Foulques
(Fulk, Fulco) III "Nerra" Foulques
(Fulk, Fulco) III "Nerra"Foulques succeeded his father Geoffroy I "Grisegonelle" in 987, and was succeeded in 1040 after a long reign by his son Geoffroy II "Martel". Foulques Nerra was also sometimes given the epithet Jerosolimitanus because of his pilgrimages to Jerusalem [see, e.g., Halphen (1906), 212; Poupardin (1900), 207].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Given his long reign, ca. 965×970 would be a reasonable estimate
for his birthdate.
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 21 June 1040.
[Annales de Vendôme, s.a. 1040, Halphen (1903), 61].
Place of Death: Metz, while returning from a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem.
[Rodulfus Glaber IV, ix, 26, p. 113; Halphen (1906), 126-7]
Father: Geoffrey I "Grisegonelle" , d. 987, count of Anjou.
Mother:
Adèle de Troyes, living 6 March 974, daughter
of Robert I, count of Troyes.
Foulques is mentioned in a charter
of his mother in 967 [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 7-10], and in a two
charters of 1007×1026, Foulques named his father Goffredus,
mother Adela, and son Goffredus [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 10-13].
Spouses:
(1) Elizabeth de Vendôme, burned to death in 1000, a few days before a fire that burned the city of Angers ["Prima incensio urbis Andegave, que evenit paucis diebus post combustionem comitisse Helisabeth", Annales de Saint-Aubin, s.a. 1000, (1903), 3], daughter of Bouchard, count of Vendôme [Halphen (1906), 62, citing the cartulary of Trinité de Vendôme]. There was a report that Elizabeth was burned by Foulques for being innocently accused of committing adultery ["Qui post mortem primae uxoris, cum Helisabeth quoque causa adulterii concremasset, Hildegardem puellam illustrem duxit uxorem, cujus primogenitus Goffredus ...", Historia Sancti Florentii Salmurensis, Marchegay (1869), 260; "Fulco vero callidus ingenio, cum Elysabeth conjugem suam Andegavis, post immane praecipitium salvatam, occidisset ipsamque urbem, paucis defendentibus, flammarum incendii concremasset, Jerusalem petiit; ...", ibid., 273]. Halphen doubted this, calling the story a legend, and stating that Elizabeth died in a terrible fire [Halphen (1906), 62-3]. However, Halphen's interpretation does not seem to agree with the statement of the Annals of Saint-Aubin, which indicate that the fire in Angers followed the burning of Elizabeth by a few days [see Guillot (1972), 25].
(2) Hildegarde de Lorraine, d.
Jerusalem, 1 April 1046 [Martyrology of the
abbey of Ronceray, quoted from Marchegay & Mabille (1869),
395, n. 3; Halphen (1906), 11; Annales de Saint-Aubin, Halphen
(1903), 4 (date only), among other annals].
The cartulary of Ronceray provides the only indication of
Hildegarde's origin: "... religiosa atque piisima
comitissarum, domna Hildegardis, quam scilicet ut credimus et in
rebus manifestum est, omnium conditor Deus a
Lothariensium partibus, de regali progenie ortam,
in hos occidentales terrarum fines ad restaurationem destitutarum
olim ecclesiarum perduxit ..." [Halphen (1906), 11,
quoting the cartulary of Ronceray]. One plausible conjecture is
that she was somehow related to the counts of Nordgau, a
Lotharingian family of royal descent in which the name Hildegarde
is known to have occurred [see the short discussion in Settipani
(1997), 253-4].
Children:
by Elizabeth de Vendôme:
Adèle, heiress of Vendôme, m. Bodo
de Nevers.
[Halphen (1906), 63; Guillot (1972), 27;
both cite Cartulaire de la Trinité de Vendôme, ed.
Métais, no. 6] Her sons Bouchard and Foulques became counts of
Vendôme.
by Hildegarde de Lorraine:
Geoffrey II "Martel", b. 14
October 1006 (or 1007) [Annales de
Saint-Aubin, s.a. 1006 (year only), Halphen (1903), 3; Annales de
Vendôme, ibid., 59; 14 October 1007 in the obituary of
Saint-Serge d'Angers, ibid., 106, and in a charter of Foulques
Nerra of 1037: "Anno ab incarnatione Domini M VII,
indictione V, Gaufridus Martellus natus est, et pater ejus
Fulcho, nobilissimus comes Andecavorum, filius Gaufridi
fortissimi comitis, qui cognominatus est Grisia Gonella ...",
Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 1-2], d. 14 November 1060
["Obiit Heinricus Francorum rex,
anno ordinationis sue XXIX, et eodem ipso anno obiit Gausfredus
comes, Fulconis filius, XVIII kalendas decembris, feria III, hora
diei prima, monachili habitu prius suscepto a domno Adraldo,
abbate Sancti Nicholai", Annales de Vendôme, Halphen
(1903), 63; Halphen (1906), 12], count of
Anjou, 1040-1060 (and of Tours, 1054-60), m. (1) 1 January 1032 [Annales de Saint-Aubin, Halphen (1903), 3; Annales de
Saint-Serge, Halphen (1903), 107] Agnes,
d. 10 November [Nec. Verdun 314], daughter of Otte-Guillaume,
count of Burgundy, and widow of Guillaume IV,
count of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine ["Kal. januarii. -
Gaufridus comes Agnetem comitissam, que fuerat consobrini sui
Willelmi comitis Pictavorum uxor, incesto conjugio assumpsit anno
ab incarnatione Domini MXXXII" Annals de Saint-Serge,
Halphen (1903), 107]; m. (2) Grecia,
widow of Berlay I, lord of Montreuil [Historia
Sancti Florentii Salmurensis, Marchegay & Mabille
(1869), 293]; m (3) Adèle,
daughter of count Eudes; m. (4) Grecia (again);
m. (5) Adélaïde "Theutonice".
A charter of Roceray lists the wives
(concubines) of Geoffroy: "suis eas concubinis potius
quam uxoribus dedit: Agneti primo, deinde Grecie, postea Adele
comitis filie Odonis, item denuo Grecie, postremo Adelaidi
Theutonice." [Marchegay & Mabille (1869), 293,
n.1].
Ermengarde, d. 1076, heiress of Anjou, m. (1) Geoffrey, d. 1042×5, count of Gâtinais; m. (2) Robert,
duke of Burgundy.
See the page on Ermengarde for details.
[ NN "cognomine
Blancha" (likely to be the
same person as Ermengarde).]
A daughter of Foulques and Hildegarde
having the cognomen of Blancha is mentioned in
the cartulary of Ronceray [Halphen (1906), 12; Saint-Phalle
(2000), 237]. Here, the term cognomen indicates that Blancha
("white") is to be thought of a nickname or surname
(cf. "Nerra", "Martel") rather than the
daughter's given name. The nickname "Blanche" had been
used previously in this family by Adélaïde, daughter of
Foulques II. While the often stated identification of this
"Blanche" with the known daughter Ermengarde is likely
enough, such an identification is not directly attested.
Falsely attributed
father: Maurice
(actually his brother).
Gesta Consulum Andegavorum [Spicilegium
3: 249] inexplicably makes Foulques Nerra a son (and successor)
of Maurice and grandson of Geoffroy Grisegonelle, yet another
reason (if one is needed) to regard this source as unreliable.
Bachrach (1993) = B. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993).
Cart. S.-Aubin = Bertrand de Broussillon, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Aubin d'Angers, 3 vols. (Angers, 1903).
Guillot (1972) = Olivier Guillot, Le Comte d'Anjou et son entourage au XIe siècle (Paris, 1972).
Halphen (1903) = Louis Halphen, Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Marchegay & Mabille (1869) = Paul Marchegay & Émile Mabille, Chroniques des églises d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, Paris, 1869).
Nec. Verdun = Charles Aimond, ed., "Le Nécrologe de la cathédrale de Verdun", Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für lothringinsches Geschichte und Altertumskunde 21, part 2 (1910): 132-314.
Poupardin (1900) = René Poupardin, "Généalogies angevines du XIe siècle", Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire (Paris, Rome) 20 (1900):199-208.
Rodulfus Glaber = Maurice Prou, ed., Raoul Glaber - les cinq livres de ses histoires (900-1044) (Paris, 1886).
Spicilegium = Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliæ bibliothecis delituerant (Paris, 1723 [vol. 3]).
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.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.