Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou

Godfrey I, called gray jacket, French Geoffroy Ier Grisegonelle, English Geoffrey († July 21 987 ) was a Count of Anjou from the family of the first house of Anjou. He was a son of Count Fulk II the Good († 958 ) and his first wife Gerberge.

Life

At the beginning of his reign Gottfried supported along with Theobald I of Blois King Lothar against the Norman Duke Richard I. Long sword and defended it Nantes. In the year 970 he hit in Roches Duke William IV of Aquitaine, which had tried Gottfried's possessions in Poitou ( Loudun, Mirebeau ) to win.

The death of Count Theobald I of Blois 975 changed sustained the relationship between the houses of Anjou and Blois, which should henceforth be bitter enemies in the battle for supremacy in the northeast of France, as the successor Theobalds, Odo I, pursued a policy of expansion, which went against the interests of the Angevins. Scene of the battle was the Brittany, where Odo Count of Rennes Conan the Crooked supported against the Count of Nantes, which in turn was a protege of Godfrey. In the first battle of Conquereuil ( 981 ) Gottfried fought off an attack Conan, then 984 Gottfried took over direct control of Nantes, after which Count Gueréch tried to break free from the paternalism of Godfrey, by allying himself with King Lothar. Gottfried, however, a loyal follower of Robertiners Hugh Capet was the Count imprison and erected in front of the castle Nantes Le Pallet.

Directed against Blois Gottfried strengthened its influence in the Touraine and Berry, by taking control over several abbeys (including Saint -Martin de Tours ) and with local lords, such as those of Preuilly, confederate. The enmity between the two houses was also reflected in the power struggle for the throne between Robertinern and Carolingians, while Gottfried held to Hugh Capet, Odo supported the King Lothar and after him his brother Charles of Lower Lorraine. In July 987 Gottfried supported the collection of Hugh Capet as the new king. That same month, he besieged with Count Burchard Venerable of Vendôme allied castle Marçon ( Dép: Sarthe), which belonged to Odo of Blois, where he died.

The change of dynasty of the Carolingians to the Robertiner / Capetians brought for Gottfried and his successors some changes. Goods he and his ancestors as Count of Anjou (or Viscount of Angers) only vassals of the Robertiner in their capacity as Dukes of Franzien (or Marquis of Neustria ), his descendants should now be crown vassals, as the Duchy Franzien with the accession of Capet virtually ceased to exist. Other powerful vassals, as just the counts of Blois and Toulouse, as well as the dukes of Aquitaine, Hugh Capet grant recognition and regarded him as a usurper. In this episode, the Count of Anjou advanced to become the most important natural allies of the new king's house, and were this in the following generations an important support.

Gottfried died on 21 July 987, three weeks after the coronation and anointing of Hugh Capet.

Marriages and descendants

Gottfried married around 965 Adele of Vermandois († 974 ), a daughter of Count Robert of Vermandois and Adelais " Wera " of Burgundy. Both children were:

  • Ermengarde ( † after 982 )
  • Fulk III. Nerra (* 970, † June 21, 1040 ), succeeded him as Count of Anjou
  • Gottfried ( † 974 )
  • Gerberge (* 974 or later; † April 1040 )

A second 979 marriage in Godfrey, from which emerged a son named Maurice, provides genealogical confusion. The second woman named Adelais / Adelheid († 984 ) is mentioned as widow of Count Lambert I of Chalon and was a daughter of the Duke of Burgundy Giselbert. But as Godfrey 's father was also married to a daughter of the same name of the Duke of Burgundy, in which it has possibly traded the same woman of Count Lambert, Gottfried would therefore have married the mother of his first wife. A arisen in the 17th century theory assumes that Duke Giselbert had had two daughters named Adelais and Gottfried is married instead of the mother with the aunt of his first wife.

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