Fulk IV , called le Réchin, was the from 1068 until his death.
Background
Fulk, born 1043, was the younger son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais (sometimes known as Aubri), and Ermengarde of Anjou. Ermengarde was a daughter of Fulk the Black, count of Anjou, and the sister of Geoffrey Martel who preceded Fulk and his brother Geoffrey as.
Career
The nickname by which he is usually referred has no certain translation. Philologists have made numerous very different suggestions, including "quarreler", "rude", "sullen", "surly" and "heroic". Under pressure from the Church he released Geoffrey.
The two brothers soon fell to fighting again, and the next year Geoffrey was again imprisoned by Fulk, this time for good.
Substantial territory was lost to Angevin control due to the difficulties resulting from Geoffrey"s poor rule and the subsequent civil war. Saintonge was lost, and Fulk had to give the Gâtinais to Philip I of France to placate the king.
Much of Fulk"s rule was devoted to regaining control over the Angevin baronage, and to a complex struggle with Normandy for influence in Maine and Brittany. In 1096 Fulk wrote an incomplete history of Anjou and its rulers titled Fragmentum historiae Andegavensis or "History of Anjou." The authorship and authenticity of this work is disputed.
Only the first part of the history, describing Fulk"s ancestry, is extant.
The second part, supposedly describing Fulk"s own rule, has not been recovered. If he did write it, it is one of the first medieval works of history written by a layman. He died in 1109 leaving the restoration of the countship, as it was under Geoffrey Martel, to his successors.
Fulk may have married as many as five times.
There is some doubt regarding the exact number or how many he repudiated. Together they had a daughter:
Ermengarde, who married to Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.
Together they had a son before Fulk repudiated her in 1075, possibly on grounds of consanguinity:
Geoffrey IV Martel, ruled jointly with him for some time, but died in 1106. He repudiated her in 1080, possibly on grounds of consanguinity.
This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1087.
They had a son:
Fulk V "le Jeune", and King of Jerusalem.