Fulk III (972-1040), called Nerra (that is, le Noir, "the Black") after his death, was count of Anjou from 987 to 1040. He was the son of Geoffrey Greymantle and Adelaide of Vermandois.
He was the founder of the Angevin dynasty. He had a violent nature and performed both cruelties and acts of penitence; he made four pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
He fought against the claims of the counts of Rennes, defeating and killing Conan I of Rennes at the Battle of Conquereuil in 992. He then extended his power over the County of Maine and the Touraine. All of his enterprises came up against the no less violent ambition of the Count of Blois, Eudes II, against whom he made an alliance with the Capetians.
Fulk also commissioned many buildings. From 987 to 1040, while he was count of Anjou and fighting against the Bretons and Blois, protecting his territory from Vendôme to Angers and from Angers to Montrichard, he had more than a hundred castles, donjons, and abbeys constructed. These numerous pious foundations, however, followed his many acts of violence against the church.