By the countship of Geoffroi IV Plantagenêt (r. 1129–51), the authority of the count
had been much restored. Geoffroi continued the process of bringing his barons to heel.
Aside from internal consolidation of comital power, Geoffroi began a phenomenal
expansion of Angevin domination by marrying Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of
England, in 1128. When Henry died in 1135, Matilda was the sole heiress to the kingdom
of England and the duchy of Normandy. Since the throne was seized by Henry’s nephew,
Stephen of Blois, Geoffroi had to fight for his wife’s inheritance. By 1144, he had gained
control of Normandy. The submission of England was left to his son, Henry II
Plantagenêt. Although Geoffroi had united a vast territory in western France, he ruled
each area separately, under its own law. This was to be the model for the Angevin empire
of his son.
Scott Jessee
[See also: ANJOU; FOULQUES; HENRY II; MATILDA]
Bachrach, Bernard S. “The Idea of the Angevin Empire.” Albion 10 (1978):293–99.
Dunbabin, Jean. France in the Making, 843–1180. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Guillot, Olivier. Le comte d’Anjou et son entourage au XIe siècle. 2 vols. Paris: Picard, 1972.
Hallam, Elizabeth, ed. The Plantagenêt Chronicles. New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986.
Halphen, Louis. Le comté d’Anjou au XIe siècle. Paris: Picard, 1906.
GERBERT DE MONTREUIL
(fl. 1220s). A poet at the court of Marie, countess of Ponthieu, to whom he dedicated his
Roman de la Violette ca. 1220, Gerbert is best known for his continuation of Chrétien de
Troyes’s Perceval. Gerbert’s Continuation is inserted between the Second Continuation
and Manessier’s conclusion in two Paris manuscripts.
The Roman de la Violette (6,654 octosyllables) exploits the same folk motif as Jean
Renart’s Guillaume de Dole: Lisïart de Forez wagers Gérard de Nevers that he can
seduce Gérard’s ladylove, Eurïaut. By deceit, he discovers that she has a violet-shaped
birthmark on her right breast and uses this information to “prove” his success. Thinking
her unfaithful, Gérard abandons Eurïaut and weds her only after many adventures and the
eventual confession of Lisïart.
Gerbert’s Perceval Continuation (ca. 1226–30; ca. 17,000 lines) brings Perceval, after
numerous adventures designed to show that he is the worthiest knight in the world, to the
Grail Castle, where he is about to have the secrets of the Grail revealed to him. However,
Gerbert’s presumed explanation is replaced, in both manuscripts that contain his poem,
by Manessier’s continuation and explanation.
William W.Kibler
[See also: CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES; COMTE DE POITIERS, ROMAN DU; GRAIL
AND GRAIL ROMANCES; PERCEVAL CONTINUATIONS; REALISTIC
ROMANCES; TRISTAN ROMANCES]
Gerbert de Montreuil. La continuation de Perceval, ed. Mary Williams. Paris: Champion, 1922–25,
and M.Oswald. Paris: Champion, 1975.
——. Roman de la Violette, ed. D.L.Boffum. Paris: Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1928.
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