Fulk III, Count of Anjou

Fulk III (c. 970 – 21 June 1040), known as Fulk the Black or Fulk Nerra (Old French: Foulque Nerra), was an early count of Anjou, celebrated as one of the first great builders of medieval castles. It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles as well as abbeys throughout the Loire Valley. He fought successive wars with neighbors in Brittany, Blois, Poitou and Aquitaine and made four pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.

Fulk was a natural horseman and fearsome warrior with a keen sense of military strategy that bested most of his opponents. He was allied with the goals and aims of the Capetians against the dissipated Carolingians of his era. With his county seat at Angers, Fulk's bitter enemy was Odo II of Blois, his neighbor 128 km east along the Loire river, at Tours. The two men traded towns, followers and insults throughout their lives.

Fulk finished his first castle at Langeais, 104 km east of Angers, on the banks of the Loire. Like many of his constructions, it began as a wooden tower, and was eventually replaced with a stone structure, fortified with exterior walls, and equipped with a thick-walled tower called a donjon in French (source of the English word "dungeon", which, however, implies a cellar rather than a tower). He built it in the territory of Odo I, Count of Blois, and they fought a battle over it in 994. But Odo I died of a sudden illness, and his son and successor, Odo II, did not manage to evict Fulk.

Fulk continued building more towers in a slow encirclement of Tours: Montbazon, Montrésor, Mirebeau, Montrichard, Loches, and even the tower of Montboyau, erected just across the Loire from Tours in 1016. He also fortified the castles at Angers, Amboise, Chateau-Gontier, Chinon, Mayenne and Semblançay, among many others. "The construction of castles for the purpose of extending a ruler's power was part of Fulk Nerra's strategy," wrote Peter Fraser Purton, in A History of Medieval Siege, c. 450–1220.

Although some sources refer to Fulk as "a devout Christian" (who built, enlarged or endowed several abbeys and monasteries, such as the Abbey of Beaulieu-lès-Loches, Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Saint-Aubin, and a convent, Notre Dame de la Charité, at Ronceray in Angers), others explain this fever to build Christian buildings, as his desperate attempt to ensure his salvation, after a life of ruthless violence against both his political enemies, and his own family members. Although he never learned to write, he endowed a school with revenue to provide poor students with an education. Fulk also undertook four pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

Fulk was the son of Geoffrey I of Anjou, also known as Geoffrey Grisegonelle, and Adele of Meaux, daughter of Robert of Vermandois, Count of Meaux and Troyes, and Adelaide of Burgundy. He had an older sister, Ermengarde-Gerberga of Anjou, who married Conan of Brittany, and a younger brother, Geoffrey. A half-brother, Maurice, was born in 980.

Fulk married Elisabeth of Vendôme (c. 979–999), daughter of Count Bouchard of Vendôme, and they had one daughter, Adèle, who married Bodon, son of Landry, Count of Nevers. Their eldest son, Bouchard, inherited Vendôme. There are varied stories regarding Elisabeth's death. One story was recounted in the Chronicles of Saint-Florent: Elisabeth occupied the citadel at Angers with some supporters and while under siege from Fulk, she fell from a great height, and then was burnt at the stake for adultery. Another story is that Nerra trumped up these charges of adultery, seeking to be rid of Elisabeth, because she had not given him a son. By age 20, she had only given birth to a daughter, and appeared to be sterile, as no other pregnancies occurred in the continuing years of their marriage. According to the account given in La Chronique de Saint Aubin d'Angers, cited in Ina Caro's book, The Road from the Past, he "had her tried at an ecclesiastical court in Angers, by judges he knew would convict her; then he had her dressed in her gaiest clothes and personally led her out to be burned at the stake in the square in front of the cathedral."

Fulk subsequently married Hildegarde of Sundgau, whose family was from Lorraine, around December 1005. They had two children: