Fulk III of Anjou

Fulk III (972–1040), called Nerra (that is, le Noir, "the Black") after his death, was count of Anjou from 987 to 1040. He was the son of Geoffrey Greymantle and Adelaide of Vermandois.

He was the founder of the Angevin dynasty. He had a violent nature and performed both cruelties and acts of penitence; he made four pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In probably his most notorious act, Fulk Nerra had his first wife (and cousin) Élisabeth de Vendôme burned to death at the stake in her wedding dress, after discovering her with a goatherd in December 999.

Erdoes says of him: "Fulk of Anjou, plunderer, murderer, robber, and swearer of false oaths, a truly terrifying character of fiendish cruelty, founded not one but two large abbeys. This Fulk was filled with unbridled passion, a temper directed to extremes. Whenever he had the slightest difference with a neighbor he rushed upon his lands, ravaging, pillaging, raping, and killing; nothing could stop him, least of all the commandments of God."

He fought against the claims of the counts of Rennes, defeating and killing Conan I of Rennes at the Battle of Conquereuil in 992. He then extended his power over the County of Maine and the Touraine. All of his enterprises came up against the no less violent ambition of the Odo II of Blois, against whom he made an alliance with the Capetians. In 1025, after capturing and burning the city of Saumur, Fulk reportedly cried, "Saint Florentius, let yourself be burned. I will build you a better home in Angers." But when the transportation of the saint's relics to Angers proved difficult, Fulk declared that Florentius was a rustic lout unfit for the city, and sent the relics back to Saumur.

Fulk also commissioned many buildings. From 987 to 1040, while he was count of Anjou and fighting against the Bretons and Blois, protecting his territory from Vendôme to Angers and from Angers to Montrichard, he had more than a hundred castles, donjons, and abbeys constructed. These numerous pious foundations, however, followed his many acts of violence against the church.

Fulk died in 1040 in Metz.

Sources

Bachrach, Bernard S. Bachrach, Bernard S. Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040: a Political Biography of the Angevin Count. University of California Press, 1993.
Erdoes, Richard. AD 1000: Living on the Brink of Apocalypse, 1988
Fichtenau, Henry. Living in the Tenth Century, 1991.

Preceded by: Geoffrey I	Count of Anjou 987–1040	Succeeded by: Geoffrey II