Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou

Geoffrey II, called Martel, son of Fulk the Black, was a French knight and Count of Anjou from 1040 to 1060 and Count of Vendôme from 1032 to 1056. He fought battles against William VII, Duke of Aquitaine, Theobald III, Count of Blois, and William, Duke of Normandy. During his twenty-year reign, Geoffrey II faced down the ambitions of the Bishop of Le Mans, Gervais de Château-du-Loir and was able to maintain his authority over the County of Maine. Martel founded the Abbey aux Dames in Saintonge and also, in collaboration with his wife Agnes, founded the Abbaye de la Trinité at Vendôme. He was described in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum as "a treacherous man in every respect, frequently inflicted assaults and intolerable pressure on his neighbors."