Count Geoffrey Plantagenet NANTES, VI

   Other names for Geoffrey were NANTES Count and "Mantell".

   Ancestral File Number: 8WL8-FB.

   General Notes:

"Mantell", Count Of NANTES, Geoffrey VI of ANJOU.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, Died 1158."

The Political History ofEngland, George Burton Adams, 1905, Longmans Green and Co, Ch VIII, p188:
"...On June 1, of the next year [1134] his second grandson, Geoffrey, was born..."
Ch XI p248: [1152] "...By the end of June the young bridegroom was at Barfleur preparing to cross the channel with an invading force. But he was not to be permitted to enjoy his new fortunes unchallenged. Louis VII in particular had reasons for interfering, and the law was on his side. The heiress Eleanor had no rightto marry without the consent of her feudal suzerain. A summons, it is said, was at once served on Henry to appear before the king's court and answer for his conduct, and this summons, which Henry refused to obey, was supported by a new coalition. Louis and Eustace were again in alliance, and they were joined by Henry's own brother Geoffrey, who could make considerable trouble in the south of Henry's lands, by Robert of Dreux, Count of Perche, and by Eustace's cousin Henry, Count ofChampagne. Stephen's brother Theobald had died at the beginning of the year, and his great dominions had been divided, Champagne and Blois being once more separated, never to be reunited until they were absorbed at different dates into the royal domain..."
p264: "Early in January, 1156, Henry crossed to Normandy. His brother Geoffrey was making trouble and was demanding that Anjou and Maine should be assigned to him. We are told an improbable story that their father on his deathbed had made such a partition of his lands, and that Henry had been required blindly to swear that he would carry out an arrangement which was not made known to him...Geoffrey attempted to appeal to arms in the three castles which had been given him earlier, but was quickly forced to submit...Before his return to England [Henry] was able to offer his brother a compensation for his disappointment which had the advantage of strengthening his own position. The overlordship of the county of Britanny had, as we know, been claimed by the dukes of Normandy, and the claim had sometimes been allowed. To Henry the successful assertion of this right would be of great value as filling out his occupation of western France. Just at this time Britanny had been thrown into disorder and civil strife by a disputed succession, and the town of Nantes, which commanded the lower course of the Loire, so important a river to Henry, refused to accept either of the candidates. With theaid of his brother, Geoffrey succeeded in planting himself there as Count of Nantes, in a position which promised to open for the house of Anjou the way into Britanny."
p267: [1158] "...It was probably the death of his brother and the question of the occupation of Nantes that led Henry to cross to Normandy in August... First he desired Louis' permission to take possession of Nantes..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, Doubleday & Co, Garden City, 1949, p21:
p21: [Was Henry II the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet or Stephen Blois?] "...There is still, however, another bit of evidence, and this time it is both more important and credible, being based at least on fact. WhenGeoffrey of Anjou died, he left instructions that he was not to be buried until his son Henry had agreed to accept the terms of his will. Now the will had not been opened and could not be immediately, and Henry found himself in a most uncomfortable dilemma. What unacceptable terms might the will contain? What sacrifices might it demand of him? Henry was not the kind of man to enter into blind conpacts. And yet there was the body of his father awaiting burial and, it may be assumed,losing something in preservation with each hour. Finally, and most unbraciously, Henry gave in. He would accept the conditions. Without a doubt the body of the dead earl was then lowered at once into the grave.
"When the will was read, itwas found that the earldoms of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, which Geoffrey had held in his own right, were left as a matter of course to the eldest son. Geoffrey, the second son, received three castles, Mirabeau, Chinon, and Loudon. It was added, however, that sould Henry become King of England the three earldoms were then to go to Geoffrey. Such wily precautions to trap Henry into acceptance would not have been resorted to if the father had not felt strongly that his own possessionsshould go the second son...
"There is still one more point. When Henry became King of England and did not give up the earldoms, being a highly possessive mand, the brother loudly proclaimed that the will had been drawn to favor him, whoselegitimacy could not be doubted."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf, p25: "Geoffrey VI of Anjou 1134-57..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral file Ver 4.10 8WL8-FB Born 1 Jun 1145 RouenS-Infr France Died 27 Jul 1158, TPHE Born 1 Jun 1134, 9FTJ-JQ Born 3 Jun 1134.