Fulk II, Count of Anjou

Fulk II of Anjou (Template:Circa 905 – 960), called Template:Lang ("the Good"), was Count of Anjou from 942 to his death.<ref group=lower-alpha>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.</ref>

Life

Fulk II, born Template:Circa,<ref name="FTRP255">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</ref> was a son of Fulk the Red and his wife Roscilla de Loches, daughter of Warnerius, Seigneur de Villentrois.<ref name="ESIII1-116">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</ref> He succeeded his father in 942 as the second Count of Anjou,<ref>Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328 (Hambledon Continuum, London & New York, 2007), p. 56</ref> and remained in power until 960.<ref>Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993), p. 264</ref>

By this time, the Angevins, Fulk II included, had become particularly adept at establishing marriage alliances that furthered their goals.<ref>Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. xi</ref> His father, Fulk the Red, had arranged his marriage to Gerberga, daughter<ref>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</ref> of Geoffrey of Nevers and Aba.<ref group=lower-alpha>The assumption of Bernard S. Bachrach, stating Gerberga was a daughter of Ratburnus I, Viscount of Vienne, is not consistent.</ref> 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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="FN7">Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 7</ref>

After Gerberga's death Template:Circa, 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.<ref>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</ref> 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.<ref name="FN7"/> 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,<ref>Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia By Constance Brittain Bouchard, p.23</ref> Fulk II had several children:

• Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, married four or five times.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>
• Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou, married Adelaide of Vermandois.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>
• Bouchard, Count of Vendome.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>
• Guy of Anjou, Bishop of le Puy.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>
• Humbert d'Anjou, mentioned 957.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>

Fulk II had no known issue with his second wife.

Death

Fulk died in 960.<ref>Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993), p. 261</ref> He was succeeded by his son Geoffrey Greymantle.<ref name="ESIII1-116"/>