CHAPTER IV. (Part 1 of 2)
The 1044–1128 period lacks a unifying figure like Fulk Nerra; its significance lies in the Angevin-Norman feud that would shape England and France, anchored by Le Mans. Perched on red sandstone above the Sarthe, Le Mans was Maine’s capital, named for the Aulerci Cenomanni of Roman Gaul. Its walls and gates rest on a Roman castrum; the cathedral stands where the Roman governor’s palace was, founded by S. Julian, a missionary bishop sent by S. Clement of Rome. Since the 7th century, Le Mans’ bishops held unique power: a decree of Clovis, confirmed by Childebert III, required no count be appointed without the bishop and people’s consent, making the see a check on secular rule. Anjou’s counts long claimed overlordship of Maine, fueling generations of conflict with Normandy.
Tours, the Loire’s other great prize, had similar depth. Founded as Cæsarodunum, it was Gaulish Christianity’s cradle, home to S. Martin, whose preaching converted central Gaul including Anjou. After Alcuin and Charlemagne, Tours suffered repeated Norse invasions: S. Martin’s abbey burnt three times, canons carrying the saint’s body even to Burgundy. A legend held that during one Norse siege, citizens carried S. Martin’s corpse onto the walls and the heathens fled, routed at S. Martin of the Battle. The abbey was so powerful the French king held it in commendam, becoming abbot-duke of fortified Châteauneuf, exempt from the count’s jurisdiction. Fulk the Black spent his life capturing Tours; Geoffrey Martel succeeded in 1044.
Geoffrey Martel’s empire’s fragmentation left Maine vulnerable. When Herbert II died childless in 1064, the county should have reverted to Anjou, but Herbert had done homage to William of Normandy. William took control, ruling Le Mans, allowing Geoffrey the Bearded a token ceremony. For forty years, Maine would be Anjou-Normandy’s central bone of contention.
Fulk V broke from his father’s legacy: honest, capable, with the fiery Angevin complexion and adventurous temper of great-grandfather Fulk the Black, but held under moral control. His mother Bertrada and her brother Almeric of Montfort, Louis VI’s most trusted advisor, pushed him to ally irrevocably with France against Henry I of England, who had conquered Normandy in 1106. Fulk first married Aremburg, widowed heiress of Maine and former betrothed of Geoffrey Martel II, uniting Anjou and Maine. The marriage triggered a break with Henry, who claimed feudal overlordship of Maine.
War began in 1111, Fulk leading the Angevin army with Maine’s free peasantry’s “Cenomannian swords.” Henry crossed to Normandy, but Norman barons were treacherous, led by violent Robert of Bellême. Henry captured Robert in 1112, turning the tide; Fulk and Louis made peace in 1113 at Pierre-Pécoulée near Alençon: Fulk did homage to Henry for Maine, infant Matilda was betrothed to Henry’s son William the Ætheling, and the kings allied to subdue remaining Bellême rebels.
Henry next forced all Norman and English barons to swear homage and fealty to William the Ætheling—an unprecedented act to prevent succession crisis. He picked a fight with Louis VI over Gisors and with Theobald of Blois; Fulk sided with Louis and Theobald. The 1116 war reignited: Fulk captured La Motte-Gautier; the count of Flanders died near Eu. Louis and Fulk had nearly all Norman barons, led by Almeric seeking Evreux. Evreux was betrayed; Alençon’s citizens, angry at tyrannical count Stephen (Henry’s brother), let Fulk in by night. Stephen rushed back with Louis and Theobald, tried surrounding Fulk’s camp at the Park, but Fulk’s personal valor won a decisive victory.
1119 was Henry’s year of unbroken disaster, forcing him to sue for peace. The June treaty was ratified by the marriage of 10-year-old Matilda to 11-year-old William the Ætheling. Fulk settled Maine on the couple as dowry, gave up Alençon for Henry to restore to dispossessed William Talvas. Henry burned Evreux. Louis raised a massive popular host, ravaging Normandy, and went to the October Council of Reims to appeal Pope Calixtus II. The archbishop of Rouen rose to defend Henry but the council refused him. Calixtus, too dangerous with Henry of Germany (Henry I’s father-in-law), wouldn’t excommunicate; private meeting at Gisors in November vindicated Henry completely. Almeric defected to Henry for Evreux, other rebels followed. William the Clito, Duke Robert’s son, was driven into exile; general peace was made.
With peace assured, Fulk felt the pilgrimage call. He left wife Aremburg ruling Anjou and Maine with their young sons (eldest only seven), commended Maine to Henry as overlord during his absence, and bequeathed it to son-in-law William the Ætheling if he didn’t return. Two months before departure, he attended the consecration of the rebuilt Le Mans cathedral. At ceremony’s close, he held up little son Geoffrey and placed him on the altar, saying through tears: “O holy Julian, to thee I commend my child and my land, that thou mayest be the defender and protector of both!” He set out in 1120 with the bishop of Angers, never to return.
On November 25, 1120, the White Ship carrying William the Ætheling and the Norman court from Normandy to England sank off Barfleur, drowning the English heir with hundreds of nobles. The disaster destroyed the previous decade’s political settlement for both Henry and Fulk. For Henry, it erased two decades uniting his dominions under stable succession: only surviving child was daughter Matilda; only legitimate male rival was nephew William the Clito, whose stronger Norman claim would almost certainly disinherit Matilda when Henry died. For Fulk, it collapsed his plan settling Maine on his son-in-law.
Henry refused to return Matilda, clinging to her as his dead son’s legacy, withholding her dowry. Fulk sent an embassy at Christmas 1122 to demand her back; Henry refused, the embassy returned after deadlock. The most valuable part of Matilda’s dowry was Maine, settled on the couple: with William dead, the settlement was void, and Fulk could dispose of the county as he wished. Furious at Henry’s betrayal, urged by Almeric and Louis, Fulk abandoned his Norman alliance and offered Maine, together with Sibyl’s hand, to William the Clito, reviving the Angevin-Norman feud with even higher stakes.
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