Geoffrey Plantagenet

1113 – 1151 · Generation X · Count of Anjou

Geoffrey Plantagenet (1113–1151). Count of Anjou. Married Matilda the Empress in 1128. The sprig of broom he wore — planta genista — named the dynasty. The elder son of Fulk V of Anjou and Ermengarde of Maine, he was knighted by Henry I at fifteen ahead of a marriage meant to secure peace among England, Normandy and Anjou. His bride, eleven years his senior and proud of her imperial rank, went back to her father within months, but the pair were reconciled and had three sons, the eldest the future Henry II. Count of Anjou from 1129, when Fulk left for the Holy Land, he pressed Matilda’s claim on the Continent while she fought in England, securing Normandy west and south of the Seine, entering Rouen in 1144 and taking the ducal title. He also crushed three baronial risings in Anjou and kept his troublesome brother Elias imprisoned, and in 1149 he and Matilda handed Normandy to Henry. Taken ill with fever, he died suddenly at Château-du-Loir and was buried at Le Mans.

Place in the family

• The archive records 144 of his descendants, across 30 generations.

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Partners

• Married Matilda the Empress (1102 – 1167) in 1128 — one child together

Children

• King Henry II (1133 – 1189)

Life

• 1113 — Born
• 1128 — Married Matilda the Empress
• 1151 — Died