General Notes

Geoffrey IV, also called GEOFFREY PLANTAGENET, byname GEOFFREY THE FAIR,French GEOFFROI PLANTAGENET, or GEOFFROI le BEL (b. Aug. 24, 1113--d.Sept. 7, 1151, Le Mans, Maine [France]), count of Anjou (1131-51), Maine,and Touraine and ancestor of the Plantagenet kings of England through hismarriage, in June 1128, to Matilda (q.v.), daughter of Henry I ofEngland. On Henry's death (1135), Geoffrey claimed the duchy of Normandy;he finally conquered it in 1144 and ruled there as duke until he gave itto his son Henry (later King Henry II of England) in 1150.

Geoffrey was popular with the Normans, but he had to suppress a rebellionof malcontent Angevin nobles. After a short war with Louis VII of France,Geoffrey signed a treaty (August 1151) by which he surrendered the wholeof Norman Vexin (the border area between Normandy and Île-de-France) toLouis. [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD '97]

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The Plantagenet family name was originally just a nickname for Geoffrey.He many times wore a sprig with yellow flowers in his hat.  The flowerwas named "genet" or "genistae" in the French of the times--thus hisnickname was "Plant-a-Genet".  Genet was supposedly a traditional flowerof the Anjou family dating back to the time of Fulk, The Great, Count ofAnjou 898-941 who was scourged (in order to atone for past sins) withbroom twigs of the Genet while on pilgrimage in Jerusalem.   Most peopleof the times had personal nicknames such as "Beauclerc",  "Curtmantel","Longshanks", and "Lackland", but Geoffrey's stuck and eventually (manygenerations later) became the family name.  Geoffrey's immediatedescendants were probably not known as the Plantagenet family at the timethey lived, it was only later that the Plantagenet family name wasapplied to all descendants of Geoffrey.