Geoffrey | |
---|---|
Count of Nantes | |
Born |
Rouen or Argentan, Normandy |
1 June 1134
Died | 27 July 1158 Nantes |
(aged 24)
House | House of Plantagenet |
Father | Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou |
Mother | Empress Matilda |
Geoffrey VI (1 June 1134 – 27 July 1158) was Count of Nantes from 1156 to 1158. He was also known as Geoffrey of Anjou and Geoffrey FitzEmpress.
Born in Rouen in 1134, he was the second of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou and Empress Matilda. His elder brother was King Henry II of England and his younger brother was William FitzEmpress, Count of Poitou.
It was said that in his will, Geoffrey V had stipulated that his second son Geoffrey would become Count of Anjou and of Maine if his elder son Henry managed to become King of England. In the meantime, he granted Geoffrey the castles at Chinon, Loudun, Mirebeau and one other castle. The body of the count would remain unburied until Henry agreed to the terms of the will. The story was reported in contemporary sources only in a minor chronicle in Tours; W. L. Warren makes the case that the story was invented by Geoffrey.
In March 1152 he attempted to abduct Eleanor of Aquitaine as she traveled from Beaugency to Poitiers after her divorce from Louis VII of France; she avoided his trap when she was forewarned. He lay in wait at Port des Piles, near the River Creuse, and would have married her had the abduction been successful. In June he allied himself with King Louis, the king's brother Count Robert I of Dreux, the Count of Champagne and the Count of Blois (the Counts of Champagne and Blois were brothers) when Louis attacked Normandy as a response to the marriage of Henry Curtmantle and Eleanor of Aquitaine, which took place without Louis' knowledge. If successful the five of them intended to divide the lands of Henry and Eleanor amongst themselves.