The Dove Legend at Angers
A poetic legend shows Fulk quietly at home gazing from his hall across the purple Mayenne and its green meadows toward a hill opposite, where he watched a dove flying to and fro,…
Fulk’s Fourth Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
These tranquil home-occupations could not long satisfy Fulk’s restless spirit, for the irresistible charm of the Holy Land drew him to revisit Jerusalem in 1035.
Meeting Duke Robert of Normandy
One interesting event of this journey is recorded: his meeting at Constantinople with Duke Robert of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror; the old and young penitents complet…
Geoffrey’s Rebellion and Submission
When Fulk reached home, he found the gates of Angers shut in his face by his own son Geoffrey.…
The Siege of Langeais
The power Geoffrey had tried to usurp would soon be his by right, but first the Black Count gave one last proof of his undiminished cunning.…
The Winning of Chinon
One more stronghold remained to be won in the valley of the Vienne: the mighty steep of Chinon, rising abruptly from the right bank between soft green meadows.…
The Final Pilgrimage and Death at Metz
Strangely yet characteristically, Fulk left that final blow against Tours to be struck by his successor.…
Burial at Beaulieu
Fulk’s body was carried to Beaulieu and buried in the chapter-house of the abbey which had been the monument of his earliest pilgrimage—the first-fruits of his youthful devotion a…
The Memory of the Black Count
Beaulieu never forgot its debt to Fulk: for seven centuries the anniversary of his death was solemnly observed in the abbey, and so was that of his widow Hildegard, who as a bride…
Geoffrey Martel’s Reign and Early Conquests
Geoffrey Martel began his reign in circumstances very unlike those of his father half a century earlier: not only had Fulk wholly changed Anjou’s political position, but Geoffrey…
Geoffrey Martel Compared to His Father
Geoffrey was not the artificer of his own fortune: he owed his pre-eminence more to Fulk’s labors and a series of favorable accidents than to his own statesmanship, and his milita…
KAPITEL III.
Chapter III traces Geoffrey Martel’s rise to independent power in the years before and immediately after Fulk Rechin’s death. It covers Geoffrey’s acquisition of Vendôme, his founding of the Holy Trinity Abbey, the resulting quarrel with his father over the abbotship, Fulk’s pea…
Geoffrey’s Acquisition of the County of Vendôme
Around 1030 or 1031, Geoffrey purchased the county of Vendôme from his half-sister Adela, the only child of Fulk Rechin’s first marriage and heiress of her maternal grandfather Co…
Founding of the Holy Trinity Abbey at Vendôme
Geoffrey’s first act as count of Vendôme was to found in the capital of his new dominions an abbey dedicated to the Holy Trinity.…
Dispute over the Abbotship
The appointment of an abbot for the newly founded Holy Trinity Abbey provoked an early quarrel between father and son.…
Tension Between Fulk and His Heir
The Reginald affair illustrates a growing tension between Fulk and his heir. Fulk, furious at being twice disappointed, expelled the Marmoutier monks from S.…
Fulk’s Peaceful Relations with the Count of Poitou
The only neighbour with whom Fulk seems to have maintained consistently peaceable relations was the count of Poitou.…
William the Great’s Death and Succession of William the Fat
William the Great died on January 31st, 1029, and was succeeded by a son of the same name, whose mother appears to have been a sister of Queen Constance.…
Geoffrey Martel’s War Against Aquitaine
Geoffrey Martel opened his war against Aquitaine in the autumn of 1033. An Angevin tradition attributes the conflict to a dispute over Saintes or Saintonge, but this explanation d…
Battle of S. Jouin-de-Marne and Capture of the Duke
On September 20th, Geoffrey met Duke William in a pitched battle near the abbey of S. Jouin-de-Marne, not far from Montcontour in Poitou.…
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