by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou; Credit – Wikipedia
Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou was the second husband of Empress Matilda, Lady of the English, daughter of King Henry I of England, and the ancestor of the Plantagenet kings of England. Born on August 24, 1113, Geoffrey was the eldest of the four children and the elder of the two sons of Fulk V, Count of Anjou and his first wife Ermengarde, Countess of Maine in her own right.
Geoffrey had three younger siblings:
- Sibylla of Anjou (1112–1165), married (1) William Clito, grandson of King William I of England, no children, marriage annulled in 1124 (2) Thierry, Count of Flanders, had six children
- Matilda of Anjou (1106–1154), married William Ætheling, the only son of King Henry I of England, no children, after her husband died in the White Ship disaster of 1120, she became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault
- Elias II, Count of Maine (died 1151), married Philippa of Perche, had one daughter
Geoffrey had two half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem:
- Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem (1130 – 1163), married Theodora Komnene, no children
- Amalric I, King of Jerusalem (1136 – 1174), married (1) Agnes of Courtenay, had two children, marriage annulled (2) Maria Komnene, had one daughter
In 1126, King Henry I of England arranged for his only surviving child Matilda to marry Geoffrey of Anjou. Henry I needed male heirs from his daughter. In 1120, William Ætheling, King Henry I’s only legitimate son and many others had drowned in the White Ship disaster when his ship, returning to England from Normandy, hit a submerged rock, capsized, and sank. Henry I’s nephews were then his closest male heirs. On Christmas Day 1126, Henry I gathered his nobles at Westminster where they swore to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heir she might have as his successors.
Matilda was quite unhappy about her marriage to Geoffrey. This would be her second marriage. When she was just twelve years old, Matilda married 28-year-old Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda returned to England when she was widowed eleven years later. She was eleven years older than Geoffrey and marriage to a mere future Count would diminish her status as the widow of an Emperor. Nevertheless, the couple was married at the Cathedral of St. Julian in Le Mans, County of Maine, now in France, on June 17, 1128.
Empress Matilda; Credit – Wikipedia
The couple did not get along and their marriage was stormy with frequent, long separations. Matilda insisted on retaining her title of Empress for the rest of her life. Three years after Geoffrey’s mother died in 1126, his father Fulk abdicated his lands to Geoffrey and set out for the Holy Land, where he married Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem, and became King of Jerusalem. Geoffrey had become Count of Maine upon his mother’s death and now he was also Count of Anjou.
Geoffrey and Matilda had three sons:
- King Henry II of England (1133–1189), married Eleanor of Aquitaine, had issue including King Richard II of England and King John of England
- Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (1134 – 1158), unmarried
- William, Viscount of Dieppe (1136 – 1164), unmarried
Geoffrey also recognized three children by an unknown mistress/mistresses:
- Hamelin of Anjou (circa 1130 – 1202), married Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey, had four children; Hamelin was a close supporter of his half-brother King Henry II and his nephew King Richard I
- Emme of Anjou (died before 1214), married Dafydd Ab Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, had four children
- Mary of Anjou (died in 1216), a nun and Abbess of Shaftesbury in Dorset, England
On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died. His nephew Stephen of Blois quickly crossed from France to England, seized power in England, and was crowned King of England three weeks later. Empress Matilda did not give up her claim to England and Normandy, leading to the long civil war known as The Anarchy between 1135 and 1153.
During The Anarchy, Geoffrey concentrated on conquering the Duchy of Normandy in northwest France. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1135, Geoffrey began a systematic conquest of Normandy in 1136. By 1143, Geoffrey secured all of Normandy west and south of the Seine and assumed the title of Duke of Normandy in the summer of 1144. Geoffrey held the duchy until 1149 when he and Matilda ceded it to their son Henry.
Geoffrey died suddenly on September 7, 1151, aged 38, at Château-du-Loir, in the Duchy of Brittany, now in France. He was buried at the Cathedral of St. Julian in Le Mans, then in the County of Maine, now in France. Empress Matilda commissioned an enamel funerary plaque to decorate Geoffrey’s tomb. It is one of the earliest examples of European heraldry and can be seen at the beginning of this article. The decorated shield suggests the early origins of the three lions of the Royal Arms of England. The enamel plaque, originally at the Cathedral of St. Julian, is now in the Museum of Archeology and History in Le Mans.
Cathedral of St. Julian in Le Mans, France; Credit – Wikipedia
The House of Plantagenet was founded by Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou via his marriage to Empress Matilda. The English crown passed to their son, the future King Henry II of England, under the Treaty of Winchester, ending nineteen years of a civil war called The Anarchy fought between Matilda and her cousin King Stephen over the possession of the English crown. Generally, Henry II and his sons are called the Angevins, from Geoffrey’s noble family which originated in Anjou, France.
Common Broom or Planta Genista; Credit – Wikipedia
Although there is little evidence for the Plantagenet name before the mid-fifteenth century, Plantagenet is the name given to the fourteen English kings who reigned from 1154-1485. The name derives from the common broom plant, known then in Latin as “planta genista.” It is claimed that Geoffrey V of Anjou wore a sprig of the plant in his hat. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, father of Edward IV and Richard III and Yorkist claimant to the throne, starting using the name around 1448.
Sharon Kay Penman‘s excellent historical fiction novel When Christ and His Saints Slept deals with The Anarchy and most of the historical figures mentioned here are characters.
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Works Cited
- En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Plantagenet,_Count_of_Anjou [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].
- Flantzer, S. (2017). Empress Matilda, Lady of the English. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/empress-matilda-lady-of-the-english/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].
- Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Geoffroy V d’Anjou. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroy_V_d%27Anjou [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].
- Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.
