Geoffroy
(III) Geoffroy
(III)Geoffroy appeared in a charter of Franco, bishop of Paris, dated 26 May 1028, at which time he and his full brother Liétaud were called the heirs of their maternal half-brother Aubry, count of Gâtinais [see discussion below]. At some point after that, he succeeded as count of Gâtinais (Château-Landon). He was evidently still living in 1042, and deceased by 1045. His marriage to Ermengarde, the heiress of Anjou, led to the acquisition of Anjou by his sons, making him a direct male-line ancestor of the "Plantagenet" dynasty. For "Férreol" as a possible nickname of Geoffroy, see below under his possible daughter who married Joscelin I de Courtenay. Because of different interpretations of the evidence, there is no "standard" numbering of the counts of Gâtinais named Geoffroy. The numbering here follows the outline of Settipani (1997), 233-4.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 30 April 1042×5.
The date of 30 April (ii kal. May, no year) is given both in a
charter of 1060×8, in which Geoffroy III le Barbu gave a
donation for the soul of his uncle and predecessor Geoffroy and
his father Geoffroy ["Ipsi vero constitutum habent pro
isto beneficio annis singulis facere anniversarium patris mei
Gaufridi quod est II kalendas maii, non minus diligenter quam
abbatum suorum anniversaria", Halphen (1906), 134, 303;
Estournet, 124], and the obituary of Saint-Serge give the same
date [Halphen (1906), 134]. Assuming that the statement of his
son Foulques that he was aged 17 in 1060 is correct, Foulques was
born in 1042 or 1043. As I see no good reason to rule out the
possibility that Foulques was posthumous, I have allowed for a
date as early as 1042 [as opposed to 1043×5, Saint-Phalle
(2000), 236; Settipani (2000), 254]. An act in the cartulary of
Notre-Dame du Ronceray shows that Ermengarde was already widowed
before the death of her mother Hildegarde on 1 April 1046,
placing Geoffroy's death on 30 April 1045 or earlier. [Halphen
(1906), 293 (act #169); Guillot (1972), 1: 102; Saint-Phalle
(2000), 236; Settipani (2000), 254]
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father:
Hugues du Perche.
A charter of Franco, bishop of Paris, dated
26 May 1028 (and quoted in full below), mentions count Aubry of
Gâtinais (son of a deceased count Geoffroy of Gâtinais) and his
two brothers and heirs Geoffroy and Letaud, sons of an otherwise
unidentified Hugues du Perche. This younger Geoffroy was almost
certainly the same man as the later count Geoffroy of Gâtinais
who was father of the Angevin counts Geoffroy III and Foulques
IV, as is discussed in detail in the Commentary section below.
Further identification of this Hugues du Perche would require
additional discussion which is not attempted here [see Estournet
(1928), Settipani (1997, 2000), Saint-Phalle (2000) for some
conjectures on the ancestry of Hugues du Perche].
Mother: Béatrix, daughter of Aubry II, count of Mâcon, and widow of Geoffroy (II),
count of Gâtianis.
[Poupardin (1900), 208; see discussion
below]
Spouse:
Ermengarde, d. 1076, heiress of Anjou. She m. (2) Robert I, d. 1076, duke of Burgundy.
Children:
Numerous sources verify that Geoffroy III and Foulques IV were
brothers, and maternal grandsons of Foulques III
"Nerra" (see below and on the page for Ermengarde). See the Commentary section
for the identity of the father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV.
Geoffroy III "le Barbu", d.
aft. 1096, count of Gâtinais, before 1060-1068; count of Anjou,
1060-1068, imprisoned by his brother, 1068-1096 [see Halphen (1906), 147-8]; m.
before 1060 [Halphen (1906), 290 (act
#158)], Julienne, living
10 August 1067 [Halphen (1906), 298 (act
#186)], daughter of Hamelin,
lord of Langeais [see Halphen (1906), 135]. A charter
(1052×1060) of Landeric, abbot of Saint-Pierre de Chartres,
shows that he was already count of Gâtinais before the death of
his uncle Geoffroy Martel of Anjou ["... Notum esse
volumus, tam presentibus quam futuris sancte Dei ecclesie
cultoribus, quoniam adii presentiam Gausfridi, Andegavorum
comitis, aput eum querimoniam de ejus nepote Gausfrido,
territorii scilicet Guastinensis comite, ...", Devaux
(1885), 82-3]
Foulques IV "le
Réchin", b. 1042×3, d.
1109, count of Anjou, 1068-1109.
Possible additional child:
NN, m. Joscelin I de Courtenay.
Joscelin de Courtenay is said to have
married a daughter of a count Geoffroy Férreol ["Joscelinus
[de Cortinaco] desponsavit filiam comitis Gaufridi
Foërole", Ex Continuatione Aimoni, RHF 11-
276]. The use of Férreol as a nickname of this Geoffroy of
Gâtianis comes from a gloss to Gesta Consulum Andegavorum
["Isti du, scilicet Gofridus Barbatus & Fulco Richin
fuerunt filii Gofridi Foerole illustris viri de Gastinensio &
Lundonensio, orti ex sorore Martelli praedicti." This
gloss to Spicilegium 3, p. 258 appears on an unnumbered page in
the introduction of Spicilegium, vol. 3, on the page immediately
preceding page 1]. The name of this supposed daughter appears as
"Hildegarde" in late sources [e.g., Anselme 1: 527; 6:
13], suggesting confusion with the Ermengarde's daughter of that
name by her second husband Robert of Burgundy (see the page on Ermengarde). Thus, if it is the case that count Geoffroy Férreol
is to be identified with count Geoffroy of Gâtianis, there does
not appear to be any evidence assigning a name to the daughter
who married Joscelin de Courtenay.
Other connections (see the Commentary section for details):
Mother's first husband: Geoffroy (II), d. 991×7, count of
Gâtinais, before 979-991×7, m. Béatrix de Mâcon.
Sometimes incorrectly identified as the
father of the present count Geoffroy. For his chronology, see
Settipani (1997), 233.
Half-brother through
his mother: Aubry (Albericus),
d. 1028×1030, count of Gâtinais, after 997-1028×1030, son of Geoffroy (d. 991×7) and Béatrix.
He was count of Château-Landon (Gâtinais)
on 26 May 1028, when a charter of Franco, bishop of Paris,
mentions him, his father Gosfredus (deceased), and his
two maternal half-brothers and heirs Gosfredus and Letaldus,
sons of Hugo of Perche, and he is briefly mentioned at
about the same time by André de Fleury's Vita Gauzlini,
which records his donation of lands situated in the region
of Auxerre to the abbey of Fleury ["Albericus, comes
Nandonensium, sui juris alodum, in Altissioderensi territorio
situm, Dei genitricis Mariæ plene devotionis largitus est
munere." Vita Gauzlini, c. 29 (pp. 72-3)]. Around 1030, Béatrix donated to the abbey of Fleury
as "countess" [ibid.], suggesting that Aubry was
deceased by that time [see Devaux (1892), 257; Estournet (1928),
121; Settipani (1997), 255]. He is sometimes incorrectly
identified as the full brother of the present count Geoffroy, and
sometimes incorrectly combined with the present Geoffroy into a
supposed count Aubry/Geoffroy of Gâtinais [see discussion
below].
(Full) brother: Liétaud (Letaldus),
living 26 May 1028, lord of Yevre, viscount of Gâtinais.
See Estournet (1928) for his descendants.
The parentage of Geoffroy III le Barbu and Foulques IV le Réchin of Anjou
Although the medieval sources agree that the father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV was a count of Gâtinais (or of Château-Landon, the main stronghold of the region), they disagree in giving his name as either Aubry (Albericus) or Geoffroy (Gaufridus, Gosfredus, etc.). Several twelfth century sources, for example Orderic Vitalis [iii, 6; iv, 13], Chronicon Sancti Maxentii Pictavensis [s.a. 1060, Marchegay & Mabille (1869), 402], and Hugh of Fleury [RHF 12: 797] name the father as Albericus [see Watson (1897), 1-2, for quotes from these sources and others]. Most early authors follow these twelfth century sources in making the father a count Aubry of Gâtinais.
However, contemporary sources prove clearly that the father's name was Geoffroy. In addition to the act of Geoffroy le Barbu already mentioned above which names his father as Geoffroy, Foulques le Réchin names his parents as Gauffridus and Ermengardis in a donation of 1074×6 [Halphen (1906), 134, 310-1 (act #232)]. The fragment of Angevin history claiming to have been written by Foulques IV in his twenty-eighth year begins "Ego Fulco Comes Andegavensis, qui filius fui Gofridi de Castrolandono & Ermengardis filiae Fulconis Comitis Andegavensis, & nepos Gofridi Martelli, qui fuit filius ejusdem avi mei Fulconis & frater matris meae, cum tenuissem Consulatum Andegavinum vifinti octo annis ..." [Spicilegium 3: 232]. Of great importance are the Saint-Aubin genealogies, evidently composed during the reign of Foulques IV le Réchin, which not only give the name of the father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV, but provide his maternal ancestry: "Letaldus comes Vesconsiosis (et Umbertus comes Matisconiensis fratres fuerunt ...); ex Letaldo Albericus natus est; ex Alberico Beatrix; ex Beatrice Gosfridus comes de Castello Landonensi. Ex Gaufrido Gaufridus et Fulco presens." [Poupardin (1900), 208; see the table below]
Thus, the father of Geoffroy le Barbu and Foulques le Réchin was a count Geoffroy of Gâtinais, and this brings up the problem of how to reconcile the various statements that the father's name was Aubry. We first need to examine the earlier counts of Gâtinais more closely.
The parentage of count Geoffroy of Gâtinais
In addition to the above sources, there are two records from a slightly earlier period which mention counts of Gâtinais (or Château-Landon) in a genealogical context. First, there is a letter of Abbo of Fleury written in 997 to Pope Gregory V, which complained that Qauz[-], nepos of count Wal[-] of Château-Landon (who was then at Rome), was ravaging church lands ["... Est quidem Qauz, nepos Wal comitis de castro Nantonis, qui devastat possessiones nostri monasterii; de quo precor ut cum ipso Wal, qui nunc Romae est, loquamini, minando contra ejus nepotem virgam excommunicationis nisi resipuerit, si inveni gratiam in oculis vestris; ..." PL 139: 421]. The two names were abbreviated, but are generally interpreted as Walterius (Gautier) and Q[u]auzfridus (Geoffroy). While this record is of major interest in trying to determine the succession of the counts of Gâtinais, it will not be of immediate relevance in determining the parentage of Geoffroy.
Of more importance is the following charter of bishop Franco
of Paris, dated 26 May 1028 (with the most important parts
emphasized in bold face):
In nomine regis eterni. Ego Franco, annuente Dei clementia,
Parisiorum humilis episcopus. Notum fieri volumus tam presenti
aetati quam future posteritati, quia domus Rainaldus episcopus,
noster predecessor, dedit quasdam villas, inconsulte et absque
consilio regalis potestatis, de mensa Episcopi, videlicet Buxas
et Scabiosas, sitas in comitatu Gastinensi,
Gofrido, comiti Landonensis castri; quod et
factum est pro nulla utilitate ecclesie, sed propter
guerram et discordiam que tunc temporis erat inter patrem suum
nomine Burchardum, et comitem Odonem, quod ita
longo tempore permancit. Postea vero, auxiliante Domino nostro
atque genetrice ejus Maria, necnon patrocinante juvamine domini
nostri piisimi regis Reberti atque Constantie, ejus conjugis,
nobilissime regine, et per nostram apud eos humilem
deprecationem, talis facta est conventio inter nos et Albericum,
illius supradicti Gosfredi filium et heredem, et insuper
faventibus fratribus ipsius Alberici, filiis Hugonis Pertice,
scilicet Gosfredo et Letoldo, quia unam ex
ipsis potestatibus, nomine Scabiosas, cum ecclesia que est in
illa villa, reddiderunt; alteram vero ecclesiam, que est in villa
que dicitur Buxas, similiter reddiderunt, ea videlicet ratione
ut, quamdiu Adraldus clericus advixerit, eamdem ecclesiam teneat
nobisque censum de ea reddat, et post ejus ad hac vita discessum,
ad jus Sancte Marie et nostrum redeat. Cetera autem ad easdem
villas pertinentia, ipsi Alberico et duobus
heredibus ejus per manus firmitatem concedimus;
eo videlicet tenore ut omni anno, in festivitate Sancte Marie,
que est VI idus septembris, in censum x solidos denariorum ad
mensam nostram persolvant. Quod si inde negligentes apparuerint,
legaliter emendent et minime perdant. Ut autem hec manus firmitas
vigorem per omnia teneat, auctoritate domini nostri regis et
regine atque prolis eorum, manu propria eam firmavimus,
fidelibusque nostris clericis et laicis corrobandam tradidimus.
Actum apud monasterium Kalas, VII kal. junii, regnante
serenissimo rege Rotberto anno XXXo, Henrico autem ejus filio
IIo, S. Rotberti regis, S. Henrici regis, S. Constantie regine,
S. Rotberti ejus filii, S. Franconis episcopi, S. Gosfredi
decani, S. Obrici archidiaconi, S. Lisiermi archidiaconi, S.
Alberti archidiaconi ..., S. Waleranni comitis, S. Dragonis
comitis ... Harduinus scripsit atque recensuit vice Lantberti
cancellarii.
[See e.g., Devaux (1885), 81-2 (Pièces justificatives II,
quoted here); Watson (1897), 4 (minor differences, none
important); for the date of 1028 (as opposed to 1026), see
Estournet (1928), 122]
Thus, we see that during the war between the counts Bouchard of Vendôme and Eudes of Blois (i.e., 991 [see Lex (1892), 64-72]), the count of Gâtinais was a count Geoffroy, probably to be identified with the Geoffroy who was count in 979 and 984 [see Settipani (1997), 233], and that in 1028, his son and heir was a certain count Aubry, whose brothers (by the same mother) Geoffroy and Liétaud, sons of Hugues du Perche, were his heirs. Our main raw data can be outlined in tabular form as follows.
Although the sources do not explicitly identify the woman ("NN" in the above table) who married both Geoffroy of Château-Landon (Gâtinais) and Hugues du Perche with Béatrix de Mâcon, it is not difficult to see that there is no other reasonable possibility. Béatrix's son Geoffroy had to be living in the early 1040's in order to be the father of Foulques IV, so her son Geoffroy was not the count who died before 1028, and her husband could not have been count Aubry, since he had no children in 1028 (his half-brothers were his heirs) and any hypothetical child of his born after 1028 would be too young to be the father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV of Anjou. Thus, the chronology, along with the obvious onomastic observation that "NN" had sons named Aubry and Liétaud, while Béatrix had a father and grandfather with the same names, clinches the identification. This leads to several alternatives:
Scenario 1: The twelfth century sources are correct in
making Aubry and not Geoffroy the father of Geoffroy III and
Foulques IV of Anjou.
This scenario was widely assumed by earlier authors who were not
aware of the above charter evidence [e.g., Devaux (1885, 1892)],
but has now been generally abandoned.
Scenario 2: Counts Aubry and Geoffroy of Gâtinais
were the same person, a count with the double name
Aubry-Geoffroy.
This was the theory adopted by Watson (1897) [p. 3, attributing
the suggestion to Ménage, Histoire de Sablé (17th
century)]. Arguments which attempt to explain away inconvenient
contradictions by identifying people with different names need to
be treated with great caution, and it is unlikely that Aubry
would use his younger brother's name as a second name.
Furthermore, Béatrix is mentioned in Vita Gauzlini
acting as countess of Château-Landon in 1030 or not long before,
indicating that Aubry was probably deceased by that time, too
early to be the father of Foulques IV [see Settipani (1997),
233-4]. Although this record does not conclusively prove that
Aubry was deceased by 1030, it gives further evidence against an
already weak theory. To accept this identification, one has to
argue that Aubry was still living in the 1040's, and that Aubry
used the name of his younger half-brother, based on no than the
fact that sources of a century later conflict with the
contemporary evidence. It is much more likley that this conflict
is due to the confusion of two brothers, both counts of
Gâtinais, one the uncle and the other the father of Geoffroy III
and Foulques IV of Anjou.
Scenario 3: Geoffroy was a full brother of count
Aubry.
This scenario directly contradicts the 1028 charter of bishop
Franco, which makes Geoffroy and Liétaud maternal half-brothers
of Aubry. Indeed, those who propose this scenario (or at least
appear to do so) do not explain the evidence for their
conclusions. Louis Halphen simply mentions Geoffroy and Liétaud
as brothers of Aubry, without giving their parentage or
mentioning that the charter only made them maternal half-brothers
[Halphen (1906), 134]. It may be that Halphen was simply trying
to avoid discussing the problem of the parentage of Geoffroy of
Gâtinais as not being relevant to his discussion, but the
resulting statement is certainly misleading. In direct
contradiction to the charter of 1028, Maurice Chaume makes Aubry
and Geoffroy sons of Béatrix by her first marriage to Geoffroy
of Gâtinais and Liétaud a son of Hugues du Perche [Chaume
(1925), 533]. Constance Bouchard makes both Aubry (Alberic) and
Geoffroy the sons of Geoffroy of Château-Landon and Béatrix of
Mâcon in a table [Bouchard (1981), 511 (Figure 2)]. When the
evidence is cited later in the same article, she states that
Béatrix was married to the lord of Château-Landon and was the
father of the present Geoffroy, without mentioning the second
marriage of Béatrix, thus encouraging the same conclusion as the
table [ibid., 518: the father of Béatrix's sons is not
explicitly identified on this page]. Bernard Bachrach makes
Geoffroy of Gâtinais a son of Geoffroy [Bachrach (1993), 264]
and of Béatrix [ibid., 201], but his table does not include
Aubry, so it is not clear whether he is suggesting Scenario 2 or
Scenario 3. Since no good reasons appear to have been offered for
contradicting the charter of 1028, there is no good reason to
accept this scenario.
Scenario 4: The father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV
was a count Aubry-Geoffroy, brother of count Aubry, and maternal
half-brother of Geoffroy and Liétaud.
This suggestion [Moriarty (1945)] multiplies individuals without
any good evidence, and is the result of carelessly combining the
scenarios given in Watson (1897) and Chaume (1925), evidently
without noticing that these were two contradictory
interpretations based on the same evidence. This scenario can be
discarded without hesitation.
Scenario 5: Geoffroy was a son of Hugues du Perche and
(eventually) succeeded his maternal half brother Aubry as count
of Gâtinais.
This scenario was evidently first suggested by Estournet (1928),
and it appears to have been overlooked by both Bouchard (1981)
and Bachrach (1993), neither of whom cite Estournet's article.
More recently, this theory has been revived and persuasively
argued in work by Settipani (1997, 2000) and Saint-Phalle (2000).
This scenario assumes that the Geoffroy who was named in 1028 as
one of the two heirs of his maternal half-brother count Aubry of
Gâtinais was the same person as the count Geoffroy who was the
father of Geoffroy III and Foulques IV of Anjou. Indeed, if one
rejects the unlikely theory that Aubry and Geoffroy were the same
person, then it is difficult to see who else count Geoffroy of
Gâtinais could be, as it is clear from the chronology that he
had to be living in 1028 (in order to be the father of both
Geoffroy III and Foulques IV). The principal objection that could
be advanced against this scenario is that the
"succession" to Gâtinais would then appear irregular
to modern eyes (assuming that the claim to Gâtinais came through
Aubry's father). However, there is no need to apply
"modern" standards to when we have clear contemporary
evidence that Aubry's heirs were his two maternal half-brothers.
For that reason, I see no need to strengthen the argument by
making Geoffroy a lineal descendant of earlier counts of
Gâtinais through various conjectures [as is attempted in
Saint-Phalle (2000) and Settipani (2000)]. The facts that
Geoffroy was a half-brother of the previous count and a
son-in-law of the powerful count of Anjou seem to be a good
enough claim in an age when there were still no clear
"rules" for hereditary succession. Thus, the most
natural interpretation of the evidence is that count Aubry of
Gâtianis was followed as count by his maternal half-brother
Geoffroy who was named as one his heirs in the 1028 charter of
bishop Franco of Paris.
Anselme = Père Anselme, Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, 9 vols. (Paris, 1726-33).
Bachrach (1993) = B. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, 1993).
Ballu (1890) = C. Ballu, "De la suzeraineté des comtes d'Anjou sur le Gâtinais", Annales de la Société Historique & Archéologique du Gâtinais 8 (1890): 157-182.
Bouchard (1981) = Constance B. Bouchard, "The Origins of the French Nobility: A Reassessment", The American Historical Review 86 (1981): 501-532.
Chaume (1925) = Maurice Chaume, Les origines du duché de Bourgogne, (vol. 1, Dijon, 1925).
Devaux (1885) = J. Devaux, "Étude chronologique sur les comtes de Gâtinais", Annales de la Société Historique & Archéologique du Gâtinais 3 (1885): 55-83.
Devaux (1892) = J. Devaux, "Origines Gâtinaises" (parts I & II), Annales de la Société Historique & Archéologique du Gâtinais 10 (1892): 241-260.
Estournet (1928) = "Les origines historiques de Nemours et sa charte de franchises (1170)" (parts I-III), Annales de la Société Historique & Archéologique du Gâtinais 39 (1928): 105-158.
Guillot (1972) = Olivier Guillot, Le Comte d'Anjou et son entourage au XIe siècle (Paris, 1972).
Halphen (1906) = Louis Halphen, Le comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906).
Lex (1892) = Léonce Lex, Eudes, comte de Blois, de Tours, de Chartres, de Troyes et de Meaux (995-1037) et Thibaud, son frère (995-1004) (Troyes, 1892).
Mabille (1871) = Émile Mabille, Introduction au Chroniques des Comtes d'Anjou (Société de l'Histoire de France, vol. 155, Paris, 1871).
Moriarty (1945) = G. Andrews Moriarty, "The Origin of the Plantagenets", New England Historical and Genealogical Register 99 (1945): 34-7.
PL = P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, series Latina, 221 vols. (Paris, 1844-1859).
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.
Saint-Phalle (2000) = Edouard de Saint-Phalle, "Les comtes de Gâtinais aux Xe et XIe siècles", in Keats-Rohan & Settipani, eds., Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval (Oxford, 2000).
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 (2000) = Christian Settipani, "Les vicomtes de Châteaudun et leur alliés", in Keats-Rohan & Settipani, eds., Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval (Oxford, 2000), 247-261.
Spicilegium = Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium sive collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliæ bibliothecis delituerant, 3 vols. in folio (Paris, 1723).
Vita Gauzlini = Robert-Henri Bautier & Gillette Labory, ed. & trans., André de Fleury, Vie de Gauzlin, abbé de Fleury (Vita Gauzlini abbatis Floriacensis monasterii) (Paris, 1969). Edited previously by Léopold Delisle, "Vie de Gauzlin, abbé de Fleuri et archevèque de Bourges, par André de Fleuri", Mémoires de la Société Archéologique de l'Orléanais 2 (1853): 257-322.
Watson (1897) = G. W.Watson, "The ascendants of Geoffrey Plantagenet", The Genealogist, n.s. 13 (1897): 1-10.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 11 May 2006.
Minor revision uploaded 24 April 2008.
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