Geoffrey V Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy (1113-1151)

The older son of Fulk V, Count of Anjou, who in 1128 married Matilda, daughter of Henry I Beauclerc, Duke of Normandy and King of England, and the widow of the Emperor Henry V, before receiving the Angevin inheritance from his father who had left for the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1131). In 1133 Matilda gave birth to a son, Henry, for whom the Duke-King Henry I Beauclerc asked his barons to swear an oath recognising him as his heir. On the death of Henry I, Geoffrey of Anjou acted under this aegis to take Normandy for himself, while his wife disputed the English crown with King Stephen. Following a period of anarchy, Geoffrey undertook the conquest of Normandy (1141-1144), occupied Rouen in the name of his wife and his son, and obtained the title of Duke of Normandy which he passed on in 1150 to his son Henry Plantagenet. Geoffrey died in 1151 before seeing the accession of Henry to the English crown on the death of King Stephen (1154).

Bibliography :

- François Neveux. - La Normandie des ducs aux rois, Xe-XIIe s. - Rennes : Ouest-France, 1998.
- Jean Favier. - Dictionnaire de la France médiévale. - Paris : Fayard, 1993.