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Birth:          1043 Chateau Landon, France
Death:          14 Apr 1109 Angers

Notes
chronicler of the counts of Anjou
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulk_IV,_Count_of_Anjou
Fulk IV (in French Foulques IV) (1043–14 April 1109), called le Réchin, was the Count 
of Anjou from 1068 until his death.[1][2] The nickname by which he is usually referred 
has no certain translation. Philologists have made numerous very different 
suggestions, including "quarreler", "rude", "sullen", "surly" and "heroic". He was 
noted to be " a man with many reprehensible, even scandalous, habits" by Orderic 
Vitalis.[3]
Early life[edit]

Fulk, born 1043,[4] was the younger son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais (sometimes 
known as Aubri), and Ermengarde of Anjou. Ermengarde was a daughter of Fulk the 
Black, count of Anjou,[2] and the sister of Geoffrey Martel who preceded Fulk and his 
brother Geoffrey as Count of Anjou.[2]

Count of Anjou[edit]

When Geoffrey Martel died without direct heirs he left Anjou to his nephew Geoffrey III 
of Anjou, Fulk le Réchin's older brother.[5] Fulk fought with his brother, whose rule 
was deemed incompetent, and captured him in 1067.[6] Under pressure from the 
Church he released Geoffrey. The two brothers soon fell to fighting again, and the 
next year Geoffrey was again imprisoned by Fulk, this time for good.[7] Substantial 
territory was lost to Angevin control due to the difficulties resulting from Geoffrey's 
poor rule and the subsequent civil war. Saintonge was lost, and Fulk had to give the 
Gâtinais to Philip I of France to placate the king.[8] Much of Fulk's rule was devoted 
to regaining control over the Angevin baronage, and to a complex struggle with 
Normandy for influence in Maine and Brittany.[9]

Author of the History of Anjou[edit]

In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum 
historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou." The authorship and authenticity of this 
work is disputed.[10] Only the first part of the history, describing Fulk's ancestry, is 
extant. The second part, supposedly describing Fulk's own rule, has not been 
recovered. If he did write it, it is one of the first medieval works of history written by a 
layman.[a][11]

Succession[edit]

He died in 1109 leaving the restoration of the countship, as it was under Geoffrey 
Martel, to his successors.[12]

Family[edit]

Fulk may have married as many as five times; there is some doubt regarding the exact 
number or how many he repudiated.[13]

His first wife was Hildegarde of Beaugency.[2] Together they had a daughter:
Ermengarde, who married to Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.[2]

After her death, before or by 1070, he married Ermengarde de Bourbon. Together they 
had a son before Fulk repudiated her in 1075, possibly on grounds of consanguinity:
Geoffrey IV Martel, ruled jointly with him for some time, but died in 1106.[2]

Around 1076 he married Orengarde de Châtellailon.[2] He repudiated her in 1080, 
possibly on grounds of consanguinity.

He then married an unnamed daughter of Walter I of Brienne by 1080. This marriage 
also ended in divorce, in 1087.

Lastly, in 1089, he married Bertrade de Montfort,[2] who was apparently "abducted" 
by King Philip I of France in or around 1092.[b] They had a son:
Fulk V "le Jeune", Count of Anjou and King of Jerusalem.[2]

Parents
DE CHATEAU-LANDON Geoffrey II "Ferreol" (1000 - 1 Apr 1046)
DE ANJOU Ermengarde (ABT 1018 - 21 Mar 1076)

Siblings
DE TAILLEBOIS Ivo (ABT 1036 - 1094)
____ Fulk (Foulques) IV "Rechin" (1043 - 14 Apr 1109)

Marriage To DE BEAUGENCY Hildegarde (ABT 1056 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Lancelin II (ABT 1020 - AFT 24 Sep 1098)
____ Alberga (ABT 1030 - )

Children by DE BEAUGENCY Hildegarde ABT 1056 - 
D'ANJOU Ermengarde (1072 - 1 Jun 1147)

Marriage To DE MONTFORT Bertrade (1060 - 14 Feb 1117)
    m. ABT 1090 

Notes

Parents
OF MONTFORT Simon I (ABT 1025 - 1087)
D'EVREUX Agnes (ABT 1030 - )

Children by DE MONTFORT Bertrade 1060 - 14 Feb 1117
____ Fulk (Foulques) V "le Jeune" (1092 - 13 Nov 1143)

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