Foulques
II "le Bon" (Fulk the Good, Fulco Bonus) Foulques
II "le Bon" (Fulk the Good, Fulco Bonus)Foulques first appears in a charter of his father in 929, which also mentioned his mother Roscilla, her parents Garnier (Warnerius) and Tescenda, and Gui (Wido), son of the elder Foulques [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 203-4; see the page of Foulques I for more]. Foulques I was still living in August 941 when he and his son Foulques signed a charter [Signum domni Fulconis. Signum Fulconis filii ipsius, Mabille (1871), cv], and it was probably not long after that that Foulques II succeeded (since the career of the elder Foulques is documented from 886), but the exact date is not known, due to the difficulty of identifying which man was the count Fulco of charters during the 940's. After the death of duke Alain Barbetorte of Brittany in 952, Foulques married his widow, a sister of count Thibaut le Tricheur of Blois and Chartres, obtained the guardianship of his wife's son Drogo, and divided Brittany with Thibaut into spheres of influence, with Foulques taking the city of Nantes [Chron. Nantes, 107-8]. Foulques was still living in September 958, when he and Thibaut were present at an assembly of Breton leaders at Angers [Morice (1742) 1: 346-7], but was deceased by September 960, when his son Geoffroy appears as count [Latouche (1910), 161-2; see also Bachrach (1984), 115, n. 24].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Settipani's estimate of around 905 is probably not far off
[Settipani (1997), 226, n. 68].
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: September 958 × September 960.
See above. Mabille (1871), lxvii, states that the great and small
Chronicles of Tours place the death of Foulques in 958 [see RHF
9: 53 for the former]. Bachrach gives 22 July × September 960 as
the possible date of Geoffroy's accession [Bachrach (1984), 115,
n. 24], based on a twelfth century catalogue of the counts of
Anjou, which suggests that Geoffroy did not complete his 27th
year as count [For the catalogue, see Halphen (1906), 354-5
(Pièces justificatives #7)].
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father: Foulques I, d. after August 941, count of Anjou.
Mother: Roscille, d. after 929, daughter of Warnerius and Tescenda.
Spouses:
(1) Gerberge.
In two charters of 966 and one of 970, Geoffroy
Grisegonelle names his mother as Gerberga [Cart. S.-Aubin 1:4-7,
38-9, 268-9]. Medieval sources say nothing about her origin.
Various attempts have been made to conjecture her parentage.
Mabille (1871), lxiv-lxv, without offering a reason, suggested
that she may have been a sister of Boson II, count of Arles, and
daughter of Rotbold. Bachrach (1986) conjectured that she was a
daughter of Ratburn I, viscount of Vienne. The most common
conjecture would make her a daughter of count Geoffroy of
Gâtinais, which would explain both the Angevin connection to
Gâtinais and the appearance of the name Geoffroy in the family
among Gerberge's children [Chaume (1925), Settipani (1997)]. See
Settipani (1997), 226-230 for a detailed, but often conjectural,
discussion of the possibilities of Gerberge's origin.
(2) 952×8, NN,
sister of Thibaut "le Tricheur", count of Blois and
Chartres, and widow of Alain Barbetorte, d. 952, duke of
Brittany.
[Chron. Nantes, 107-8]
Children:
(by Gerberge)
Geoffroy I "Grisegonelle", d. 987, count
of Anjou.
In a charter of 970, count Gaufridus
mentions his father Fulco and mother Gerberga
[Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 38-9].
Guy, living 13 April 993 [Cart. S.-Chaffre, 69 (cxl, see below); Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 157 (ccccxviii)], d. 8 February 994×6 [died
during the reign of Hugues Capet: "... regnante domino
Hugone rege Francorum, foelix anima supradicti praesulis sexto
idus februarii migravit ex hac luce, ..." Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 158 (ccccxix)], abbot of Cormery, Villeloin, Ferrière, and
Saint-Aubin; bishop of Puy, 976-994×6.
He appears as abbot Wido, brother
of count Geoffroy in a charter of 966 [Cart. S.Aubin 1: 5]. In a
charter of 967×973 by "Widdo abbas ex monasterio Sancti
Pauli Cormaricense seu ex monasterio Sancti Salvatoris Villa Lupe
sub ejus patrocinio degente, necnon ex monasterio Sancti Petri
Ferrariensi atque ex monasterio Sancti Albini Andecavensi",
Guy mentions his avunculus Wid[d]o and his brother count
Gauzfredus of Anjou [Cart. S.-Aubin 1: 62-3]. The Chronicle of
Saint-Pierre du Puy mentions him as a brother of Geoffroy
Grisegonelle and of countess Adélaïde, wife of Étienne, and
uncle of Pons and Bertrand: "Fuit vir quidam, ex nobili
Francorum progenie ortus, Guido nomine, ..." [Chron.
S.-Pierre du Puy, 151 (ccccxi)] "..., cui
erat frater germanus nobilissimus comes Gaufridus, cognomento
Grisegonella. ... Hoc factum audientes Pontius et Bertrandus,
ejus nepotes, Aquitaniae clarissimi consules, cum matre eorum
Adalaide, sorore ipsius, ..." [ibid., 152 (ccccxii)]
"Suam igitur dispositionem suae sorori Adalaidae
comitissae suisque filiis, videlicet Pontio et Bertrando, ejus
nepotibus, ..., necnon Stephani sui cognati, Adelaidae sororis
eorumque filiorum, Pontii et Bertrandi, ..." [ibid.,
154 (ccccxv)]. The relationship with Pons and Bertrand is given
similarly in the cartulary of Saint-Chaffre ["isdem
episcopus ... Pontii comitis, nepotis sui, fratrisque ejus
Bertrandi..." (13 April 993), Cart. S. Chaffre, 69
(cxl)].
Adélaïde (or Aélis) alias Blanche;
m. (1) Étienne de Brioude (Gévaudan); (2) Raymond
de Toulouse; (3) Louis V de France; (4)
Guillaume II de Provence. (no fifth marriage to
Otte Guillaume of Burgundy)
The evidence for Adélaïde is closely tied to that for
her daughter Constance, wife of Robert II of France.
Unfortunately, I have not yet seen the account of Stasser (1997),
and the brief outline of some of the basic evidence given here
mostly follows Framond (1993) and Settipani (1997, 2004). The
Chronicle of Saint-Pierre du Puy states that countess Adélaïde was a sister of bishop Guy and of count
Geoffroy Grisegonelle, and that she was wife of Étienne and
mother of Pons and Bertrand (see above under her brother Guy).
Richer, a contemporary, states that on the suggestion of count Gozfredus
(i.e., Geoffroy Grisegonelle), king Louis V married Adelaidis,
formerly the wife of Ragemundus, the deceased dux
Gothorum, that they were divorced not long after that, and
that she later married William of Arles [Wilelmus Arelatensis,
Richer iii, 92-5, MGH SS 3: 627]. A charter of 1021 shows her as
the mother of count William of Toulouse ["Ego Adalax
divina favente gratia et filius meus Wilelmus Tolosanus et uxor
ejus, nurus mea, Emma comitissa ... cedimus ... aliquid de nostra
fiscali terra pro anima Wilelmi comitis defuncti."
Framond (1993), 472, citing Poly, Catalogue des actes des
comtes de Provence, #87]. The Saint-Aubin genealogies give Fulco
Bonus as the father of Blanca, mother of Constantia,
wife of king Robert [Poupardin (1900), 206-7]. Although
"Blanche" later appears as a separate name in its own
right, a letter of Pope Benedict VIII suggests that it was more
like an epithet ("cognomento Blanchae"; see,
e.g., "cognomento Grisegonella"
above for her brother Geoffroy) than a double name ["Sed
et seniori quam reverendo domno Willelmo comiti, necnon
praecipuae honitatis et dulcedinis domno Hugoni comiti, domnoque
Rainaldo comiti filio supranominati Willelmi, bonae quoque
indolis, ac totius affectu dilectionis amplectendo domno Ottoni
comiti; omni etiam reverentia et veneratione dignissime domnae
Adeleidi comitissae, cognomento Blanchae, nuruque ejus domnae
Gerberg[e] comitissae; ... et caeteris
principibus et optimatibus totius Burgundiae, Aquitaniae et
Provinciae ..." PL 139, 1603-4]. Gerberge was a
daughter of Otte-Guillaume of Burgundy and wife of Adélaïde's
son Guillaume of Provence (to be distinguished from his maternal
half-brother, Guillaume of Toulouse, Adélaïde's son by
Raymond), providing an adequate explanation of the term nurus
in this letter without trying to make Otte-Guillaume (who did
marry an otherwise unidentified Adélaïde as his second wife)
into a fifth husband of Adélaïde [suggested by Bouchard (1987),
270; see also Settipani (1997), 249 (following Bouchard);
Settipani (2004), 313, n. 2 (reversing his earlier opinion)].
Additional evidence comes from a number of sources, such as the
cartulary of Brioude, in which count Pons of Gévaudan mentions
his brothers Bertrand and Guillaume, and the miracles of St.
Fidis, where Guillaume of Toulouse is called a brother of the
Pons who was killed by a certain Artald [see Settipani (2004),
313, for the citations]. Much less likely, a number of sources
would make Adélaïde alias Blanche a sister of Foulques
Nerra instead, and thus a daughter of Geoffroy Grisegonelle
[e.g., an addition to one manuscript of Rodulfus Glaber (p. 57-8,
n. 11); see also Mabille (1871), lxxiii-lxxvi].
Probable additional daughter:
Adèle, m. Gautier I, count of Valois,
Vexin, and Amiens.
Gautier I of Valois/Vexin/Amiens and his
wife Adèle had children Gautier II, Gui (bishop of Soissons),
Raoul, Geoffroy, and Foulques. Based on the onomastic evidence of
the names Gui, Geoffroy, and Foulques, and the fact that Gui (son
of Foulques I) was the immediate predecessor of Gui (son of
Gautier) as bishop of Soissons, Grierson made the reasonable
suggestion that Adèle was a member of the family of counts of
Anjou, placing her as a possible daughter of Foulques I [Grierson
(1939), 107-8]. Although the relationship between the two
families is very likely, it is chronologically more probable that
Adèle was a daughter of Foulques II, a relationship which would
also more easily explain the appearance of the name Geoffroy
among the sons of Gautier I and Adèle. See Settipani (1997),
247-8.
See Commentary section for supposed additional children.
Supposed son (possibly an error for a stepson of that name):
Drogo/Dreux, bishop of Puy.
Gesta Consulum Andegavorum states
that he was a son born to Foulques late in life, and was
successor of his brother Gui as bishop of Puy ["tertius
minor Drogo dictus, à Fulcone nimis dilectus, quia eum in
senectute genuerat, peritia litterarum & artium liberalium
edoctus, benignitate Hugonis Regis in episcopatum Podii fratri
suo successit." Spicelegium 3: 246; see also Ex
Chronico Turorensi, RHF 9: 53]. For evidence that there was
no bishop of Puy of this name during this time, see Mabille
(1871), lxvi-lxvii. The eleventh century Saint-Aubin genealogies
give Drogo as a son of Foulques without any other details
[Poupardin (1900), 206]. Since Foulques had a stepson of this
name (Drogo, son of Foulques's second wife by her earlier
marriage with Alain Barbetorte), some confusion seems possible
here.
Falsely attributed sons
from later sources:
See Mabille (1871), lxv-lxvi.
Bouchard "le Vieux", count of
Paris, Corbeil, and Vendôme.
Humbert le Veneur.
Bachrach (1984) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility", Albion 16 (1984), 111-130.
Bachrach (1986) = Bernard S. Bachrach, "Some observations on the origins of countess Gerberga of the Angevins: an essay in the application of the Tellenbach-Werner prosopographical method", Medieval Prosopography 7, no. 2 (1986): 1-23.
Bouchard (1987) = Constance Brittain Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister - Nobility and the church in Burgundy, 980-1198 (Cornell University Press, 1987).
Cart. S.-Aubin = Bertrand de Broussillon, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Aubin d'Angers, 3 vols. (Angers, 1903).
Cart. S.-Chaffre = Cartularium monasterii Sancti Theofredi Calmiliensis Ordinis Sancti Benedicti (Cartulary of Saint-Chaffre du Monastier), Chevalier (1884), 1-150 (sections i-ccccx).
Chaume (1925) = Maurice Chaume, Les origines du duché de Bourgogne, 4 vols., (Dijon, 1925).
Chevalier (1884) = Ulysse Chevalier, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de St-Chaffre du Monastier, Ordre de Saint-Benoît, suivi de la Chronique de Saint-Pierre du Puy et d'un appendice de chartes (Paris, 1884), cited here separately as "Cart. S.-Chaffre" and "Chron. S.-Pierre du Puy".
Chron. Nantes = René Merlet, ed., La Chronique de Nantes (Paris, 1895).
Chron. S.-Pierre du Puy = Chronicon Sancti Petri Aniciensis (Chronicle of Saint-Pierre du Puy), Chevalier (1884), 151-166 (sections ccccxi-ccccxxviii).
Framond (1993) = Martin de Framond, "La succession des comtes de Toulouse autour de l'an mil (940-1030): reconsiderations", Annales du Midi 105 (1993): 461-488.
Grierson (1939) = Philip Grierson, "L'origin des comtes d'Amiens, Valois et Vexin", Le Moyen Age 49 (1939): 81-125.
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Latouche (1910) = Robert Latouche, Histoire de comté du Maine (Paris, 1910).
Mabille (1871) = Émile Mabille, Introduction au Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, vol. 155, Paris, 1871).
Morice (1742) = Dom Hyacinthe Morice, Memoires pour servir de preuves à l'histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne, 3 vols, (Paris, 1742).
Poupardin (1900) = René Poupardin, "Généalogies angevines du XIe siècle", Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire (Paris, Rome) 20 (1900):199-208.
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Rodulfus Glaber = Maurice Prou, ed., Raoul Glaber - les cinq livres de ses histoires (900-1044) (Paris, 1886).
Settipani (1997) = Christian Settipani, "Les comtes d'Anjou et leur alliances aux Xe et XIe siècles", in K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, ed., Family Trees and the Roots of Politics (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997): 211-267.
Settipani (2004) = Christian Settipani, La Noblesse du Midi Carolingien (Prosopographica et Genealogica, vol. 5, 2004).
Spicilegium = Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum ... (Paris, 1723).
Stasser (1997) = Thierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou. Sa famille, ses mariages, sa descendance", Le Moyen Age 103,1 (1997): 9-52. [Note: I have not yet had a chance to examine this article.]
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.
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