General Notes

1  NAME /Geoffrey/ I
1  NAME Geoffrey I /Grisogonnelle/
1  BIRT
2  DATE 938
1  DEAT
2  DATE 987
bk&q p 731 [SC4] "killed in battle" -- need to research ancestors and desc
endants for more connections
FIMA p 203 "Once they had become lords of a land which . . . they had resc
ued from pagan hands and then defended . . . the counts of Anjou defend
ed themselves valiantly on three sides, consistently loyal to the Franki
sh king.  Nevertheless, their very bravery put them in a position superi
or to their liege lord when his power began to decline.  The seneschal GEO
FFREY GREYMANTLE found himself having to defend an extremely weak overlo
rd . . . "
pc 19 "GEOFFREY GREYGOWN (960-987), whose prowess was th stuff of legen
d, and whose story begins this history of the Plantagenets"
pc 19-24 (from Chronicle of the Counts of Anjou) "Count Geoffrey was a ski
lful soldier in the French manner, stout-hearted and strong and most succe
ssful in battle. 
At that time Huasten the Dane had been attacking the coast of Fran
ce for three years, and now he joined his cousins, Edward and Hilduin, w
ho were both counts of Flanders.  He had with him a force of fifteen thous
and Danes and Saxons, among whom was a warrior of extraordinary stature a
nd courage, Ethelulf.  Together the Danes and Swedes were revaging Fren
ch lands, plundering and burning towns and villages wherever they coul
d.  With the aid of the Flemings, they overran and laid waste with fire a
nd sword almost all of that region of Flanders inhabited by the French, be
fore deciding to advance to Paris and sow fear and terror there.
Alarmed at such audacity, the king had his nobles forgather from a
ll parts of Paris at Whitsun.  Tthelulf the Dane, like a new Goliath, scor
nfully approached the city, demanding single combat with a French knigh
t.  When several of the bravest and noblest of the French had been defeat
ed and killed in such combat, the king was overcome with grief and forba
de anyone else to go out against Ethelulf.
When Count Geoffrey of Anjou heard the royal messenger who summoned h
im to the assembly at Whitsun,  he prepared to leave his lands at Chateau-
Landon. When he learned of the Dane's strength and cruelty, he set o
ff in secret, with one knight and two squires.  He took just one horse a
nd crossed the Seine, together with the knight and two millers. When he s
aw the Dane and heard his war cry, the count roared, swiftly armed himse
lf and mounted his horse. Leaving his companions in the boat, he set out a
lone onto the plain to engage his foe.  Spurring on his charger, each m
an closed on the other. The count pierced his enemy's chest and threw h
im to the ground with the steel emerging between the shoulder blade
s. As he looked back, Geoffrey could see the groaning Dane struggling to g
et up, with a threatening look in his fierce eyes; so he swiftly dismount
ed and drawing his sword, like  a  second  David,  he  cut  off his  hea
d.  He immediately remounted and returned swiftly to the boat with the he
ad and the horse of his enemy.  After crossing the river, he gave the he
ad to one of the millers to take to Paris, while he returned incogni
to to Chateau-Landon to rejoin his men.  The bearer of the head reached t
he city and, in the presence of the king, declared that although he did n
ot know the identity of the knight he had no doubt that, if he saw him aga
in, he would recognize him.  On the appointed day all those who had been s
ummoned, the dukes and counts, the nobles of the whole of France, reach
ed Paris, so all the chief men of outstanding skill and ability were gathe
red together in the royal palace.  Geoffrey, count of Anjou, sat among t
he barons wearing a tunic of coarse grey cloth that the French call grisi
ng but which we Angevins call barrel.
The miller, who had been summoned by the king for this express purpos
e, looked at the count
and recognized him immediately. With the king's p