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Rh which they concluded among themselves leading to the concentration of several castles in a single pair of hands, the great vassals were only waiting an opportunity to shew their independence. This was supplied by a dispute which arose over the succession.

Geoffrey Martel, dying childless in 1060, had left his county to his eldest nephew, Geoffrey the Bearded, already Count of Gâtinais, whereupon the younger nephew, Fulk Rechin, declaring himself aggrieved, rose in rebellion without delay. Geoffrey the Bearded by his unskilful policy precipitated the crisis; a discontented party growing up in the country gathered itself round Fulk; in the end, Geoffrey was seized and thrown into prison while Fulk gained his own recognition as Count (1068). But in the course of the conflict, which lasted several years, the passions of the great barons who had been called on to take sides in it had been given free play; for months together Fulk was obliged to struggle with the rebels, to go and besiege them in their castles, and to repress their ravages. When at last he succeeded in gaining general recognition, the country, as he himself acknowledges in one of his charters, was a mere heap of ruins.

Even the general submission was only apparent. After 1068 revolts still broke out in all parts of the county. Thus on the death of Sulpicius, lord of Amboise and Chaumont, it was in obedience to threats that Fulk set at liberty Hugh, son and successor of the deceased, who had been given up to him as a hostage. Soon after, the count decided to commit the custody of his castle at Amboise called "The Domicile" to a certain Aimeri of Courron. This choice was distasteful to Hugh's men, five of whom slipped into the donjon, surprised the watchman whom they made prisoner, and planted their master's standard on the tower. Hugh, meanwhile, retired to a fortified mansion which he possessed in the town, and set himself to harass the count's troops. At last Fulk came up, and not daring to try conclusions with his adversary, preferred a compromise with him. Their agreement did not last long, as the unsubdued vassal was merely watching his opportunity to rebel afresh. Suddenly, in 1106, one day when the castellan of "The Domicile," Hugh du Gué, was out hunting in the direction of Romorantin, Hugh of Amboise surprised the castle and destroyed it. The struggle began again: Fulk Rechin, calling to his aid several of his vassals, Aubrey, lord of Montrésor, and Jocelyn and Hugh, sons of the lord of Sainte-Maure, flung himself upon St-Cyr, one of the hereditary possessions of the house of Chaumont and Amboise. Hugh of Amboise, supported by his brother-in-law John, lord of Lignières, retorted by pillaging the suburbs of Tours, and the environs of Loches, Montrichard, and Montrésor. In all directions the same situation was reproduced; one day it was the lord of Alluyes, Saint-Christophe and Vallières who rebelled, another day it was the lord of Maillé; again he of Lion d'Angers; in 1097, he of Rochecorbon. A regular campaign was required against Bartholomew, lord of l'Ile-Bouchard, a fortress had