Geoffrey III, Count of Anjou

File:Geoffrey3Anjou.jpg

Geoffrey III

Template:Campaignox Breton-Norman War Geoffrey III of Anjou (in French Geoffroy III d' Anjou) (c. 1040–1096), called le Barbu ("the Bearded"), was the Count of Anjou 1060–68.

Early life

Geoffrey, born Template:Circa, was the eldest son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais and Ermengarde of Anjou, the daughter of Fulk III of Anjou.<ref name="ESII82">Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 82</ref><ref name="JB27">Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 27</ref> Both he and his younger brother Fulk, called le Réchin, were taken under the wing of their uncle, Geoffrey Martel and both were knighted by him in 1060. Although well treated by his uncle, it is thought that Geoffrey Martel preferred his younger nephew, Fulk, but nonetheless left the countship to Geoffrey.<ref>W. Scott Jesse, Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, c.1025-1098 (Catholic University of America Press, 2000), p. 54</ref> Geoffrey III would serve as Count of Anjou until the Countship was taken from him by his brother, Fulk.<ref name="JB27"/>

Military career

He succeeded his uncle Geoffrey Martel in 1060, but it shortly became clear to his vassals he was not nearly as competent as his uncle had been.<ref>W. Scott Jesse, Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, c.1025-1098 (Catholic University of America Press, 2000), p. 55</ref> He had given his younger brother Fulk Saintonge as an appanage but in 1062, when it was attacked by Count Guy-Geoffrey of Poitou (aka William VIII), Geoffrey failed to come to Fulk's support and Saintonge was lost.<ref name="HT75">Henk Teunis, The Appeal to the Original Status: Social Justice in Anjou in the Eleventh Century (Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2006), p. 75</ref> In 1063 the county of Maine was lost to Anjou as well.<ref name="HT75"/> In 1064 Geoffrey failed to come to the aid of one of his vassals, Rainaldus of Chateau-Gontier,<ref group=lower-alpha>See Renaud Ier de Château-Gontier (French Wikipedia)</ref> who was captured by the Bretons.<ref group=lower-alpha>These were the bretons who comprised the army of Conan II, Duke of Brittany, who died at Château-Gontier after the battle, possibly due to poisoning.</ref><ref>Henk Teunis, The Appeal to the Original Status: Social Justice in Anjou in the Eleventh Century (Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2006), p. 76</ref> In 1065 Geoffrey alienated Archbishop Barthelemy by trying to force his own choice for Bishop of Le Mans on the church.<ref name="RBCA61">W. Scott Jesse, Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, c.1025-1098 (Catholic University of America Press, 2000), p. 61</ref> In turn the archbishop excommunicated Geoffrey.<ref name="RBCA61"/>

As the situation in Anjou deteriorated Fulk IV quarreled with his brother Geoffrey.<ref name="JB27"/> In 1067 Fulk rebelled and took the county from Geoffrey, briefly imprisoning him.<ref name="JB27"/> In 1068 Geoffrey attacked Fulk, and once again was defeated. This time Geoffrey was imprisoned where he remained for 28 years.<ref>Jim Bradbury, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare (Routledge, London, 2005) p. 38</ref> He was finally freed by the intervention of Pope Urban II in 1096, but died soon after.<ref>Jim Bradbury, 'Fulk le Réchin and the Origin of the Plantagenets', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, Ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, 1989), p. 37</ref>

Family

He married Julienne de Langeais before 1060. She died after 7 August 1067. They had no issue.<ref name="ESII82"/><ref>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 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1997), p. 257</ref>

Geoffrey and Fulk's sister, Hildegarde married Joscelin I, Lord of Courtenay and had issue.<ref>Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 4 (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1989), Tafel 629</ref>