Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

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"Geoffrey of Anjou" redirects here. For other uses, see Geoffrey of Anjou (disambiguation).
For other uses, see
Plantagenet
.

Geoffrey Plantagenet
Fulk the Younger
SuccessorHenry II
Duke of Normandy
Reign1144–1150
PredecessorStephen
SuccessorHenry II
Consort of the English monarch
(disputed)
Tenure8 April 1141 – 1148
Born24 August 1113
Died7 September 1151(1151-09-07) (aged 38)
Château-du-Loir, France
Burial
Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans
Spouse
Matilda of England
​
(m. 1128)​
Issue
Detail
Eremburga, Countess of Maine

Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome, the Fair (

Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also Duke of Normandy
by his marriage claim, and conquest, from 1144.

Geoffrey's marriage to

Plantagenet dynasty in England. Although it was never his family name or last name, "Plantagenet" was taken for the dynasty from Geoffrey's epithet, long after his death. Geoffrey was 'of Anjou', his ancestral domain of Anjou in north central France gives rise to the name Angevin, and what modern historians name as the Angevin Empire
in the 12th century.

Early life

Geoffrey was the elder son of

broom blossom (genêt is the French name for the planta genista, or broom shrub) he wore in his hat.[2]: 9 [3]: 1 [4]

Marriage

Geoffrey and Matilda's marriage took place in 1128. The marriage was meant to seal a lasting peace between England, Normandy and Anjou. She was eleven years older than Geoffrey, and very proud of her status as dowager

countess), and which she kept for the remainder of her life. Their relationship was a stormy but happy one with frequent long separations. Matilda returned to her father's court after only a few months. Upon intervention from King Henry I, Matilda returned to Geoffrey, and Matilda fell pregnant with their first son, the future King Henry II, not long after. They had three sons Henry, Geoffrey and William.[2]
: 14–18 

Count of Anjou

The year after the marriage, Geoffrey's father, Fulk left on

crusade for Jerusalem
(where he was to later become king), leaving Geoffrey behind as count of Anjou.

When his father in law, King Henry I of England, died in 1135, Geoffrey supported Matilda in entering Normandy to claim her inheritance. The border districts submitted to her, but in England her first cousin

Stephen of Blois had been crowned king, supported by a number of barons after claims that Henry I had changed his mind on his deathbed in regard to his heir. Barons in Normandy soon followed suit, or were in a large majority the same barons as in England. There were a number that supported Matilda, her claim to the throne, and the 2 vows that they had taken on request of Henry for her to be his heir. The following year, Geoffrey gave Ambrieres, Gorron, and Chatilon-sur-Colmont to Juhel de Mayenne, on condition that he help obtain the inheritance of Geoffrey's wife.[5]

In 1139, Matilda landed in England with 140 knights, where she was besieged at Arundel Castle by King Stephen. In the Anarchy which ensued, Stephen was captured at Lincoln in February 1141, and imprisoned at Bristol.[6] A legatine council of the English church held at Winchester in April 1141 declared Stephen deposed and proclaimed Matilda "Lady of the English".[6]

A map of Normandy in 1142
Geoffrey of Anjou's invasion of Normandy, 1142–43

During 1142 and 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine, and, on 14 January 1144, he crossed the Seine and entered Rouen. He assumed the title of Duke of Normandy in the summer of 1144. In 1144, he founded an Augustine priory at Château-l'Hermitage in Anjou.[7] Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149, when he and Matilda conjointly ceded it to their son, Henry, which cession was formally ratified by King Louis VII of France the following year.[8]

Geoffrey also put down three baronial rebellions in Anjou, in 1129, 1135 and 1145–1151.

Elias, whom he had imprisoned until Elias died in 1151. The threat of rebellion slowed his progress in Normandy, and is one reason he could never assist in England. Geoffrey died later the same year, aged 38, and Henry took his father's place as head of the ducal house. In 1153, the Treaty of Wallingford stipulated that Stephen should remain King of England for life and that Henry, the son of Geoffrey and Matilda should succeed him, beginning the Plantagenet era in English history.[10]

Death

North West France 1150

Geoffrey died suddenly on 7 September 1151. According to John of Marmoutier, Geoffrey was returning from a royal council when he was stricken with fever. He arrived at Château-du-Loir, collapsed on a couch, made bequests of gifts and charities, and died. His wife and sons outlived him. He was buried at St Julien's Cathedral in Le Mans, France, and his son Henry succeeded him to by then a substantial part of France.[10]

Children

Geoffrey and Matilda's children were:

  1. Henry II, King of England
    (1133–1189)
  2. Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (1134–1158)
  3. William, Viscount of Dieppe (1136–1164)

Geoffrey also had illegitimate children by an unknown mistress (or mistresses):

Abbess of Shaftesbury and who may be the poet Marie de France
.

Early heraldry

See also: List of oldest heraldry

An enamel effigy (funerary plaque) commissioned by his widow to decorate the tomb of Geoffrey of Anjou is one of the earliest examples of European heraldry. Jean de Marmentier, a late-12th-century chronicler, reported that in 1128 Henry I of England knighted his son-in-law Geoffrey and granted him a badge of gold lions.[11] A gold lion may already have been Henry's own badge, and different lion motifs would later be used by many of his descendants. The enamel shows Geoffrey with a blue shield depicting gold lions, apparently the same motif later used by a grandson of Geoffrey, William Longespee.[12] In addition to being one of the first authentic representations of a coat of arms,[13] according to British historian Jim Bradbury it "suggests possible evidence for the early use of what became the English royal arms".[14]

Ancestors

References

  1. ISBN 978-1421259840
    .
  2. ^ a b Costain, Thomas B (1962). The Conquering Family. New York: Popular Library.
  3. ISBN 9780670026654
    .
  4. ^ J. Bernard Burke The Heraldic Register, p. 65, at Google Books
  5. ^ Bradbury, Jim. 1990. "Geoffrey V of Anjou, Count and Knight", in The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood III, ed. Christopher Harper-Bill and Ruth Harvey. Rochester: Boydell Press.
  6. ^ a b King, Edmund (2008). King Stephen's Reign. London: Woodbridge. pp. 58–79.
  7. ^ Dutton, Kathryn (2014). The Haskins Society Journal. London: Boydell. pp. 125–154.
  8. ISBN 978-0520034945
    .
  9. ^ Halphen, L (ed.); Poupardin, R (ed.); Marmoutier, John of (1913). Chroniques des comtes. Paris. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ a b Haskins, Charles H. 1912. "Normandy Under Geoffrey Plantagenet", The English Historical Review, volume 27 (July): 417–444.
  11. ^ Woodcock, Thomas and John Martin Robinson (1988), The Oxford Guide to Heraldry, Oxford University Press, pg 10.
  12. ^ Ailes, Adrian (1982). The Origins of The Royal Arms of England. Reading: Graduate Center for Medieval Studies, University of Reading. pp. 52–53.
  13. ^ Gage, John (1999), Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction, pg ??.
  14. ^ Bradbury, Jim (2004), The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare, p. 273
Geoffrey Plantagenet
Born: 24 August 1113 Died: 7 September 1151
Preceded by
Ermengarde
Count of Maine

1126–1151 		Succeeded by
Henry Curtmantle
Preceded by
Fulk V
Count of Anjou

1129–1151
Preceded by
Eustace
Count of Mortain

1141–1151
Preceded by
Stephen
 Duke of Normandy
1144–1150
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