View source for Fulk III, Count of Anjou

{{short description|11th-century Frankish nobleman}}
{{infobox nobility
| name = Fulk III, Count of Anjou
| image = Sceau de Foulques Nerra.jpg
| caption = Seal of Fulk III
| noble family = [[House of Ingelger]]
|issue=Adele of Vendome-Anjou<br>[[Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou]]<br>[[Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy]]
| father = [[Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou]]
| mother = [[Adele of Meaux|Adelaide of Vermandois]]
| spouse = Elisabeth of Vendôme<br>Hildegarde of Sundgau
| birth_name = Fulk Nerra
| birth_date = {{c.}} 970
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date|1040|6|21|df=y}} (aged 69–70)
| death_place = [[Metz]]
}}
'''Fulk III, the Black''' ({{c.}} 970–1040; {{langx|fro|Foulque Nerra}}) was an early [[Counts and dukes of Anjou|Count of Anjou]] celebrated as one of the first great builders of [[medieval castle]]s. It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles as well as abbeys throughout the [[Loire Valley]] in what is now France. He fought successive wars with neighbors in [[Brittany]], [[Blois]], [[Poitou]] and [[Aquitaine]] and made four [[pilgrimage]]s to [[Jerusalem]] during the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.
Fulk was a natural horseman and fearsome warrior with a keen sense of military strategy that bested most of his opponents. He was allied with the goals and aims of the [[Capetians]] against the dissipated [[Carolingians]] of his era. With his county seat at [[Angers]], Fulk's bitter enemy was [[Odo II of Blois]], his neighbor 128&nbsp;km east along the [[Loire]] river, at [[Tours]]. The two men traded towns, followers and insults throughout their lives.
Fulk finished his first castle at [[Château de Langeais|Langeais]], 104&nbsp;km east of Angers, on the banks of the Loire.{{sfn|Kennedy|1995|p=12}} Like many of his constructions, it began as a wooden tower, and was eventually replaced with a stone structure, fortified with exterior walls, and equipped with a thick-walled tower called a ''donjon'' in French (source of the English word "dungeon", which, however, implies a cellar rather than a tower). He built it in the territory of [[Odo I, Count of Blois]], and they fought a battle over it in 994. But Odo I died of a sudden illness, and his son and successor, Odo II, did not manage to evict Fulk.
Fulk continued building more towers in a slow encirclement of Tours: [[Montbazon]], Montrésor, Mirebeau, [[Montrichard]], [[Château de Loches|Loches]], and even the tower of Montboyau, erected just across the Loire from Tours in 1016. He also fortified the castles at [[Château d'Angers|Angers]], [[Château d'Amboise|Amboise]], Chateau-Gontier, [[Château de Chinon|Chinon]], [[Mayenne]] and [[Semblançay]], among many others. "The construction of castles for the purpose of extending a ruler's power was part of Fulk ''Nerra''{{'s}} strategy," wrote Peter Fraser Purton, in ''A History of Medieval Siege, c. 450–1220''.
Fulk was also a devout Christian who built, enlarged or endowed several abbeys and monasteries, such as the Abbey of [[Beaulieu-lès-Loches]], Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Saint-Aubin, and a convent, Notre Dame de la Charité, at Ronceray in Angers. Although he never learned to write, he endowed a school with revenue to provide poor students with an education. Fulk also undertook four [[pilgrimage]]s to Jerusalem.
== Family ==
Fulk was the son of [[Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey I of Anjou]], also known as Geoffrey ''Grisegonelle'', and [[Adele of Meaux]],{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=262}} daughter of [[Robert of Vermandois]], Count of Meaux and Troyes, and Adelaide of Burgundy. He had an older sister, [[Ermengarde-Gerberga of Anjou]], who married [[Conan I of Rennes|Conan of Brittany]], and a younger brother, Geoffrey.{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=262}} A half-brother, Maurice, was born in 980.{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=14}}
Fulk married Elisabeth of Vendôme (c. 979–999), daughter of Count Bouchard of Vendôme,{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=16}} and they had one daughter, Adèle,{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=262}} who married Bodon, son of Landry, [[Count of Nevers]]. Their eldest son, Bouchard, inherited Vendôme. Elisabeth's death was recounted in the ''Chronicles of Saint-Florent'': Elisabeth occupied the citadel at Angers with some supporters and while under siege from Fulk, she fell from a great height, and then was burnt at the stake for [[adultery]].{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=76}}
Fulk subsequently married Hildegarde of [[Sundgau]], whose family was from [[Lorraine]], around December 1005.{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=100}} They had two children:
*[[Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey II]], in 1006,{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=102–103}} who became known as Geoffrey Martel and succeeded Fulk as [[Count of Anjou]] in 1040.{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=253}}
*[[Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy|Ermengarde-Blanche]], born sometime in 1017.{{sfn|Bachrach|1993|p=262}}
== Combat ==
Fulk Nerra's first victory was in June 992 at the [[Battle of Conquereuil]], where he managed to defeat [[Conan I of Rennes|Conan I, Duke of Brittany]]. Conan's territorial ambitions had been quashed by Geoffroy Grisgonelle in 980, and seven years later, he planned an ambush on Angers while Fulk was attending the crowning of [[Robert the Pious]]. Fulk and his men foiled the ambush, killing Conan's son, Alain, in the process. In 992 Fulk laid siege to Conan's castle at [[Nantes]], but he slipped away to [[Conquereuil]]. Conan was killed in the subsequent battle, and Fulk installed a governor/regent, as the succeeding count was a child.
While Fulk and Odo II fought many skirmishes over territory and alliances, their biggest battle occurred in July 1016 at the [[Battle of Pontlevoy]]. Odo marched 10,000 men southward toward Fulk's tower at Montboyau; meanwhile, Fulk and his much smaller group attacked him from behind. Fulk's men were routed, retreated, and Odo, thinking the battle won, went for a swim in the [[Cher River]]. Reinforcements led by [[Herbert I, Count of Maine|Count Herbert Wake-Dog of Maine]] arrived to help Fulk, routing Odo's surprised men. Several thousand were reported killed.<ref>Christian Thevenot, ''Foulque Nerra'', Editions Alan Sutton, St. Cyr-sur-Loire, 2009</ref>
== Pilgrimages ==
Fulk also undertook four pilgrimages to Jerusalem—the first and second as a penitent seeking forgiveness for sins, and the third and fourth to protect pilgrims. In 1003, Fulk traveled to Jerusalem for his first pilgrimage. The voyage crossed the Alps at the Grand Bernard Pass in present-day Switzerland, then overland to Bari in the southern Italian peninsula (a stop in Rome was usually made) and by ship to the Holy Land. The journey took as long as six months, through deeply dangerous territory.<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''The Age of Pilgrimage, The Medieval Journey to God'', Paulist Press, 2003</ref>
Fulk made a second pilgrimage in 1008, obliged to do so by the king as punishment after Fulk ordered the murder of an enemy. For his third and fourth trips, Fulk had a moral obligation to protect pilgrims in the years following the desecration of Jerusalem by the "Mad Caliph" [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]], and provided armed security against robbers, murderers and enslavers along the route. In 1035, he embarked upon a third pilgrimage with [[Robert I, Duke of Normandy]], and in 1038, he made his final pilgrimage. He died in [[Metz]] in 1040 on his return from that trip, and was buried in the chapel of his monastery at [[Beaulieu-lès-Loches|Beaulieu]].
[[Image:ChristianBauer Chateau de Loches dungeon.jpg|thumb|200px|Fulk ''Nerra''{{'s}} castle keep at [[Loches]]]]
== Succession ==
His son Geoffrey II (Geoffrey Martel) succeeded him as Count of Anjou in 1040 and held the title until 1060. Since he had no living male children from either of his two marriages, the title to Anjou passed to his nephews, the two sons of his sister Ermengarde-Blanche (m. Geoffroy V of Château-Landon), upon his death. [[Geoffrey III, Count of Anjou|Geoffroy III ''Le Barbu'' (the Bearded)]] was Count of Anjou from 1060 to 1068; [[Fulk IV, Count of Anjou|Fulk IV Réchin (the Mouth)]] was count from 1068 to 1109. Fulk IV's grandson, [[Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey Plantagenet]], married [[Empress Matilda|Matilda]], heir to the English throne, and began the [[House of Plantagenet]] line of English kings.
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== Sources ==
*{{cite book |first=Bernard S. |last=Bachrach |authorlink=Bernard Bachrach |title=Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987–1040 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1993}}
*{{cite book |first=Hugh |last=Kennedy |author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy |title=Crusader Castles |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995}}
{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey Grisegonelle]]
| title = [[Count of Anjou]]
| years = 987–1040
| after = [[Geoffrey Martel]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulk 03 Anjou}}
[[Category:970s births]]
[[Category:1040 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Ingelger]]
[[Category:Counts of Anjou]]
[[Category:10th-century French nobility]]