Geoffroy
I "Grisegonelle" (Geoffrey Greycloak, Gaufridus/Gauzfredus
Grisegonella) Geoffroy
I "Grisegonelle" (Geoffrey Greycloak, Gaufridus/Gauzfredus
Grisegonella)Geoffroy succeeded his father Foulques II as count of Anjou sometime between September 958, when Foulques was still alive [Morice (1742) 1: 346-7], and September 960, when a count Gausfredus signed a donation to the monastery of Saint-Florent de Saumur by a certain Éremburge ["S. Gausfredi comitis", Latouche (1910), 161-2; see also Bachrach (1984), 115, n. 24]. Geoffroy was killed on 21 July 987 while besieging a certain Odo Rufinus at Marçon, near Château-du-Loir [Annales de Saint-Aubin, s.a. 987: "Obiit Gaufridus comes, pater Fulchonis comitis, XII kalendas augusti, in obsidione Narsonis [recté Marsonis] super Odonem Rufinem facta." and similarly in other Angevin annals; see Halphen (1903), 2, etc.].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 21 July 987.
Place of
Death: Siege of Marçon
(near Château-du-Loir).
Father: Foulques II "le Bon", d. 958×960, count of Anjou, after 941-958×960.
Mother:
Gerberge.
In charters of March 966 and 19 June 966, Gaufridus,
comes Andegavorum, mentions his brother abbot Widdo,
father Fulco and mother Gerberga [Cart.
S.-Aubin 1: 268-9, 4-7], and in a charter of 970, count Gaufridus
mentions his father Fulco and mother Gerberga
[Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 38-9].
Spouses:
(1) Adèle de Troyes, living 6 March 974, daughter
of Robert I, count of Troyes.
On 6 March 974, Adela, wife of count Gauzfredus,
donated land which she had inherited to Saint-Aubin d'Angers, in
a charter witnessed by, among others, count Gauzfredus,
his sons Fulco and Gauzfredus, and count Heribertus
[Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 7-10]. The Saint-Aubin genealogies make Adèle
a daughter of count Robert I of Troyes [See Poupardin (1900),
207; Halphen (1903), 49]. Although some have placed her instead
as a sister of Robert and a daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois,
there is no early authority for this. See the discussion in
Settipani (1997), 251-2.
(2) Adélaïde, living 999, widow of Lambert, count of Chalon.
After Lambert's death, Adélaïde
was married to a count Geoffroy, who has generally been
identified with Geoffroy Grisegonelle. This identification is
discussed in more detail on Adélaïde's
page.
Children:
(by Adèle de Troyes)
Foulques III
"Nerra", d. 1040,
count of Anjou.
Geoffroy, living 974.
He was still alive at the time of his
mother's charter in 974.
Ermengarde, d. aft. 992, m. Conan I de
Rennes, d. 992.
Rodulfus Glaber [ii, 3 (pp. 30-1)] states that Conan
married a sister of count Foulques of Anjou, the Chronicle of S.
Florent says that Geoffrey was son of Conan by a sister of
Foulques [Lobineau (1707), 2: 85], and the Angevin genealogical
collection states that Judith, wife of Richard of Normandy, was
the daughter of Conan by his wife Ermengarde, daughter of
Geoffroy of Anjou [Poupardin (1900), 208]. Chronological
considerations place her as a child of Geoffroy's first marriage.
Gerberge, d. aft. 988, m. Guillaume
IV, count of Angoulême.
Ademar de Chabannes states that count
Guillaume (IV) was married to Gerberge, sister of count Foulques
["Andegavensis" in one manuscript], who must
chronologically be Foulques III ["Comes denique
Engolismae Willelmus, copulata sibi in coniugio Girbirga, sorore
comitis Fulconis, filios ex ea suscepit Hilduinum et Gosfridum."
Ademar de Chabannes, iii, 41, MGH SS 4: 134]. Depoin cites a
charter which gives the name of Guillaume's wife as Girberga
["Ego in Dei nomine Willelmus Engloismensium comes ...
exhortante nobilissima conjuge mea Girbirga atque filiis meis
dulcissimus vivus Helduini, Gauzfredi, nec non defunctis Hernaldi
atque Willelmi, ...", Depoin (1904), 22]. As noted
below, there is no good reason to regard Ermengarde and Gerberge
as the same person.
(by Adélaïde)
Maurice, d. in or before 1039.
He was mentioned as a brother of count Fulco
in a charter of 1003 [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 157-8]. See also the
Saint-Aubin genealogies [Poupardin (1900), 206], where he is
called a son of Geoffroy. He was killed in combat by a certain
Gautier, son of Hamelin de Langeais, in or before 1039 ["Vivente
Goffrido Andegavorum comite, qui Martellus cognominatus est, cum
honorem teneret Vindocini dominicum, miles quidam, Walterius
dictus, filius Hamelini de Lingaiis, qui et ipse in pago
Vindocinensi honorifice fevatus erat, quendam cognatum predicti
comitis, nomine Mauricium, in congressu quodam occidit."
Cart. Trinité de Vendôme, 1: 34 (#16)]. See also the page of
his mother Adélaïde.
Falsely attributed
children:
Bouchard (Barbatus), supposed father of Bouchard de Montmorency.
Adélaïde (in fact a sister), mother of queen Constance.
One example of this comes from a late fabricated genealogy which
was published with the cartulary of Trinité de Vendôme ["Anno
inaugurationis Hugonis regis, obiit Godefridus comes Andegavorum
dictus Grisagonella, filius Fulconis comitis dicti Boni et
Gerbergæ comitissæ, et requiescit cum Adella uxore sua, relicta
Lamberti comitis, in ecclesia Sancti-Martini. Godefridus comes et
Adela habuerunt quatuor filios et duas filias: Fulconem comitem
dictum Nigram, qui patri successit, Gaufridum de Montebasonis
patrem Gaufridi, Mauricium et Burchardum Barbatum, qui fuit pater
Burchardi de Montemaurenciaco, Gelduini archipresulis et Alberici
comitis, et Adelasiam uxorem Willelmi comitis quæ fuit mater
Constantiæ reginæ." Cart. Trinité de Vendôme, 1:
10-11 (#3)]. Bouchard is part of a late attempt to fabricate an
origin for the house of Montmorency. Constance's mother
Adélaïde was a sister of Geoffroy (see the page of Foulques II). This source also erroneously combines Geoffroy's two
wives into a single person.
False identification:
Ermengarde/Gerberge.
There is no good reason to
identify Geoffroy's daughters Ermengarde (wife of count Conan of
Rennes) and Gerberge (wife of count Guillaume IV of Angoulême)
as the same person, as is sometimes done [see Settipani (1997),
250-1].
Bachrach (1984) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility", Albion 16 (1984): 111-130.
Bachrach (1985) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Geoffrey Greymantle, count of the Angevins, 960-987: a study in French politics, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 17 (n.s. 7, 1985): 3-65.
Cart. S.-Aubin = Bertrand de Broussillon, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Aubin d'Angers, 3 vols. (Angers, 1903).
Cart. Trinité de Vendôme = Charles Métais, Cartulaire de l'abbaye cardinale de la Trinité de Vendôme, 2 vols. (Paris, 1893).
Depoin (1904) = Joseph Depoin, "Les comtes héréditaires d'Angoulême de Vougrin Ier à Audoin II (869-1032)", Bulletin de la société historique de la Charente (1904), 1-27.
Halphen (1903) = Receuil d'annales Angevines et Vendômoises (Paris, 1903).
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire de comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Lobineau (1707) = Gui Alexis Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vols., (Paris, 1707).
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.
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.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.
Revision uploaded 24 April 2008. The most significant change is that a page has now been written for Geoffroy's second wife Adélaïde, with the result that the detailed discussion of the marriage of Geoffroy and Adélaïde has been moved from Geoffroy's page to Adélaïde's page, where it is more relevant. I have also changed my opinion somewhat regarding the evidence for Geoffroy's marriage to Adélaïde. In the original version of this page, I expressed doubt that Geoffroy and Adélaïde had been married, and left the matter open. Having reexamined the evidence in more detail, I am now convinced that Adélaïde's second husband Geoffroy was probably the same person as Geoffroy Grisegonelle.