Imprisonment of the Duke of Aquitaine
For three years the duke of Aquitaine, the second great feudatory of the realm, was confined in a dungeon by the count of Vendôme.…
Terms of Release and Death of William the Fat
Geoffrey at last released William only after the whole district of Saintonge and several important towns were ceded to him and an annual tribute promised.…
CAPÍTULO IV. below.
The chapter opens by tracing how Geoffrey Martel, having won great military renown at Montcontour, sought to extend Angevin influence over Aquitaine by marrying the widowed Countess Agnes, mother of the young heirs to Poitou, despite the scandal of their near kinship and the bit…
Geoffrey Martel’s Marriage to Agnes and the Aquitaine Crisis
Following the capture of William the Fat, Geoffrey Martel married the widowed Countess Agnes, William’s stepmother, in order to prevent the union of Poitou and Gascony and to gain…
The Settlement of Poitou and Gascony (1044)
The death of William the Fat left the Poitevins “as sheep having no shepherd,” and a faction emerged supporting the claims of Agnes’s twin sons against their elder half-brother Od…
The Failure of Geoffrey’s Aquitaine Ambitions
Although Agnes may have attained her objective through the 1044 settlement, Geoffrey Martel’s schemes for a lasting Angevin hold over Aquitaine ultimately failed.…
Theobald and Stephen: Rebellion Against King Henry
Odo of Champagne’s imperial ambitions perished with him at the field of Bar, leaving his two sons Theobald and Stephen only their hereditary lands.…
The Grant of Tours to the Count of Anjou
With a master-stroke of policy, King Henry proclaimed the city of Tours forfeit through Theobald’s rebellion and granted its investiture to the count of Anjou.…
Roman Origins of Tours as Cæsarodunum
To grasp the full importance of the grant of Tours and the subsequent war, one must understand the city’s ancient history.…
S. Martin and the Conversion of Gaul
Beyond its Roman infrastructure, Tours held men’s minds as the holy city of Gaul and cradle of Gaulish Christianity.…
CAPÍTULO IV. below.
The chapter traces how Tours, long the chief bulwark of the Loire valley against the northern heathen, passed into Angevin hands through Geoffrey Martel’s campaign of 1044, after sketching the older history of the city’s defence, the wanderings of St.…
Tours after the Departure of Alcuin and Charles
Following the departure of the great English scholar Alcuin and the Emperor Charles who had brought him into Gaul, Tours bore its full share of suffering during the Norse invasion…
Norse Invasions and the Defence of Tours
Unlike Tours’s earlier salvation from Saracens by Charles Martel, no such champion arose to defend the city against the Norsemen.…
Wanderings of the Body of S. Martin
For years the canons, who had replaced the original monks in Alcuin’s time, lived in constant fear of desecration befalling their patron’s body.…
The Legend of the Subvention of S. Martin
The story of the second reversion was later superseded by a famous legend known as the “subvention of S. Martin.…
Founding of Châteauneuf and the Castellum S. Martini
When the canons rebuilt the abbey, they encircled it with a wall and obtained from Charles the Simple a charter creating a new fortified borough exempt from both bishop and count…
The Angevin Counts and the Abbey of S. Martin
The counts of Anjou, following the ducal house, sought a footing in the neighbourhood of Tours and from an early period connected themselves with the abbey.…
Geoffrey Martel’s Campaign against Tours
Tours was the point toward which Fulk the Black had worked all his life; when he left his son to complete his labours, the point was almost reached.…
The Siege of Tours in 1044
The city held out for a whole year, its inhabitants seemingly left by their count to defend themselves.…
Lisoy’s Warning and Military Counsel
Lisoy, a special legacy from Fulk the Black to his son, was the most intelligent and devoted of Fulk’s adherents.…
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