Foulques
II "le Bon" (Fulk the Good, Fulco Bonus) Foulques
II "le Bon" (Fulk the Good, Fulco Bonus)Foulques first appears in a charter of his father in 929, which also mentioned his mother Roscilla, her parents Garnier (Warnerius) and Tescenda, and Gui (Wido), son of the elder Foulques [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 203-4; see the page of Foulques I for more]. Foulques I was still living in August 941 when he and his son Foulques signed a charter [Signum domni Fulconis. Signum Fulconis filii ipsius, Mabille (1871), cv], and it was probably not long after that that Foulques II succeeded (since the career of the elder Foulques is documented from 886), but the exact date is not known, due to the difficulty of identifying which man was the count Fulco of charters during the 940's. After the death of duke Alain Barbetorte of Brittany in 952, Foulques married his widow, a sister of count Thibaut le Tricheur of Blois and Chartres, obtained the guardianship of his wife's son Drogo, and divided Brittany with Thibaut into spheres of influence, with Foulques taking the city of Nantes [Chron. Nantes, 107-8]. Foulques was still living in September 958, when he and Thibaut were present at an assembly of Breton leaders at Angers [Morice (1742) 1: 346-7], but was deceased by September 960, when his son Geoffroy appears as count [Latouche (1910), 161-2; see also Bachrach (1984), 115, n. 24].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Settipani's estimate of around 905 is probably not far off
[Settipani (1997), 226, n. 68].
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: September 958 × September 960.
See above. Mabille (1871), lxvii, states that the great and small
Chronicles of Tours place the death of Foulques in 958 [see RHF
9: 53 for the former]. Bachrach gives 22 July × September 960 as
the possible date of Geoffroy's accession [Bachrach (1984), 115,
n. 24], based on a twelfth century catalogue of the counts of
Anjou, which suggests that Geoffroy did not complete his 27th
year as count [For the catalogue, see Halphen (1906), 354-5
(Pièces justificatives #7)].
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father: Foulques I, d. after August 941, count of Anjou.
Mother: Roscille, d. after 929, daughter of Warnerius and Tescenda.
Spouses:
(1) Gerberge.
In two charters of 966 and one of 970, Geoffroy
Grisegonelle names his mother as Gerberga [Cart. S.-Aubin 1:4-7,
38-9, 268-9]. Medieval sources say nothing about her origin.
Various attempts have been made to conjecture her parentage.
Mabille (1871), lxiv-lxv, without offering a reason, suggested
that she may have been a sister of Boson II, count of Arles, and
daughter of Rotbold. Bachrach (1986) conjectured that she was a
daughter of Ratburn I, viscount of Vienne. The most common
conjecture would make her a daughter of count Geoffroy of
Gâtinais, which would explain both the Angevin connection to
Gâtinais and the appearance of the name Geoffroy in the family
among Gerberge's children [Chaume (1925), Settipani (1997)]. See
Settipani (1997), 226-230 for a detailed, but often conjectural,
discussion of the possibilities of Gerberge's origin.
(2) 952×8, NN,
sister of Thibaut "le Tricheur", count of Blois and
Chartres, and widow of Alain Barbetorte, d. 952, duke of
Brittany.
[Chron. Nantes, 107-8]
Children:
(by Gerberge)
Geoffroy I
"Grisegonelle", d.
987, count of Anjou;
m. (1) Adèle, living 6 March 974, daughter of Robert I, count of Troyes.
m. (2) Adélaïde, living 999, widow of Lambert, count of Chalon.
In a charter of 970, count Gaufridus
mentions his father Fulco and mother Gerberga
[Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 38-9].
Guy, living 13 April 993 [Cart. S.-Chaffre, 69 (cxl, see below); Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 157 (ccccxviii)], d. 8 February 994×6 [died
during the reign of Hugues Capet: "... regnante domino
Hugone rege Francorum, foelix anima supradicti praesulis sexto
idus februarii migravit ex hac luce, ..." Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 158 (ccccxix)], abbot of Cormery, Villeloin, Ferrière, and
Saint-Aubin; bishop of Puy, 976-994×6.
He appears as abbot Wido, brother
of count Geoffroy in a charter of 966 [Cart. S.Aubin 1: 5]. In a
charter of 967×973 by "Widdo abbas ex monasterio Sancti
Pauli Cormaricense seu ex monasterio Sancti Salvatoris Villa Lupe
sub ejus patrocinio degente, necnon ex monasterio Sancti Petri
Ferrariensi atque ex monasterio Sancti Albini Andecavensi",
Guy mentions his avunculus Wid[d]o and his brother count
Gauzfredus of Anjou [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 62-3]. The Chronicle of
Saint-Pierre du Puy mentions him as a brother of Geoffroy
Grisegonelle and of countess Adélaïde, wife of Étienne, and
uncle of Pons and Bertrand: "Fuit vir quidam, ex nobili
Francorum progenie ortus, Guido nomine, ..." [Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 151 (ccccxi)] "..., cui
erat frater germanus nobilissimus comes Gaufridus, cognomento
Grisegonella. ... Hoc factum audientes Pontius et Bertrandus,
ejus nepotes, Aquitaniae clarissimi consules, cum matre eorum
Adalaide, sorore ipsius, ..." [ibid., 152 (ccccxii)]
"Suam igitur dispositionem suae sorori Adalaidae
comitissae suisque filiis, videlicet Pontio et Bertrando, ejus
nepotibus, ..., necnon Stephani sui cognati, Adelaidae sororis
eorumque filiorum, Pontii et Bertrandi, ..." [ibid.,
154 (ccccxv)]. The relationship with Pons and Bertrand is given
similarly in the cartulary of Saint-Chaffre ["isdem
episcopus ... Pontii comitis, nepotis sui, fratrisque ejus
Bertrandi..." (13 April 993), Cart. S. Chaffre, 69
(cxl)].
Adélaïde alias
Blanche, d. 1026;
m. (1) Étienne de Brioude, fl. 936-957, d.
prob. 970×5;
m. (2) Raymond de Toulouse;
m. (3) ca. 980, Louis V, d. 21 May 987, king of
France, 986-7;
m. (4) Guillaume
I (or II), d. aft. 29 August
993, marquis of Provence.
The Saint-Aubin genealogies give Fulco Bonus as
the father of Blanca, mother of Constantia,
wife of king Robert [Poupardin (1900), 206-7]. See
the page of Adélaïde
alias Blanche for further
details.
Probable additional daughter:
Adèle;
m. Gautier I, count of Valois, Vexin, and
Amiens.
Gautier I of Valois/Vexin/Amiens and his
wife Adèle had children Gautier II, Gui (bishop of Soissons),
Raoul, Geoffroy, and Foulques. Based on the onomastic evidence of
the names Gui, Geoffroy, and Foulques, and the fact that Gui (son
of Foulques I) was the immediate predecessor of Gui (son of
Gautier) as bishop of Soissons, Grierson made the reasonable
suggestion that Adèle was a member of the family of counts of
Anjou, placing her as a possible daughter of Foulques I [Grierson
(1939), 107-8]. Although the relationship between the two
families is very likely, it is chronologically more probable that
Adèle was a daughter of Foulques II, a relationship which would
also more easily explain the appearance of the name Geoffroy
among the sons of Gautier I and Adèle. See Settipani (1997),
247-8.
See Commentary section for supposed additional children.
Supposed son (existence uncertain, possibly an error for a stepson of that name):
Drogo/Dreux, bishop of Puy.
A supposed act of Dreux, bishop of Puy,
dated September 994, mentions his parents Foulques and Gerberge
and Guillaume count of Provence son of count Guillaume deceased
and his sister Adélaïde ["ego Drogo gratis Dei
episcopus Aniciensis, filius Fulconis comitis et Gerbergæ dedi
et concessi Willelmo comit[i] Provincæ filio Willelmi quondam
comitis et Adalasiæ sororis meæ ... +Signum Drogonis episcopi.
Actum apud Podium mense septembris anno VIII regnantibus Hugone
et Roberto regibus" Manteyer (1908), 255 n. 3, citing
Bibl. nat. Dom Housseau, I, #256, and acknowledging that Guy de
Puybaudet sent him the text]. Gesta Consulum Andegavorum
states that he was a son born to Foulques late in life, and was
successor of his brother Gui as bishop of Puy ["tertius
minor Drogo dictus, à Fulcone nimis dilectus, quia eum in
senectute genuerat, peritia litterarum & artium liberalium
edoctus, benignitate Hugonis Regis in episcopatum Podii fratri
suo successit." Spicelegium 3: 246; see also Ex
Chronico Turorensi, RHF 9: 53]. For evidence that there was
no bishop of Puy of this name during this time, see Mabille
(1871), lxvi-lxvii. The eleventh century Saint-Aubin genealogies
give Drogo as a son of Foulques without any other details
[Poupardin (1900), 206]. Since Foulques had a stepson of this
name (Drogo, son of Foulques's second wife by her earlier
marriage with Alain Barbetorte), some confusion seems possible
here [Halphen (1906), 5 n. 1].
Falsely attributed sons
from later sources:
See Mabille (1871), lxv-lxvi.
Bouchard "le Vieux", count of
Paris, Corbeil, and Vendôme.
Humbert le Veneur.
Bachrach (1984) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility", Albion 16 (1984), 111-130.
Bachrach (1986) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Some observations on the origins of countess Gerberga of the Angevins: an essay in the application of the Tellenbach-Werner prosopographical method", Medieval Prosopography 7, no. 2 (1986): 1-23.
Bouchard (1987) = Constance Brittain Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister - Nobility and the church in Burgundy, 980-1198 (Cornell University Press, 1987).
Cart. S.-Aubin = Bertrand de Broussillon, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Aubin d'Angers, 3 vols. (Angers, 1903).
Cart. S.-Chaffre = Cartularium monasterii Sancti Theofredi Calmiliensis Ordinis Sancti Benedicti (Cartulary of Saint-Chaffre du Monastier), Chevalier (1884), 1-150 (sections i-ccccx).
Chaume (1925) = Maurice Chaume, Les origines du duché de Bourgogne, 4 vols., (Dijon, 1925).
Chevalier (1884) = Ulysse Chevalier, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de St-Chaffre du Monastier, Ordre de Saint-Benoît, suivi de la Chronique de Saint-Pierre du Puy et d'un appendice de chartes (Paris, 1884), cited here separately as "Cart. S.-Chaffre" and "Chron. S.-Pierre du Puy".
Chron. Nantes = René Merlet, ed., La Chronique de Nantes (Paris, 1895).
Chron. S.-Pierre du Puy = Chronicon Sancti Petri Aniciensis (Chronicle of Saint-Pierre du Puy), Chevalier (1884), 151-166 (sections ccccxi-ccccxxviii).
Framond (1993) = Martin de Framond, "La succession des comtes de Toulouse autour de l'an mil (940-1030): reconsiderations", Annales du Midi 105 (1993): 461-488.
Grierson (1939) = Philip Grierson, "L'origin des comtes d'Amiens, Valois et Vexin", Le Moyen Age 49 (1939): 81-125.
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire de comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Mabille (1871) = Émile Mabille, Introduction au Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, vol. 155, Paris, 1871).
Morice (1742) = Dom Hyacinthe Morice, Memoires pour servir de preuves à l'histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne, 3 vols, (Paris, 1742).
Poupardin (1900) = René Poupardin, "Généalogies angevines du XIe siècle", Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire (Paris, Rome) 20 (1900):199-208.
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Rodulfus Glaber = Maurice Prou, ed., Raoul Glaber - les cinq livres de ses histoires (900-1044) (Paris, 1886).
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.
Settipani (2004) = Christian Settipani, La Noblesse du Midi Carolingien (Prosopographica et Genealogica, vol. 5, 2004).
Spicilegium = Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum ... (Paris, 1723).
Stasser (1997) = Thierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou. Sa famille, ses mariages, sa descendance", Le Moyen Age 103,1 (1997): 9-52. [Note: I have not yet had a chance to examine this article.]
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.
Revision uploaded 29 May 2012 (inserted supposed charter of Dreux from Manteyer, and moved much expanded documentation on Adélaïde/Blanche to her newly uploaded page).