Fulk II, Count of Anjou

Fulk II of Anjou (c. 905 — 960), called le Bon ("the Good") was Count of Anjou from 942 to his death.[lower-alpha 1]

Fulk II of Anjou
Bornc. 905
Died960
Tours
Noble familyIngelger
Spouse(s)Gerberge
Widow of Alan II
FatherFulk I of Anjou
MotherRoscille de Lochar

Life

Fulk II born c. 905[1] was a son of Fulk the Red and his wife Roscilla de Loches, daughter of Warnerius, Seigneur de Villentrois.[2] He succeeded his father in 942 as the second count of Anjou,[3] and remained in power until 960.[4]

The Angevins, Fulk II included, had become particularly adept at establishing marriage alliances that furthered their goals.[5] His father, Fulk the Red had arranged his marriage to Gerberga, daughter[6] of Geoffrey of Nevers and Aba.[lower-alpha 2] Among other things, this alliance enabled Fulk to open the doors towards Aquitaine for his daughter, Adelaide-Blanche, to marry a future king of France (Aba was likely[7] a daughter of William I, Duke of Aquitaine, and Engelberga, thus of royal blood) and for his son Guy to become Bishop of le Puy.[8]

After Gerberga's death c. 952 Fulk made another astute political marriage to the widow of Alan II, Duke of Brittany. Alan II had also been Count of Nantes and through this marriage Fulk gained influence in, and possibly control of, Nantes.[9] His second wife was also the sister of Theobald I, Count of Blois which permitted Fulk II to form an alliance with the House of Blois.[8] He is said to have ordered the murder of Drogo, Duke of Brittany, Alan II's son with the latter according to the Chronique de Nantes.

Family

By his spouse Gerberge [10] Fulk II had several children:

Fulk II had no known issue with his second wife.

Death

Fulk died in 960.[11] He was succeeded by his son Geoffrey Greymantle.[2]

Notes
  1. Refer to Bernard S. Bachrach, "Fulk Nerra: Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040" (California, 1993) 261 and 262 for a useful genealogy of the Angevin comital line.
  2. The assumption of Bernard S. Bachrach, stating Gerberga was a daughter of Ratburnus I Viscount of Vienne is not consistent.

References
  1. K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Family Trees and the Root of Politics; A Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 1997), p. 255
  2. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 116
  3. Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328 (Hambledon Continuum, London & New York, 2007), p. 56
  4. Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993), p. 264
  5. Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. xi
  6. Christian Settipani, Les comtes d’Anjou et leurs alliances aux Xe et XIe siècles, Woodbridge, K.S.B. Keats-Rohan (ed.), Family trees and the Roots of Politics, 1997, p. 228-230
  7. Raphaël Bijard. "La construction de la Bourgogne Robertienne (936 - 1031)". Academia. p. 18-20, 47-50.
  8. Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 7
  9. Bernard S. Bachrach, 'The Idea of the Angevin Empire', Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter,1978), p. 295
  10. Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia By Constance Brittain Bouchard, p.23
  11. Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 261
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