Ermengarde of Anjou (c. 956 - c. 1024)[a] was the Countess of Rennes, Regent of Brittany (992–994) and also Countess of Angoulême.
Life
Ermengarde-Gerberga was born c. 956,[1] the daughter of Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou and Adele of Meaux.[2] She married Conan I of Rennes, Count of Rennes, in 973.[3] Her husband Conan of Rennes opposed her father and brother Fulk even though the marriage was apparently designed to form a political alliance between Anjou and Brittany.[4] Even after Conan had been killed by Fulk at the Battle of Conquereuil in 992, and during the period 992-994 when Ermengarde was Regent for their son Geoffrey, she remained loyal to her brother Fulk III, Count of Anjou.[4] In 992, following the interests of her brother, and functioning as Regent, she accepted Capetian over-lordship for Rennes while rejecting that of Odo I, Count of Blois.[5]
About 1000[6] her brother Fulk III arranged his widowed sister to marry, secondly, William II of Angoulême, one of his close allies.[7]
Issue
Ermengarde married Conan I 'le Tort' Count of Rennes, she had the following children:
William II 'Taillefer' Count of Angoulême, married Gerberga and had the following children:
- Alduin II, Count of Angoulême (d. 1032), married Alaisia de Gasçogne.[6]
- Geoffrey, Count of Angoulême (d.1048), married 1st Petronille d'Archiac, 2nd Anceline.[6]
- Fulk of Angoulême, married Aynors.[6]
- Odon (flourished c. 1030).[6]
- Arnauld (died young).[6]
- William (died young).[6]
Notes
- ^ She is called Ermengarde in northern [French] sources however at least one early southern source calls her Gerberga. Angevins were known to give daughters two names as evidenced by her aunt, called Adelaide-Blanche. See: Bachrach, 'Henry II and the Angevin Tradition', Albion, Vol. 16, No. 2, (1984), p. 117 n. 35; Crisp, 'Consanguinity and the Saint-Aubin Genealogies, Haskins Society Journal 14 (2005), p. 114; also: Bachrach, ""Fulk Nerra, (1993), p. 42.
References
- ^ Bernard S. Bachrach, Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040 (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1993), p. 9
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 49
- ^ a b c d e Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 75
- ^ a b Bernard S. Bachrach, Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2, (Summer, 1984), p. 117
- ^ Bernard S. Bachrach, Henry II and the Angevin Tradition of Family Hostility, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2, (Summer, 1984), p. 117 n. 38
- ^ a b c d e f g Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 4 (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany. 1989), Tafel 817
- ^ Archibald R. Lewis, The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718-1050 (University of Texas Press, 1965, p. 337) Online copy viewable here.
