Count Fulk of Anjou IV ¹

  General Notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulk_IV_of_Anjou
When Geoffrey Martel died without direct heirs he left Anjou to his nephew Geoffrey III of Anjou, Fulk le Réchin's older brother.

Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067. Under pressure from the Church he released Geoffrey. The two brothers soon fell to fighting again, and the next year Geoffrey was again imprisoned by Fulk, this time for good.

Substantial territory was lost to Angevin control due to the difficulties resulting from Geoffrey's poor rule and the subsequent civil war. Saintonge was lost, and Fulk had to give the Gâtinais to Philip I of France to placate the king.

Much of Fulk's rule was devoted to regaining control over the Angevin baronage, and to a complex struggle with Normandy for influence in Maine and Brittany.

In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou", though the authorship and authenticity of this work is disputed. Only the first part of the history, describing Fulk's ancestry, is extant. The second part, supposedly describing Fulk's own rule, has not been recovered. If he did write it, it is one of the first medieval works of history written by a layman.[1]

Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding two of the marriages.

Fulk married Hildegarde of Beaugency. (Hildegarde of Beaugency died circa 1070.)

Fulk next married Ermengarde de Bourbon in 1070.

Fulk next married Bertrade de Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort I and Agnes d'Evreux. (Bertrade de Montfort was born in 1059 and died on 14 Feb 1117.)