Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Fair (French: le Bel), Plantagenet, and of Anjou, was the count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also duke of Normandy by his marriage claim, and conquest, from 1144. Geoffrey married Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, king of England and duke of Normandy.
Matilda appears to have been unimpressed by the prospect of marrying Geoffrey of Anjou. [71] She felt that marrying the son of a count diminished her imperial status, and she was probably also unhappy about marrying someone so much younger than she was; Matilda was 25 and Geoffrey was 13. [71]
Matilda was the daughter of Count Fulk V of Anjou, and his first wife Ermengarde, Countess of Maine. [1] In February 1113, Fulk V and Henry I met near Alençon where they entered into a treaty of peace which was secured by the betrothal of Henry's son William Adelin and Fulk's daughter Matilda. [2]
On Henry V's death in 1125, her father arranged for her to marry Geoffrey of Anjou. Henry I nominated her as his heir before his death in 1135, but she faced opposition from the Norman barons and the throne was taken by her cousin Stephen of Blois. In 1139 Matilda crossed to England to take the crown by force.
In order to secure an orderly succession, Geoffrey and Matilda sought more power from Henry I, but quarrelled with him after the king refused to give them power that might be used against him. When he died in December 1135, the couple were in Anjou, allowing Matilda's cousin Stephen to seize the crown of England. Stephen's contested accession ...
Matilda's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, played an important role in seizing Normandy during the war but did not cross into England. Geoffrey and Matilda's marriage was not an easy one; it had almost collapsed altogether in 1130. [111] For most of the war, therefore, the Angevin armies were led into battle by a handful of senior nobles.
Matilda and the earl probably assumed that she would be safe in Oxford until he returned. [48] This was a crucial period for Matilda, says King, [49] and Gloucester's absence weakened her force further: he left for Normandy on 24 June to negotiate with Anjou, despite, says Crouch, Matilda's situation being "desperate". [50]
Northern France around the County of Anjou; red circles mark regional urban centres. The adjective Angevin is especially used in English history to refer to the kings who were also counts of Anjou—beginning with Henry II—descended from Geoffrey and Matilda; their characteristics, descendants and the period of history which they covered from the mid-twelfth to early-thirteenth centuries.