Source Text:

Name: Geoffrey Plantagenet IV Famous memorial
Birth Date: 24 Aug 1113
Birth Location:
Death Date: 7 Sep 1151 (aged 38)
Death Location:
Burial: Cathédrale Saint Julien-Le Mans
City: Le Mans
County: Département de la Sarthe
State: Pays de la Loire
Country: France
Memorial ID: 8143822

French Noble. The Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy from the house Gatinais, his habit of wearing a sprig of broom plant (planta genesta in Latin) on his hat is the origin of the name "Plantagenet." He succeeded his father Fulk V "the young" as Count of Anjou, Maine and Touraine in 1128, when Fulk went to the Holy Land to marry Melisende, daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Geoffrey married Empress Maude, the widow of Emperor Heinrich V and daughter of Henry I of England two years later. The marriage was unhappy, partly because Maude felt humiliated that she, an empress, was married to a mere count. Their first son, Henry, was born five years after the wedding. Two more sons, Geoffrey and Guillaume followed in the next three years. He fought against King Stephen and conquered Normandy from him and was from 1144 on Duke of Normandy. Geoffrey and Henry went to Paris to pledge their alliance to their liege King Louis VII in 1151. There, Henry met the Queen Eleonore for the first time, and apparently fell in love, which would later result in one of the biggest scandals of their time. During the return to his territory he became sick, with high fever and died 25 miles south-east of Le Mans.

Family Members
Parents
Fulk of Anjou 1092–1143
Countess Eremburge de Beaugency 1096–1126
Spouse
Matilda "Empress Maud" of England 1102–1167
(m. 1127)
Siblings
Abbess Mathilde d'Anjou 1110–1154
Sibylle d'Anjou 1112–1165
Half Siblings
Baldwin of Anjou III 1130–1163
King Amalric I of Jerusalem 1136–1174
Children
Henry II 1133–1189
Geoffrey FitzEmpress 1134–1158
Hamelin De Warenne 1135–1202
William "William Fitz Empress" Plantagenet 1136–1164