Geoffroy Ier of Anjou

Geoffroy Ier ( Gaufridus ou' Gauzfredus ) of Anjou' , known as Grisegonelle , born probably front 935, killed the July 21st 987 with the seat of Marçon, close to Castle-of-Dormouse was count d' Anjou of 960 with 987. It was of the family of the Ingelgeriens and wire of Foulque II '' the Good '', count d' Anjou, and of Gerberge (of Gâtinais?).

He was a count caroligien, i.e. he supported the Carolingian kings Lothaire and Louis V, while admitting holding Anjou of the Robertiens. It continued the policy of its predecessors, which consisted in defending its western border by the control of the county of Nantes and progressing towards the Poitou.

Biography

It starts by installing the faithful ones to the command of the various castles and thus organizes the defense of its county. Then it took part with the king Lothaire and the count de Blois Thibaut I {{er}} the cheater in a campaign against the duke Richard I {{er}} of Normandy, but cannot prevent the catch of Nantes by the Norman ones. It must then organize a new line of defense vis-a-vis the county of Nantes.

The death of Thibaut the cheater brought distance between the houses of Blois and Anjou. The new count Eudes I {{er}}, acts in an unfriendly way, and in 978 begins a war between Anjou and Blésois which will be prolonged during sixty ten years. In 981, two counts dispute Nantes: Conan Ier the Wrong, supported by Blois, and Guérech, supported by Anjou. The shock of the armies took place with Conquereuil, where Geoffroy crushed Conan.

In addition to Anjou, Geoffroy has fields and alliances in several areas where he exerts his influence, however under the control of its suzerain, Hugues Capet: Gâtinais (probably by his/her mother), Vexin (his/her brother-in-law is the count Gautier, Vermandois (by its first wife), the Pole and Auvergne (his/her brother-in-law was Etienne, Viscount of Gévaudan and his/her Guy brother was bishop of the Puy-en-Velay).

He also got along towards the south by taking the towns of Loudun and Mirebeau, after worts overcome with the battle of the Rocks in 970 Guillaume Fier-à-Bras, duke of Aquitaine and count de Poitiers. He was combined with the Viscounts of Thouars and Maria his daughter with a count d' Angoulême.

The son of Lothaire, the future Louis V and his wife Adelaide of Anjou, a sister of Geoffroy, separated in 983.

In 984, Guérech seeks to be freed from the supervision angevine by making allegiance directly have king de France Lothaire, but Geoffroy captures Guérech when this last goes back to Nantes. Geoffroy benefits from it to strengthen the possessions angevines in the South of Nantes, in particular by the construction of the keep of the Pallet. Guérech will be released only in 985 by recognizing the suzerainty of Geoffroy. The estrangement settled then between the king and the count of Anjou, which approached and was combined with Hugues Capet.

In 987, Hugues Capet, who has just been crowned king de France, Geoffroy and Bouchard, count de Vendôme besiege the castle of Marçon, held by Eudes Ruffin, vassal of the count Eudes of Blois. It is during this seat that Geoffroy was killed.

On the religious level, it had carried out a pilgrimage in Rome into 962, then founded and equipped several religious establishment. With his Guy brother, bishop of Puy, it also supported the ecclesiatic reform, and introduced the rule of Saint-Beno4it cheese into several monasteries and angevins abbeys.

Geoffroy Grisegonelle is quoted in " the Chronicle of the exploits of the Counts d' Anjou" , text written of 1100 to 1140 by a monk angevin, at the request of Foulques Réchin.

Marriages and children

He had married in first weddings towards 965 Adelaide de Vermandois († 974), girl of Robert I {{er}} of Vermandois, count de Meaux and of Troyes, and Adelaide Werra. They gave rise to:

Foulque III Nerra († 1040), count d' Anjou
Geoffroy, alive in 974
Ermengarde married to Conan the Wrong († 992), count de Rennes, then duke of Brittany.
Gerberge, married to Guillaume III Taillefer, count d' Angoulême

A charter of Foulque III Nerra going back to 1003 mentions a brother named Maurice, curiously absent from the charters of Adelaide de Vermandois. This Maurice was killed before 1038 during a war against Gautier de Langeais. The genealogical ones concluded from it that Maurice came from a second marriage of Geoffroy. This second wife is identified for various reasons with Adèle, widow of Lambert, count de Châlon.

Sources

FranceBalade
Geoffroy I " Grisegonelle"
Chronic of the Counts d' Anjou

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