'From the Devil they came and to the Devil they will return.' This saying about the counts of Anjou, reported by Gerald of Wales, refers to the legend that the Angevin counts and kings were descended from the daughter of Satan. In Gerald's story, an early count of Anjou returned from a journey with a woman, Melusine, famous for her beauty, whom he married. There were many strange things about her, the most shocking of which was that she was always absent from Mass at the consecration of the Host. Her true identity was discovered when her husband forced her to stay and see the body of Christ -- a sight no evil spirit could contemplate. Melusine flew screaming out of the window and was never seen again. She left behind two sons, from whom the later counts were descended.

Other, more complimentary, legends were chronicled in the 12th century by the family's official historian, Thomas of Loches (c.1130) and John of Marmoutier (c.1164-73), and usually tell of soldierly prowess -- for instance, how Count Geoffrey Greygown (c.960-987), single-handedly fought and killed a giant, Ethelulf.

The 12th century was a great period of legend making, the time when the Arthurian tales first became widely known, and many noble houses invented pedigrees that gave them legendary ancestors, probable to explain obscure social origins. An earlier historian of the house of Anjou, Count Fulk Rechin (1068-1109), admitted that he knew nothing of the first three of his line, Ingelgar, who is said to have been granted the title of Anjou in the late 9th century, and his son Fulk the Red, and Fulk the Good who ruled from 941 to c.960.

Sometimes the legends were blatant propaganda attempts. According to one, Fulk the Good, Geoffrey Greygown's father, was learned and saintly, dressed in cleric's robes and lived peaceably.