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Geoffrey IV
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Geoffrey IV The image shows stylized plaque from the 12th century.
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Geoffrey IV
Geoffrey IV Geoffrey IV, enamel effigy on his tomb at Saint-Julien Cathedral, Le Mans, France.

Geoffrey IV

count of Anjou
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Also known as: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Geoffrey the Fair, Geoffroi Plantagenet, Geoffroi le Bel
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Quick Facts
Also called:
Geoffrey Plantagenet
Byname:
Geoffrey The Fair
French:
Geoffroi Plantagenet, or Geoffroi Le Bel
Born:
Aug. 24, 1113
Died:
Sept. 7, 1151, Le Mans, Maine [France] (aged 38)
Also Known As:
Geoffroi le Bel
Geoffrey the Fair
Geoffroi Plantagenet
Geoffrey Plantagenet
Notable Family Members:
spouse Matilda
father Fulk
son Henry II
See all related content

Geoffrey IV (born Aug. 24, 1113—died Sept. 7, 1151, Le Mans, Maine [France]) was the count of Anjou (1131–51), Maine, and Touraine and ancestor of the Plantagenet kings of England through his marriage, in June 1128, to Matilda (q.v.), daughter of Henry I of England. On Henry’s death (1135), Geoffrey claimed the duchy of Normandy; he finally conquered it in 1144 and ruled there as duke until he gave it to his son Henry (later King Henry II of England) in 1150.

Geoffrey was popular with the Normans, but he had to suppress a rebellion of malcontent Angevin nobles. After a short war with Louis VII of France, Geoffrey signed a treaty (August 1151) by which he surrendered the whole of Norman Vexin (the border area between Normandy and Île-de-France) to Louis.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.