Geoffrey IV

Geoffrey IV known as Geoffrey Plantagenet [O.Fr.,=sprig of broom; he usually wore a sprig in his helmet], 1113–51, count of Anjou (1129–51); son of Fulk , count of Anjou and king of Jerusalem. In 1128 he married Matilda , daughter of King Henry I of England and widow of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. After Henry I's death (1135) Geoffrey, hitherto occupied in complex feuds with Angevin barons and rival nobles, undertook to conquer Normandy, to which he laid claim through his wife. After 1139, Matilda attempted the conquest of England from her cousin, King Stephen , who had gained the crown after Henry I's death. Geoffrey did not accompany her, being still engaged in the conquest of Normandy, which he completed in 1144. In 1147 he undertook a crusade with King Louis VII of France. In 1150, Geoffrey and Matilda ceded Normandy to their son Henry (later King Henry II of England), who founded the English Angevin dynasty. Geoffrey is also known as Geoffrey the Fair.