man Fulk III of "'the Black', Foulgues d'Anjou" Anjou, Count of Anjou‏‎, son of Geoffrey of "Senechal of France" Anjou, Count d'Anjou and Adelaide of Vermandois, Countess of Vermandois‏.
Born ‎ Jun 21, 967 at , died ‎ Jun 21, 1040 at Jerusalem, Israel‎, 73 years, buried ‎ at Beaulieu-les-Loches, Tours, France
Name: Fulk III the Black, Count of ANJOU
Surname: Anjou
Given Name: Fulk III the Black, Count of
Nickname: Nerra
Sex: M
Birth: 21 Jun 0967 in of Anjou,France
Death: 21 Jun 1040 in Jerusalem,Holy Land
Burial: Beaulieu-les-Loches,Tours,France
Reference Number: Foster
_UID: 585AB7D3892B754BB5DFF9AE5A3239C5752B
Occupation: Count from 0987 to 1040 Anjou 1
Event: Metz, Haute-Lorraine, France Lived
Event: Durtal Castle Founded Angers,Anjou,France 2
Event: Abbey of St. Nicholas Founded Angers,Anjou,France 2
Note:
FOSTER LINE - 27th ggrandfather

!The greatest of the Angevins, the first in whom we can trace that marked type of character which their house was to preserve through 200 years. He was without natural affection. In his youth he burned a wife at the stake, and legend told how he led her to her doom decked out in his gayest attire. In his old age he waged his bitterest war against his son, and exacted from him when vanquished a humiliation which men reserved for the deadliest of their foes. "You are conquered, you are conquered!" shouted the old man in fierce exultation as Geoffry, bridled and saddled like a beast of burden, crawled for pardon to his father's feet. In Fulk first appeared that low type of superstition which startled even superstitious ages in the early Plantagenets. Robber as he was of Church lands, and contemptuous of ecclesiastical censures, the fear of the end of the world drove Fulk to the Holy Sepulchre. Barefoot and with strokes of the scourge falling heavily on his shoulders, the Count had himself dragged by a halter through the streets of Jerusalem, and courted the
doom of martyrdom by his wild outcries of penitence. He rewarded the fidelity of Herbert of Le Mans, whose aid saved him from utter ruin, by entrapping him into captivity and robbing him of his lands. He secured the terrified friendship of the French King by despatching 12 assassins to cut down before his eyes the minister who had troubled it. Familiar as the age was with treason and rapine and blood, it recoiled from the cool cynicism of his crimes, and believed the wrath of Heaven to have been revealed against the union of the worst forms of evil in Fulk the Black. But neither the wrath of Heaven nor the curses of men broke with a single mishap the 50 years of his success. At his accession in 987 Anjou was the least important of the greater provinces of France. At his death in 1040 it stood, if not in extent, at least in real power, first among them all. Cool headed, clear sighted, quick to resolve, quicker to strike, Fulk's career was one long series of victories over all his rivals. He was a consummate general, and he had the gift of personal bravery, which was denied to some of his greatest descendants. His warrior qualities plus his power for political organization, a capacity for far-reaching combinations, a faculty of statesmanship, which became the heritage of his race, and lifted them as high above the intellectual level of the rulers of their time as their shameless wickedness degraded them below the level of man. His overthrow of Brittany on the field of Conquereux was followed by the gradual absorption of Southern Touraine; a victory at Pontlevoi crushed the rival house of Blois; the seizure of Saumur completed his conquests in the south, while Northern Touraine was won bit by bit till only Tours resisted the Angevin. The treacherous seizure of its Count, Herbert Wakedog, left Maine at his mercy. [WBH - England]

In 978 Hugh d'Ales witnessed a deed of the abbey of Chartres and was a favorite of Fulco Nerra, the count of Anjou. [Falaise Roll, p. 31]

Chateauceaux was anciently in possession of the counts of Nantes, but abt 986 was a mesne-fief belonging to the counts of Anjou. At this time, Renaud de Thuringe, viscount of Anjou, built with the help of Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou, and with the consent of the count of Nantes, a feudal fortress upon the ruins of a Gallo-Roman castle, which had existed from the 7th century. [Falaise Roll, p. 133]

Son of Geoffrey Grisgonelle, Count of Anjou, and Adelaide de Troyes; m. Hildegarde; father of Ermengarde. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3301]

Violent, charismatic and cruel, and a master of strategic castle-building. Ruled Anjou from 987-1040. [Plantagenet Chronicles, p. 19]

Fulk's wife gave birth to Geoffrey Martel and a dau, Adela. Being a God-fearing man, Fulk made a pilgrimage to Rome to give thanks and, after receiving letters from the Roman pope with his blessing, started to Jerusalem where he met Duke Robert of Normandy. [Plantagenet Chronicles, p. 25-6]

Undertook 3 pilgrimages to Jerusalem to atone for his atrocities, visited Rome and founded two abbeys: Beaulieu-les-Loches near Tours and St. Nicholas at Angers. He was a man of policy and purpose, revealed in the effectiveness of his campaigns and the strategic siting of his castles. Fascinating yet repellent, he was a leader of undoubted if crude ability. [Plantagenet Chronicles, p. 25]

Odo, Count of Champagne, in alliance with Gedouin of Saumur, was threatening Fulk's power in the east of Anjou. Fulk and his ally Count Herbert of Maine did battle against him and carried the day, slaying or capturing abt 6000 of their enemies. The next year Fulk founded the castle of Montboyau to threaten Tours which he hoped to capture from Odo. But Odo laid siege to Montboyau. In turn Fulk seized control of Saumur and beseiged Montbazon Odo abandoned the siege at Montboyau and directed his infantry against Fulk. The ingenious Fulk put an end to his siege and retreated to Loches, where he erected his tents on the meadows. Fulk beseiged Montbazon again on Odo's death when Theobald III inherited his territory. This time he was successful in capturing it and entrusted it to William of Mirebeau to be guarded. Airaud Brustulii and other traitors handed over their lord Geoffrey, ruler of Saint-Aignan, to Fulk. Later in Fulk's absence, this man was strangled in his prison at Loches by the same traitors. [Plantagenet Chronicles, p. 28]

Some of Fulk's castles controlled lines of communication and important centers. Among them were Treves on the River Loire, built in the 1020s to secure the Loire below Saumur, and Durtal (c. 1040) on the Loire above Angers, capital of Anjou. Others were aggressive in purpose, such as the ring of castles which encircles Tours and enabled Count Geoffrey Martel, Fulk Nerra's son, to take the city and Touraine in 1044. He was the first leader to grasp how strategically positioned castles could be the base from which to launch aggressive war and has earned him his reputation as an innovative strategist. [Plantagenet Chronicles, p. 30]

Son of Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou, and Adelaide of Vermandois; m. Elizabeth of Vendome; father of Adele who m. Bodon, Count of Vendome. [GRS 3.03, Automated Archives, CD1, CD00
Author: Automated Archives, Inc.
Publication: Genealogical Research System, 1994
Glick/Foster Ancestry at Rootsweb.com

Married ‎ 996 at France; 1st wife (approximately 3 years married) to:

woman Elizabeth of Vendome‏‎, daughter of Bouchard of Vendome, Count of Vendome and Elizabeth of Corbeil‏.
Born ‎± ABT. 979 at Vendome, Loir-et-Cher, Orleanais Center, France, died ‎± ABT. 999 at Burned alive by her husband for adultery‎, approximately 20 years
ID: I27075
Name: Elizabeth de VENDOME
Surname: Vendome
Given Name: Elizabeth de
Sex: F
Birth: ABT 0979 in Vendome, Loir-et-Cher, Orleanais/Centre, France
Death: ABT 0999 of burned by Fulk for adultery
Reference Number: Foster
_UID: DB04D2ECEE2CE2439E108986DC76AECD66CE
Note:
Mayflower PAF

FOSTER LINE

Dau. of Bouchard I, Count of Vendome, and Elizabeth; m. Fulk III the Black, Count of Anjou; mother of Adele who m. Bodon, Count of Vendome. [GRS 3.03, Automated Archives, CD1, CD00
Author: Automated Archives, Inc.
Publication: Genealogical Research System, 1994
From 'Glick/Foster Ancestry' at Rootsweb.com

Child:

1.
woman Adele of Anjou‏
Born ‎± ABT. 998 at Anjou, France, died ‎between 1033 BET., - and at of Vendome, Loir-et-Cher, Orleanais Center, France‎, 36 or 37 years
ID: I27080
Name: Adele de ANJOU
Surname: Anjou
Given Name: Adele de
Sex: F
Birth: ABT 0998 in Anjou, France
Death: 1033/1035 in of Vendome, Loir-et-Cher, Orleanais/Centre, France
Reference Number: Foster
_UID: D63C20D06980AB46B2D5735EF6DBDC00E1D0
Note:
Mayflower PAF

FOSTER LINE

Dau. of Fulk III the Black, Count of Anjou, and Elizabeth of Vendome; m. Bodon, Count of Vendome; mother of Foulques, Count of Vendome. [GRS 3.03, Automated Archives, CD1, CD00
Author: Automated Archives, Inc.
Publication: Genealogical Research System, 1994
From 'Glick/Foster Ancestry' at Rootsweb.com


2nd marriage
man Fulk III of "'the Black', Foulgues d'Anjou" Anjou, Count of Anjou‏‎, son of Geoffrey of "Senechal of France" Anjou, Count d'Anjou and Adelaide of Vermandois, Countess of Vermandois‏.

Married ‎after AFT. 1000 at Anjou, France (at most 40 years married) to:

woman Hildegarde of "Hildegarde of Metz" Metz, Countess of Metz‏‎
Born ‎± ABT. 980 at , died ‎between 1 BET., Apr and at Jerusalem, Israel‎, 65 or 66 years
Name: Hildegarde, Countess de METZ
Surname: Metz
Given Name: Hildegarde, Countess de
Sex: F
Birth: ABT 0980 in of Anjou,France
Death: 1 Apr 1040/1046 in Jerusalem,Palestine
Reference Number: Foster
_UID: 17868145121B5547A854B8B099EF866B099F
Note:
FOSTER LINE - 27th ggrandmother

m. Fulk Nersa, Conte d'Anjou; d. 1 Apr 1046, Jerusalem; mother of Ermengarde. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3301]

m. Fulk III the Black, Count of Anjou; mother of Ermengarde who m. Geoffrey II, Count of Gastinais. [GRS 3.03, Automated Archives, CD1, CD00
Author: Automated Archives, Inc.
Publication: Genealogical Research System, 1994
From 'Glick/Foster Ancestry' at Rootsweb.com

Child:

1.
woman Ermengarde of Helie "Ermengarde d'Anjou" Anjou‏
Born ‎ 1018 at , died ‎ Mar 21, 1075/76 at Anjou, France; 3‎, approximately 57 years
Name: Ermengarde de Helie ANJOU of Gastinois
Surname: Anjou
Given Name: Ermengarde de Helie
NSFX: of Gastinois
_AKA: Ella or Eleanor
Sex: F
Birth: 1018 in of Semurenbrionnais,Anjou,France
Death: 21 Mar 1076 in Fleury-Sur-Ouche,France
Reference Number: 4737
_UID: 720B1C9DF997574A9BAA8ED9435E20B78B9B
Note:
FOSTER LINE

b.c. 1010/15, dau. of Fulk Nersa, Conte d'Anjou, and Hildegarde; m.1 c. 1035 Aubri Geoffrey, Count of the Gatinais and Chateau Laudon; m.2 c. 1055 Robert, Duke of Burgundy (Marriage dissolved for consanquinity). [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3301, 3300]

Dau. of Fulk III the Black, count of Anjou, and Hildegarde; m. Geoffrey IUI, Count of Gastinais; m. Robert,
Prince of France; mother of Aldegarde. [GRS 3.03, Automated Archives, CD1, CD00
Author: Automated Archives, Inc.
Publication: Genealogical Research System, 1994
Glick/Foster Ancestry at Rootsweb.com