Foulques
(Fulk, Fulco) IV "le Rechin" Foulques
(Fulk, Fulco) IV "le Rechin"The younger brother of count Geoffroy III "le Barbu", Foulques rebelled against his brother and captured him in 1067, and then again in 1068, when he imprisoned his brother again (not releasing him until 1096), and assumed control of the Angevin possessions. He persuaded the French king Phillipe I to accept this arrangement by ceding his paternal heritage of Gâtinais to the king. His later years were troubled by rebellion from his elder son Geoffroy (IV) Martel, who predeceased him, and Foulques was succeeded by his second son Foulques V in 1109. [For a recent account of the reign of Foulques, see Bradbury (1989).]
Date of Birth: 1042×3 (aged 17 on Pentecost [14 May] 1060).
In the history written by Foulques, he states that his uncle
(Geoffroy Martel), in the last year of his life, made him a
knight in the city of Angers on Pentecost, 1060, and entrusted
him with the region of Saintonge, because of a certain conflict
that he was then having with Pierre de Didonne. ["In
hujus extremo vitae anno me nepotem suum ornavit in Militem in
civitate Andegavi, festivitate Pentecostes, anno ab Incarnatione
Domini millesimio sexagesimo, & commisit mihi Santonicum
pagum cum ipsa civitate causa cujusdam guerrae, quam hebebat cum
Petro Didonense. Ætas autem mea decem & septem erat annorum,
quando me fecit Militem." Spicilegium 3: 233]
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 14 April 1109.
[Annales de Vendôme, Halphen (1903), 69; Annales de Saint-Aubin
(fragment), ibid., 44; see also Halphen (1906), 202]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father: Geoffroy, d. 1042×5, count of Gâtinais.
Mother: Ermengarde, daughter of Foulques III, count of Anjou.
Foulques le Réchin names his parents as Gauffridus and Ermengardis in a donation of 1074×6 [Halphen (1906), 134, 310-1 (act #232)]. A fragment of Angevin history, which claims to have been written by Foulques IV himself in his twenty-eighth year, begins with the words "Ego Fulco Comes Andegavensis, qui filius fui Gofridi de Castrolandono & Ermengardis filiae Fulconis Comitis Andegavensis, & nepos Gofridi Martelli, qui fuit filius ejusdem avi mei Fulconis & frater matris meae, cum tenuissem Consulatum Andegavinum vifinti octo annis ..." [Spicilegium 3: 232]. For a detailed discussion of the parentage of Foulques, see the page of Geoffroy, count of Gâtinais.
Spouses:
[See also Halphen (1906), 169-171]
(1) Hildegard de Baugency, daughter of Lancelin II de Baugency.
[Gesta Cons. Andegav., Spicilegium 3: 262]
(2) Ermengarde de Bourbon, daughter of Archambaud IV, sire de
Bourbon. She m. (2) Guillaume
de Jaligny [Gesta Cons. Andegav., Spicilegium
3: 262, also RHF 12: 497-8].
[Ex Chronico Turonensi, RHF 12: 462-3]
(3) m. 21 January 1076,
separated 1080, Orengarde (Aurengarde) de Châtel-Aillon, daughter of Isembard de
Châtel-Aillon.
[Halphen (1906), 169, n. 4, cites a charter of Saint-Florent de
Saumur giving her parentage and the date of the marriage;
Orengarde became a nun on 9 June 1080, Halphen (1906), 312
(Catalogue d'actes #236)].
(4) NN de Brienne, daughter of Gautier I, count of
Brienne.
[Poupardin (1900), ; the order of this wife in relation to the
others is uncertain]
(5) [1090 or later] Bertrade de Montfort, d. 1117, daughter of Simon I de Montfort-l'Amaury.
[Gesta Cons. Andegav., Spicilegium
3: 262; OV viii (vol. 4, pp. 184-7)]
Children:
In a charter dated 23 June 1096, Foulques named his children
Gaufridus, Fulconello, and Ermengardis [Cart. Angers, 127-131].
The mothers of the three children are given by Gesta Cons.
Andegav. [Spicilegium 3: 262; also RHF 12: 497], De
origine comitum Andegavensium [RHF 12: 534]
by Hildegarde de
Baugency:
Ermengarde was falsely said to be daughter of Bertrada de
Montfort by William of Tyre [Will. Tyre xiv, 1].
Ermengarde, d. 1146; (said to have m. (1) Guillaume
VIII, duke of Aquitaine (VI of Poitou) [Will. Tyre xiv, 1, but other authors do not mention
this marriage]); m. [perhaps (2)] Alain
IV Fergent, duke of Bretagne (Brittany).
Ermengarde's marriage to Alain is given by Gesta
Cons. Andegav. [Spicilegium 3: 262; also RHF 12: 497], De
origine comitum Andegavensium [RHF 12: 534], and a charter
of Foulques IV dated 12 April 1109 mentions his daughter
Ermenjardis, countess of Brittany [Cart. Angers 171-3].
Ermengarde's supposed first marriage was questioned by Morice
(1750), 987. The lack of other evidence, along with the error
regarding Ermengarde's mother, suggests that William of Tyre was
confusing the marriage of Guillaume's parents Gui-Geoffroy of
Poitou/Aquitaine and Hildegarde of Burgundy, the latter a
half-sister of Foulques IV (a link of which Morice, like many
modern authors, was unaware - see the page on Ermengarde, mother of Foulques IV). Indeed, since Guillaume and
Ermengarde were first cousins, any marriage between them must
have been brief, if it took place at all.
by Ermengarde de
Bourbon:
[Ex Chronico Turonensi, RHF 12: 462-3]
Geoffroy IV Martel, d. 19 May 1106 [Annales de Saint-Aubin, Halphen (1903), 7; Annales de
Saint-Aubin (fragment), ibid., 44; Annales de Vendôme, ibid.,
68], joint-count of Anjou.
by Bertrada de Montfort:
Foulques (Fulk) V, d. 1144, count of Anjou, king of Jerusalem.
[Gesta Cons. Andegav., Spicilegium
3: 262; GND (Robert de Torigny) viii, 34 (vol. 2, pp. 260-1; OV
xi, 16 (vol. 6, pp. 76-7)]
Falsely attributed
father (in fact an uncle): Aubri/Alberic, living 1028, count of
Gâtinais.
Although contemporary sources confirm
Geoffroy was the name of the father of Geoffroy III "le
Barbu" and Foulques IV "Rechin", several sources
from the next century name the father of Geoffroy III and
Foulques IV as count Aubri/Alberic of Gâtinais, and the
existence of a count of Gâtinais of that name is confirmed by a
charter. Various authors have dealt with this contradiction
either by giving a count Aubri/Geoffroy who used both names, or
by accepting one of the names and rejecting the other, with
different details. This is discussed in detail on the page of
count Geoffroy of Gâtianis.
Bradbury (1989) = Jim Bradbury, "Fulk le Réchin and the origin of the Plantagenets", in Harper-Bill et al., eds., Studies in Medieval history presented to R. Allen Brown (Boydell Press, 1989), 27-41.
Cart. Angers = C. Urseau, Cartulaire Noir de la Cathédrale d'Angers (Paris & Angers, 1908).
Guillot (1972) = Olivier Guillot, Le Comte d'Anjou et son entourage au XIe siècle (Paris, 1972).
Halphen (1903) = Louis Halphen, ed., Recueil d'annales angevines et vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Morice (1750) = Dom Hyacinthe Morice, Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne, 2 vols, (Paris, 1750).
OV = Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Spicilegium = Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliæ bibliothecis delituerant (Paris, 1723 [vol. 3]).
Will. Tyre = Emily Atwater Babcock & A. C. Krey, trans., A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William Archbishop of Tyre, (English translation) 2 vols. (Columbia University Press, 1943). For the Latin text see Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux, vol. 1 (Paris, 1844).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.