Family of Alan IV + FERGANT and Ermengardis + of ANJOU

Husband:	Alan IV + FERGANT (1067-1119)
Wife:	Ermengardis + of ANJOU ( -1146)
Children:	Conan III + (1096-1148)

Husband: Alan IV + FERGANT

Wife: Ermengardis + of ANJOU

Name:	Ermengardis + of ANJOU
Sex:	Female
Father:	-
Mother:	-
Birth		Anjou, Isere, Rhone-Alpes, Loire, France
Title	frm 1089 to 1093	Duchess of Aquitane
Occupation		Duchess of Aquitane
Title	frm 1093 to 1112	Duchess Consort of Brittany
Death	1 Jun 1146

Child 1: Conan III +

Name:	Conan III +
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Maud + (1091- )
Birth	1096	Bretagne, Indre, France
Occupation		Duke of Brittany
Title		Duke of Brittany
Death	17 Sep 1148 (age 51-52)

Note on Husband: Alan IV + FERGANT

Alan IV (died 13 October 1119) was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong". Through his father, he was of the Cornwall dynasty (Breton: Kerne dynasty).

 

A traditional rivalry between Brittany and Normandy continued at the close of the 11th century. The Breton-Norman war of 1064–1065 was the result of William I of England's support of rebels in Brittany against Alan's grandfather, Conan II. To prevent further hostilities during his invasion of England, William I married his daughter Constance to the new duke Alan in 1087.[1] The marriage ceremonies may have taken place in Bayeux in Normandy. William of Malmesbury wrote that Constance was unpopular at the Breton court because of her "sever and conservative" manner.[1] William of Malmesbury also alleged that Alan IV had Constance poisoned to death, but this remained unverified[1] However, Orderic Vitalis wrote that as duchess Constance did all she could to further the welfare of the Bretons, who grieved deeply at her death in 1090.[1]

 

In 1092 Alan IV donated property to the abbey of Redon by charter, and by 1093 married Ermengarde of Anjou, as a political alliance with Fulk IV of Anjou to counter Anglo-Norman influence.[1] With Ermengarde he had two sons, Geoffrey, who died young, and Conan, and a daughter, Hawise (who married Count Baldwin VII of Flanders), who was possibly named after Alan's mother.[1]

 

[edit] CrusaderIn 1098 Alan went on the First Crusade, leaving Ermengarde as his regent, and returned in 1101.

 

[edit] Abdication and DeathAlan IV abdicated in 1112, and he and Ermengarde were separated after this. The former Duke retired to the monastery of Redon, where he died in 1119.

 

His illegitimate son was Brien FitzCount.

Note on Wife: Ermengardis + of ANJOU

Ermengarde of Anjou (ca. 1068 – 1 June 1146) was a member of the comital House of Anjou and by her two marriages was successively Duchess of Aquitaine and Brittany. Also, she was a patron of Fontevraud Abbey. Ermengarde was the regent of Brittany during the absence of her spouse from 1096 until 1101.

Born in Angers she was the eldest child of Count Fulk IV of Anjou but the only one born by his first wife, Hildegarde of Beaugency. Having lost her mother in 1070, at only two years of age, she received a good education and grew to be pious and concerned about religious reform, especially the struggle against the secular appropriation of church property. She was also noted for her beauty in her youth.

 

Duchess of AquitaineIn 1089 her marriage was arranged to the young Duke and poet, William IX of Aquitaine. However, this union proved a dismal failure. Her husband was a voracious philanderer, whose affairs infuriated his wife. She suffered from severe mood swings, vacillating between vivacity and sullenness, and would nag her husband. She also had a habit of retiring in bad temper to a cloister after an argument, cutting off all contact with the outside world, before suddenly making a reappearance in the court as if her absence had never occurred. Such behavior, coupled with her failure to conceive a child, led William to send her back to her father and have the marriage dissolved in 1091.

 

Her behavior during her marriage to the Duke has been described by both Marion Meade and Alison Weir as schizophrenic, with Weir adding a suggestion of manic depression.

 

Duchess of BrittanyIn 1093, her father married her to Duke Alan IV of Brittany, probably to secure an alliance against Normandy, then controlled by William the Conqueror’s son, Robert Curthose. The union produced three children: Conan (later Duke Conan III of Brittany), Havise (wife of Baldwin VII of Flanders, who repudiated her in 1110) and Geoffrey (who died young in Jerusalem in 1116).

 

Her husband left for Palestine in 1096 to take part in the First Crusade and she assumed control of the Duchy from then until 1101.

 

She spent little time in Rennes or the west of Brittany, preferring Nantes and the Saumur region. Influenced by Robert of Arbrissel, she approved the expansion of the abbey at Fontevraud, to which she withdrew on two occasions. An admirer of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (to whose abbey she made donations), she favored the creation of Cistercian abbeys. She was also a benefactor of the monastery of Buzay, near Nantes.

 

Alan IV, an unpopular ruler, was forced to abdicated in favor of his son in 1112, and he and Ermengarde were separated after this. The former Duke retired to Redon Abbey, where he died on 13 October 1119.

 

Later yearsBy 1116 Ermengarde was living in Fontevrault Abbey, where she reputedly became a friend of her first husband's second wife, Philippa of Toulouse.

 

In 1118 after the death of Philippa, Ermengarde decided to avenge her deceased friend. She went south from Fontevrault to the court of her former husband, Duke William of Aquitaine, where she demanded to be recognized as the rightful Duchess. William ignored this remarkable request. Accordingly, in October 1119, she suddenly appeared at the Council of Reims, being held by Pope Calixtus II, demanding that the Pope excommunicate William, oust his mistress from the ducal palace, and restore Ermengarde to her rightful place as the Duchess of Aquitaine. The Pope "declined to accommodate her"; however, Ermengarde continued to trouble William for several years afterwards.

 

DeathErmengarde at one point went on Crusade to Palestine; she returned ten years later, and some historians believe her life ended in Jerusalem at the convent of Saint Anne. But obituary lists at Redon Abbey record a date of death in 1146 in Redon where her second husband was buried. Certainly, it is believed that she died a nun. The contradictions about her death and the records of her burial maybe indicated that in fact she died in Jerusalem, but later her body was transferred to Redon.