into an ambush, giving him a rendezvous at Saintes, which, he said, he intended to grant him as a fief in order to put an end to a dispute which had arisen between them. Herbert presented himself unsuspectingly, and was seized and thrown into prison, while the gentle Hildegarde, the Countess of Anjou, planned a similar fate for his wife. Less dexterous than her husband, she missed her stroke, but Herbert remained two years under lock and key and was only set at liberty after the deepest humiliations. A few years before, in 1008, the count of the palace, Hugh of Beauvais, being an obstacle to his designs, Fulk posted cutthroats to wait for him while he was hunting in company with the king and had him stabbed under the very eyes of the sovereign.
Elsewhere, on the contrary, we find him, stricken with fear, making a donation to the Church of St Maurice of Angers, "for the salvation of his sinful soul and to obtain pardon for the terrible massacre of Christians whom he had caused to perish at the battle of Conquereuil," which he had fought in 992 against the Count of Rennes. A charter shews him in 996, just as Tours had been taken, forcing his way into the cloister of St Martin, and suddenly, when he saw the canons wreathing the shrine and the crucifix with thorns, and shutting the gates of their church, coming in haste, humbled and barefoot, to make satisfaction before the tomb of the Saint whom he had insulted. In 1026, when he took Saumur, being carried away, at first, by his fury, he pillaged and burnt everything, not even sparing the church of St Florent; then, his rude type of piety suddenly re-asserting itself, he cried out "Saint Florent, let thy church be burned, I will build thee a finer dwelling at Angers." But as the Saint refused to be won over by fair promises, and as the boat on which Fulk had had his body shipped refused to stir, the count burst out furiously against "this impious fellow, this clown, who declines the honour of being buried at Angers."
His violence is great, but his penances are not less striking; in 1002 or 1003 he set out for Jerusalem. Hardly had he returned when he defiled himself afresh by the murder of Hugh of Beauvais, and again there was a journey to the Holy Land from which neither the perils of an eventful voyage nor the hostility of the infidel could deter him (1008?). Finally, at the end of 1039 when he was nearly seventy years old, he did not hesitate for the sake of his salvation once again to brave the fatigues and dangers of a last pilgrimage to our Saviour's tomb.
All this shews a nature fiery and even savage but constantly influenced by the dread of Heaven's vengeance, and legend has copiously embroidered both aspects. This violent-tempered man has been turned into the type of the most revolting ferocity, he has been depicted as stabbing his wife, giving up Angers itself to the flames, forcing his rebellious son, the proud and fiery Geoffrey Martel, to go several miles with a saddle on his back, and then when he humbly dragged himself along the ground towards him, brutally thrusting him away with his foot, uttering cries of triumph.
