Count Fulk (The Black) D'Anjou III

• General Notes
  • Fulk III (972-1040), called Nerra (that is, le Noir, "the Black") after his death, was count of Anjou from 987 to 1040. He was the son of Geoffrey Greymantle and Adelaide of Vermandois.
    
    He was the founder of the Angevin dynasty. He had a violent nature and performed both cruelties and acts of penitence; he made four pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In probably his most notorious act, Fulk Nerra had his first wife (and cousin) Élisabeth de Vendôme burned to death at the stake in her wedding dress, after discovering her with a goatherd in December 999.
    
    Erdoes says of him: "Fulk of Anjou, plunderer, murderer, robber, and swearer of false oaths, a truly terrifying character of fiendish cruelty, founded not one but two large abbeys. This Fulk was filled with unbridled passion, a temper directed to extremes. Whenever he had the slightest difference with a neighbor he rushed upon his lands, ravaging, pillaging, raping, and killing; nothing could stop him, least of all the commandments of God."
    
    He fought against the claims of the counts of Rennes, defeating and killing Conan I of Rennes at the Battle of Conquereuil in 992. He then extended his power over the County of Maine and the Touraine. All of his enterprises came up against the no less violent ambition of the Odo II of Blois, against whom he made an alliance with the Capetians. In 1025, after capturing and burning the city of Saumur, Fulk reportedly cried, "Saint Florentius, let yourself be burned. I will build you a better home in Angers." But when the transportation of the saint's relics to Angers proved difficult, Fulk declared that Florentius was a rustic lout unfit for the city, and sent the relics back to Saumur.
    
    Fulk also commissioned many buildings. From 987 to 1040, while he was count of Anjou and fighting against the Bretons and Blois, protecting his territory from Vendôme to Angers and from Angers to Montrichard, he had more than a hundred castles, donjons, and abbeys constructed. These numerous pious foundations, however, followed his many acts of violence against the church.
    
    Fulk died in 1040 in Metz.
    
    Source: Wikipedia
    
    ---
    
    Medieval Sourcebook:
    Chronicle of the Counts of Anjou, c. 1100
    
    Of Fulk Nerra
    Fulk Nerra ... a youth of no modest build, began to defend the consulate vigorously from its many enemies. New wars were always emerging out of nowhere against the new prince. At the admonition of that most evil Landric, Odo of Champagne and Gelduin of Saumur tried to expel Fulk from Tours, thinking they could wrest Amboise and Loches from the count. The opportunities of the present time suggested this plan to them, for the treasurer Supplicius, his brother newly dead, ruled Amboise by himself, responsible only to the consul. Nor did this wise hero [Fulk] delay in hastening to expose himself to danger and to punish the enemy. When he had gathered as much of an army as he could, he boldly entered the land of his enemies, and, going beyond Blois, he arrived at Chateaudun. The inhabitants of the castle, girt with the knightly belt and protected by armor, began to prepare themselves like a garrison; gathering together quickly they assaulted the consul and his men. The Angevins held off their frequent charges until evening. When they tried to withdraw they were unable to fend off the enemy's rushes, since the men of Chateaudun were pressing at the backs of those who were trying to flee. The consul's men, since they could no longer sustain the battle nor put the others to flight, gathered together and tried to go back and fight. The men of Amboise had been sent ahead, and the Angevins now completely surrounded them and defeated them. The men of Chateaudun now were taken by fear and, scattering, tried to flee. The count, fighting in his own castle put them to flight. Many of the commoners were captured, while others were put to the sword. They rested there for the night, holding twenty knights captive, tied up with the rest of the prisoners, under guard. The next day they plundered the land and did great harm to its serfs. Having experienced the joy of victory, they returned to Amboise on the third day.
    At Amboise the consul besieged the house of Landric; his men gathered and beset the house so fiercely that they forced those in the house to give up all hope of resistance. Knowing they could not resist, and knowing they could not evade the punishments and death they deserved if captured, they began to negotiate via messengers: they would give up the house, if the count spared their lives. When counsel had been taken, it seemed good to all that so great a danger be removed without any risk to the besiegers. So life was granted to them and the house, once it had been handed over, was completely destroyed. Landric and his men were expelled from the castle. From there the count, crossing the Loire, stopped at a house he hasd secured, once called Caramantus, now Villa Moranni. >From there he entered Valeia, going through Semblenchiacum, which he had also secured for himself, and through the land of his vassal and friend Hugh of Alvia, who was said to be lord of the castle called Castellum and also of St.-Christophe; finally he descended into Anjou, to the displeasure of the citizens of Tours. Fulk took Mirebeau and Loudun, as well as Chinon, which belonged to Odo, as well as Saumur and Monsorellum; from there he made war on the men of L'Isle-Bouchard, and returned to Loches through the land of Guenon, which belonged to lord Noaster. Then count Fulk, having finished his business, installed a warlike man, exceptionally skilled at arms, Lisois of Basogerio (Baugé?), nephew of the viscount of St.-Susanne, at Loches and Amboise, and ordered the knights, greater and lesser alike, to obey him. This man [Lisois] had brothers, kinsmen and many relations, all of whom stayed with him of their own will.
    For whoever, as Boethius says, "leaves an established rank, will not have a happy end."[16]
    Conan, count of Brittany, wanting to exceed the bounds of his consulate,[17] scorned Fulk and, trusting in the strength of his four sons, did not cease to ravage the borders of Anjou. There was a river, the Mayenne, not last among the rivers of the west, which washed Anjou with its gentle waters, which a bridge of stone embraced, ready to suffer the waters of winter.[18] Conan and his sons wanted their consulate to extend to this river. When Conan realized that Fulk had left Anjou, he himself went to the royal court at Orléans; meanwhile he ordered his sons to hurry to Anjou and search out milder lands. When his sons heard that Fulk was absent they were overjoyed, sure they would prevail over the Angevins, whom they thought were few and unarmed. While the consuls awaited the king at Orléans, Fulk withdrew into a house to relieve himself. Conan came into the main chamber of the house, so that Fulk was separated from him only by the width of a wall, and told his men that in four days his sons would be at the gates of Angers, destroying all before them. When the count had heard this he rushed off to their aid, pretending he was going to the castle of Landonense, and rode night and day, changing horses often; he ordered those of his men whom he met on the way to follow him. At evening of the second day he entered Anjou secretly, and gathered together many knights and footmen outside the city. On the appointed day the Bretons rushed impetuously up to the gates of the city. Fulk and his men rushed swiftly down on them from hiding; they killed some, and chased after the others, whom they had put to flight. For when they [the Bretons] realized the consul had returned, the enemy no longer had the courage to resist. In this manner, being dispersed, each fled as quickly as he could. Two of Conan's sons died in the battle, and innumerable footsoldiers; the other two sons were captured, along with many knights, barons and footsoldiers. Fulk returned at once to the royal court, and, on the day the king arrived, he and one of his knights, riding the dappled horse of Alan, Conan's eldest son, dismounted before the king's hall. The Bretons asked where the horse had been gotten: the truth was made known, and announced to Conan. Then Conan bewailed his fate and wept before the king, and sought peace from the bishops; with the intervention of king Robert, and Richard duke of the Normans (who was married to Conan's daughter Judith), peace was made. Conan's eldest son Alan was redeemed, together with his brother. All the captives were freed after the payment of a fit price, and Fulk possessed in peace the consulate of the land over the Mayenne.
    By his wife Fulk fathered Geoffrey Martel and a daughter called Adela. Fulk, a God-fearing man, went to Rome on a pilgrimage, and, having accepted with blessings a papal letter, set out again for Jerusalem, which at that time the Gentiles held. When he got to Constantinople he met Robert duke of Normandy, who was making one and the same journey. Now Richard, duke of Normandy, had two sons by Judith, daughter of Conan count of Brittany, named Richard and Robert. Richard, the eldest, was poisoned by his brother Robert. Robert, to make satisfaction to God for this crime, set off barefoot on this journey in the seventh year of his dukedom. Before this event Robert had fathered William, the worthy man who acquired England, by a concubine. When Fulk had found Robert and joined up with him, he handed the papal letter over to the emperor. These two were then led at the emperor's order through the lands of the Saracens by the men of Antioch, who had been present there by chance and joined them. Robert died while traveling through Bithynia. Fulk came to Jerusalem under a safe-conduct. He was unable to enter the city gate, where pilgrims were vigorously urged to give up their money to gain entry. When he had paid the fee both for himself and for other Christians who were lingering in the area of the gate, unable to enter, he and these others went swiftly into the city; but the cloisters of the tombs were also closed to them. For [the Saracens], knowing him to be a man of quick temper, mocked him, and said he would never get to the tomb he wanted to see unless he were to urinate upon it and upon the holy cross. The prudent man, though unwilling, agreed to this. A ram's bladder was found, cleaned and washed and filled with the best wine and then placed between the count's thighs. Shoeless, he approached the Lord's Sepulchre, and let the wine flow forth upon it; he freely entered the tomb with his companions, and prayed there with an outpouring of many tears. Soon, when the hard stone had grown soft, he sensed the divine power, and, kissing the tomb he was able to tear out a piece of it with his teeth and hide it; unbeknownst to the gentiles, he took it away with him. Fulk, giving large gifts to the poor, was worthy of receiving a piece of the Lord's cross from the Syrians who were guarding the tomb. Returning then to Loches [i.e. in France], he built a church to the honor of the Lord's Sepulchre beyond the river A., namely at Beaulieu, and installed monks and an abbot there. At Amboise, in the church of the virgin Mary, he placed a piece of the True Cross and a pair of thongs with which Christ's hands were bound. In that church, in Fulk's time, the body of the blessed Florentinus, which had been brought from the countryside of Poitou, was placed. There he installed canons, as well as Supplicius, the treasurer of St. Martin.
    Men at that time were complaining about Odo of Champagne, Gelduin of Saumur and Geoffrey the young, lord of St.-Aignan, who had afflicted Fulk's land and men with many insolences during the year and a half Fulk spent abroad. Gelduin, in fact, had fortified the court of St.-Pierre of Pontlevoy as though it were his own property; there were not yet monks there. Fulk, though, went and built a fortress called Montrichard on a mountain near the river Cher, which was part of the personal estate of Gelduin and the fief of the archbishop of Tours, once the towns of Reabblus Nobilis and Nanteuil (?), which lay between Montrichard and the river, had been destroyed; both towns were part of Gelduin's fief. He set up Roger Diaboler, lord of Montresor, as guardian of Montrichard. Meanwhile Odo had gathered a great host of knights and footsoldiers in Blois to destroy Montrichard. When Fulk heard this he took his best knights and footsoldiers, joined up and allied with Herbert, consul of Le Mans, and went out to meet Odo. Odo, as was his way, trusted in the great numbers of his troops, and so crossed the Brenne River. Fulk, leaving Amboise, came to a place near Pontlevoy. Herbert rode up to the bank of the Cher and made camp there. What more is there to say? Odo, thunderstruck, stood with his heart frozen, not believing the Angevins would dare to fight with him. To his men he said briefly: "Pour out all your strength; let each one who wishes to see his homeland and his dear kinsmen, his offspring and his chambers and his abandoned goods, look to his sword ..."[19] Battle was joined. Fulk and his men were hard pressed; Fulk, falling from his horse, was heavily struck. The men of Blois had almost attained the victory, and would have if a messenger had not gone straight to Herbert and warned him that Fulk had been beaten and captured. After this rumor had run through the whole army count Herbert, an extremely fierce warrior, flew with his fellow warriors to the battlefield. There were some unexpected friends whom he had summoned, who were keeping the enemy busy on the left wing. For a long time the Angevins bore up under the blows of battle; it pleased Christ to confer strength on them, and riddle their enemies with confusion. Odo's knights could not withstand the ferocious blows of the men of Le Mans and Anjou, and were put to flight, leaving their footsoldiers in the camps to be slaughtered. When the Angevins had dismembered these men at will, they pursued the fugitives as far as they were able or dared, striking down all the knights whom they could catch. When about six thousand had been killed or captured, the remainder escaped, each one going where he could. When the enemy had been put to flight and slaughtered, the victors proceeded to despoil their castles, collected the best of the plunder and returned to Amboise, enriched by the number and ransom of their captives.
    The following year, when Odo of Champagne was being attacked by the duke of Lotharingia, Fulk, that modest and prudent man, built a fortress at Montboyau to put pressure on the city of Tours, which he greatly desired to possess. Odo on the other hand soon besieged this fort, bringing with him a great multitude, drawn from different peoples [gentes], with Gelduin of Saumur rushing up with all of his men as well. Fulk likewise got together as many men as he could in Valeia and, taking some good advice, since he neither dared nor was able to fight, crossed the Loire and rode the whole night; he found Saumur empty of defenders and entered it at the crack of dawn, taking the whole town up to the fortress itself. Those within the fortress had no hope for relief, no place to flee to, only the indignity of surrender. They knew the Angevin race was fierce and warlike, and that they would not give up something they had undertaken until they had gained everything they wished for. They knew further that they were utterly without mercy. Therefore they made satisfaction to the consul under the law of surrender. They said: "You must let us leave the fortress unharmed, protect us from those butchers, and let us serve you and remain alive." When he had heard this the count accepted them with the honor of liberty, and honored them with a great festival. When it became known that he had done this and that he had joined the freed men to himself, this induced others to surrender as well. When the fortress was taken and its attendants sent away, he ordered that watchful men be found to guard the castle.[20]
    Fulk, having gained Saumur as he had wished, later got ready to go, and went over to near Chinon, crossing the Vienne between Noaster and L'Isle Bouchard on a bridge made of boats, and besieged Montbazon. Odo withdrew from the siege of Montboyau and set his path toward Fulk's army. The clever Fulk, abandoning the siege, withdrew to Loches and made camp in a field. So each one rested, having sent his army home. When Odo was at Blois, his messenger told him that Germans, with the duke of Lotharingia, had besieged Bar-sur-l'Aube. Hastening home, Odo pursued the Germans, who had already come up into Lotharingia. He fought with them and, though gravely wounded, came out the victor; but he died on the battlefield not long after, and his son Thibaut succeeded to his lands [1037]. Menawhile Fulk besieged and captured Montbazon, and handed it to Guillaume de Mirebeau to guard. Arraud of Breteuil (?) and other traitors handed over their lord Geoffrey, prince of St.-Aignan, to Fulk; later, when Fulk was absent, the same man was strangled in prison in Loches by his betrayers. The count then gave to his seneschal Lisois as a wife the niece of Supplicius the treasurer(to whom he had given the fortress of Amboise with all its lands) and also gave him Virnullium and Maureacum and the "vicarage" of Champagne. Thus, retaining his lands, he passed them on to his son [Geoffrey] Martel. The land was quiet and in peace then up to the death of Fulk, who in truth did not live much longer [d. 1040].
    
    The Plantagenet Chronicles
    Fulk Nerra or Fulk the Black is the Count in the family of Anjou, of whom legend decrees married Melusine, the daughter of Satan. From "The Crowned Lions" page 21, Geoffrey Plantagenet was not royal, but the ruling family of Anjou claimed an ancestry more awesome than that of any human royalty. The Angevins believed that they were descended from Melusine, the daughter of Satan. The family legend was that one of the earlier Counts of Anjou, Fulk Nerra or Fulk the Black, had gone on a journey and returned from his unknown destination with a wife of surpassing beauty. The Countess Melusine bore her husband four children, and made him an admirable consort in every way but one: in an age of piety she seldom attended Mass, and whenever she did so, she made sure to leave before the consecration of the bread and wine. This was highly suspect behaviour, and at last Fulk reluctanly ordered four of his knights to hold Melusine in her place the next time she attempted to leave Mass. The result was dramatic: the knights obeyed their lord, but Melusine tore herself free of them and flew out the window of the church, carrying two of her children away with her. So her identity was revealed, for no devil can endure to look upon the conserated Body and Blood of Christ. However, in her escape, Melusine had left two children behind, to provide a human link between the house of Anjou and Hell itself. The most unfortunate consequence of this legend was that the Angevins believed that any violent acts which they chose to commit were the inevintable consequences of being descendants of the Devil: hysterical rages, atrocities perpetrated in blind fury, sexual excesses, all were inescapable legacies from Satan."