:

• Fulk V the Younger (* 1092; † November 13, 1143 in Akkon ), successor as Count of Anjou and Tours, since 1131 King of Jerusalem

literature

• Jim Bradbury: Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets . In: Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown . Boydell, Woodbridge 1989, ISBN 0-85115-512-X , pp. 27-41.

predecessor	Office	successor
Gottfried III. The bearded	Count of Anjou Count of Tours 1068–1109	Fulko V. the boy
Gottfried III. The bearded	Count of Gâtinais 1068	French crown domain ( Philip I )