Fulcois
FulcoisFulcois is known only from a 1051×60 charter of Rotrou, count of Mortagne, which names a count Fulcois as his avus (usually "grandfather") ["..., ego Rotrochus comes de Mauritania, et mea uxor Adeliz et filii nostri, Rotrochus, et ceteri nostri infantes, ... ut annuatim anniversarium avi mei Fulcuich, comitis, et avunculi mei Hugonis et patris mei vicecomitis Gaufridi faciant, ..." Cart. S.-Vincent du Mans, 350-1 (#609)]. The relationship of Fulcois to Rotrou has been interpreted in different ways, resulting in widely varying conjectured genealogical connections for Fulcois. Nevertheless, as is discussed in detail in the Commentary section below and on the page of Rotrou's father Geoffroy (II), viscount of Châteaudun, it is probable that Fulcois was the paternal grandfather of Rotrou, and thus father of Geoffroy. Fulcois is given the title of count by his grandson, but there is no direct evidence of the region over which he was count. However, since Rotrou was count of Mortagne, it has been supposed that Fulcois was also a count of Mortagne, a reasonable presumption. There is no good evidence about the time in which Fulcois flourished. He may also have been the father of Hugues du Perche, which, if true, would make him an ancestor of the Plantagenets in the direct male line.
Date of birth: Say 950?
Place of birth: Unknown.
If Fulcois was in fact the father
of Hugues du Perche, then a birth about this time or somewhat
earlier would seem likely. If Fulcois was not the father of
Hugues, then a later birth a decade or so later would be quite
feasible.
Date of death: Probably before 1032.
Place of
death: Unknown.
In 1031×2, viscount Geoffroy of
Châteaudun, mentioned his mother Melisende as living but did not
mention his father, making it likely that his probable father
Fulcois was deceased at the time. If Settipani's conjecture that
Fulcois was a member of the family of viscounts of Châteaudun is
correct, then Fulcois was probably deceased in 1004, the year
Geoffroy became viscount. If Fulcois only married into that
family, then he could easily have been alive in 1004.
Probable father-in-law
or father: Geoffroy (I), fl. 967?-986, viscount of Châteaudun.
Probable
mother-in-law or mother: Hildegarde, d. after 1005.
These were the probable grandparents of
Geoffroy (II), probable son of Fulcois. See the page of Geoffroy (II).
Probable spouse: Melisende,
living 1031×2.
A charter of viscount Geoffroy of
Châteaudun of 1031×2 names Melisende as his mother [see the
pages of Melisende and Geoffroy
(II) for more details]. Thus, if the
attribution of Fulcois as the paternal grandfather of Rotrou is
correct, he would be the husband of Melisende.
Probable son:
Geoffroy (II),
d. ca. 1038×9, viscount of Châteaudun;
m. Helvise, living 1031,
daughter of Rainard, lord of Pithiviers, and his
wife Helvise.
Possible son:
Hugues du Perche;
m. Béatrix, daughter of Aubry II, count of Mâcon, and widow of Geoffroy (II), count of Gâtianis.
The charter of count Rotrou which mentions his avus
Fulcois also mentions Rotrou's avunculus Hugues, who was
probably a son of Fulcois. For the possible identification of
this Hugues as Hugues du Perche, see the page of Hugues du Perche.
Possible ancestor: Hervé (I), fl. 941-55, count of
Mortagne, 955.
A Hervé appears in the entourage of Hugues
le Grand in several acts from 941 to 946. He appears in November
941 ["Sig. Hervei." Cart.
S.-Benoît-sur-Loire, 1: 122 (#47)], 26 December 943 ["Signum
Ervei vasalli dominici" Mabille (1871), cviii (Pièces
justificatives #9)], 19 June 946 ["Signum Herivei"
Cart. Notre-Dame de Chartres, 1: 77 (#7)], and in an act of
uncertain date ["S. Hervei." RHF 9: 724]. It
is probably the same Hervé who appears as count of Mortagne on
25 June 955 ["S. Hervei, comitis Mauritaniæ. ... Data
est VII kalendas Julii, anno primo regni regis Chlotharii."
Cart. S.-Père de Chartres, 1: 199 (#73), which incorrectly dates
it to 954]. As count of Mortagne, Hervé is a plausible ancestor
of the later counts of Mortagne, who adopted the title of count
of the Perche. It is even possible that Hervé (I) was the father
of count Fulcois, although an additional generation would be more
plausible.
Conjectured father (possible): Hervé (II), fl. 974 - ca. 980, count
[of Mortagne?].
A Hervé appears with Hugues Capet on 8
September 975 ["S. Ervæi." Cart.
S.-Benoît-sur-Loire, 1: 152 (#61)]. Between 978 and 983, he
witnesses a charter of Saint-Julien de Tours as count ["Signum
Arvei comitis." Cart. S.-Julien de Tours, 77 (#27)].
Estournet cites a charter of Saint-Julien de Tours in 980 in
which Hervé appears [Estournet (1928), 118 & n. 4, citing
Bibl. nat., ms. latin 5443, p. 40], but does not make it clear
that Hervé is cited specifically as count of Mortagne in this or
any record. The suggestion that this Hervé was a count of
Mortagne might just be a conjecture based on count the earlier
count Hervé (I) and onomastics. Fulcois is conjectured as a son
of Hervé (II) by Keats-Rohan [Keats-Rohan (1996), 29 (figure
3)].
Conjectured father (possible): Rotrou de Nogent, fl. 967?-996.
Rotrou appears as a witness on a false act
of king Lothaire of France 7 July 967 ["S. Rotrochi"
Rec. actes Lothair & Louis V, 141 (#60), a falsification of
the 11th or 12th century, but perhaps based on an analysis of an
authentic act that had been lost]. His first certain appearance
is in an act of 8 September 975 ["S. Roterici"
Cart. S.-Benoît-sur-Loire, 1: 152 (#61)]. He then appears fairly
regularly for the next two decades, in charters of 5 February 978
["Rotrocus" Cart. S.-Père de Chartres, 1: 65
(#8)], 3 May 983 ["S. Rotrochii" Lex (1892),
122 (Pièces justificatives #1)], before 986 ["Rotrocus"
Cart. S.-Père de Chartres, 1: 72 (#13)], 985 ["S.
Rotroci" ibid, 1: 79 (#18)], 12 February 996 ["Signum
Ratroch." Lot (1903), 426], and 996×1001 ["S.
Rotroci." Lex (1892), 133 (Pièces justificatives #7)].
In addition to the above charters, in which Rotrou appears
without further designation, there are two charters which supply
additional information. One, dated 989, calls Rotrou a Norman
["S. Rotroci Normanni." Lex (1892), 125
(Pièces justificatives #3)]. Another, undated, is a donation by
Rotrou (called "de Nogent" in the heading of the
charter) of property in Thivars, near Chartres, to Saint-Père de
Chartres [heading: "De terra data in villa quæ Thevas
dicitur a Rotroco de Nogiomo." body of charter: "In
Dei nomine, Rotrocus seculari miliciæ deditus et Odonis comitis
fidelitati devotus, ..." Cart. S.-Père de Chartres, 1:
87 (#4)]. In addition, two twelfth century references mention
Rotrou in connection with the Perche during the wars of Richard I
of Normandy with Thibaud "le Tricheur", count of Blois
and Chartres. He is called count of the Perche by Wace in his Roman
de Rou ["Rotro, li quens del Perche"
Wace, Roman de Rou, 4134 (1: 187)], and he is connected
with the Corbonnais in the Norman chronicle of Benoît de
Sainte-More ["Rotrou e cil de Corbuneis"
Benoît de Sainte-More, 22564 (2: 244)]. Rotrou is conjectured as
the father of Fulcois by Saint-Phalle [Saint-Phalle (2000), 245].
Onomastically (and geographically if his connection to Nogent is
correct), he seems like a probable ancestor of the counts of
Perche, and this conjecture would be one possibility among
several.
Conjectured daughter (more
probably his wife):
Melisende, living 1031×2.
[Keats-Rohan (1997), 203 n. 73] In this
conjecture, Fulcois avus of Rotrou (grandson of
Melisende) is being interpreted as a more distant ancestor of
Rotrou than the literal interpretation of "grandson".
While not impossible, it is more likely that Rotrou was a
grandson of Fuclois.
Falsely attributed
daughter:
Helvise, fl. 1031;
m. Geoffroy
(II), d. ca. 1038×9, viscount
of Châteaudun.
[Romanet (1890-1902), 44 (table);
Keats-Rohan (1996), 29 (figure 3); Settipani (1997), 262;
Thompson (2002), 197 (hypothesis 1)] This interpretation
identifies Fulcois as the maternal grandfather of count Rotrou.
Ordinarily, "maternal grandfather" would be one
possible interpretation of the word avus. However, in
this particular case, Helvise is proved by good evidence to be
the daughter of Rainard de Pithiviers. See the page of Geoffroy (II) for details.
Falsely attributed
daughter:
Mathilde;
m. Guillaume I, lord of Bellême.
[Thompson (2002), 197-8 (hypothesis 2)]
This extremely improbable conjecture is based on the untenable
idea that "great-grandfather of wife" is a plausible
meaning of the word avus.
Supposed daughter:
Rotrude;
m. Aubert de Dreux, lord of Gallardon.
[Estournet (1928), 119, citing Merlet
(1860) and Saunier, Essais historique sur la ville et le
marquisat de Gallardon (apparently only in manuscript)] In
fact, Merlet suggests that Rotrude was a daughter of Geoffroy
(II) [Merlet (1860), 186-7; see the page of Geoffroy (II)].
Benoît de Saint-More = Francisque Michel, ed., Chronique des Ducs de Normandie par Benoît, 3 vols. (1836-44).
Cart. Notre-Dame de Chartres = E. de Lépinois & Lucien Merlet, Cartulaire de Notre-Dame de Chartres, 3 vols. (Chartres, 1862-5).
Cart. S.-Benoît-sur-Loire = Maurice Prou & Alexandre Vidier, Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Paris, 1907).
Cart. S.-Julien de Tours = Charles de Grandmaison, Fragments de chartes du Xe siècle provenant de Saint-Julien de Tours (Paris, 1886) [reprinted (with index) from Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes 46 (1885): 373-429; 47 (1886): 226-273].
Cart. S.-Père de Chartres = Benjamin Guérard, Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres, 2 vols. (Paris, 1840).
Cart. S.-Vincent du Mans = R. Charles & Menjot D'Elbenne, eds., Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Vincent du Mans (Ordre de Saint Benoît) (Mamers & Le Mans, 1886-1913).
Estournet (1928) = "Les origines historiques de Nemours et sa charte de franchises (1170)" (parts I-III), Annales de la Société Historique & Archéologique du Gâtinais 39 (1928): 105-158.
Keats-Rohan (1996) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Politique et Parentèle: Les comtes, vicomtes et évèques du Maine c. 940-1050", Francia 23 (1996): 13-30.
Keats-Rohan (1997) = K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "'Un vassal sans histoire'?: Count Hugh II (c. 940/955 - 992) and the origins of Angevin overlordship in Maine", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 189-210.
Lex (1892) = Léonce Lex, Eudes, comte de Blois, de Tours, de Chartres, de Troyes et de Meaux (995-1037) et Thibaud, son frère (995-1004) (Troyes, 1892).
Mabille (1871) = Émile Mabille, Introduction au Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, vol. 155, Paris, 1871).
Merlet (1860) = Lucien Merlet, "Gallardon et ses environs", Mémoires de la Société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir 2 (1860): 283-312, ... .
Rec. actes Lothair & Louis V = Louis Halphen & Ferdinand Lot, eds., Recueil des actes de Lothaire et de Louis V rois de France (Paris, 1908).
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Romanet (1890-1902) = Vicomte de Romanet, Géographie du Perche et chronologie de ses comtes (Documents sur la province du Perche, ser. 2, no. 1, Mortagne, 1890-1902).
Saint-Phalle (2000) = Edouard de Saint-Phalle, "Les comtes de Gâtinais aux Xe et XIe siècles", in Keats-Rohan & Settipani, eds., Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval (Oxford, 2000), 230-246.
Settipani (1997) = Christian Settipani, "Les comtes d'Anjou et leur alliances aux Xe et XIe siècles", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 211-267.
Thompson (2002) = Kathleen Thompson, Power and Border Lordship in Medieval France. The County of Perche, 1000-1226 (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2002).
Wace, Roman de Rou = Hugo Andresen, ed., Maistre Wace's Roman de Rou et des ducs de Normandie, 2 vols. (Heilbron, 1877-9).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 24 January 2011.
Minor changes made 27 January 2011.