Geoffroy III ( French Geoffroy III ; d. 1202 ) - Count of Persha since 1191, the French commander. Son of Rotrou IV du Perche and Matilda de Blois-Champagne.
Geoffrey accompanied his father in the third crusade and participated in the siege of the fortress of Saint-Jean-d'Acre , during which Rotrou IV was killed.
After returning from the Holy Land, Geoffrey was forced to sell the abbeys the right to collect taxes from many of his lands in order to improve the financial situation of the county.
With the help of Philip II Augustus, in 1194 he won the fiesta of Moulin and Bonmoulin from Richard the Lionheart , which Rotr IV had ceded to Henry II Plantagenet . Leading the French troops, defeated the British, who tried to regain control of the duchy of Normandy . As a result, in 1200, the English king John the Landless refused claims to Normandy.
In 1202, Geoffrey, along with his brother Etienne, decided to take part in the fourth crusade . But shortly before departure, he died.
Marriages and children
Perhaps the first marriage of Geoffrey III was married to a certain Matilda, who was the mother of a certain Geoffrey, mentioned in 1170 and 1196. But information about his wife is inaccurate and contradictory.
Then, in 1189, he married Matilda (1172–1209), daughter of Heinrich Leo - Duke of Bavaria and Saxony and Matilda of England . Children:
- Tome (d. 1217), Count du Perche
- Thibault, deacon of the Tur Cathedral.