County of Anjou
| County of Anjou Comté d'Aniu | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 861–1360 | |||||||||
_type_3.svg) Flag | |||||||||
Count of Anjou | | ||||||||
• 861–866 | Robert the Strong | ||||||||
• 1332–1360 | John de Valois[a] | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• First Count of Anjou appointed | 861 | ||||||||
• Raised to Duchy | 1360 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | France | ||||||||
The County of Anjou (
Background
Anjou's political origin is traced to the ancient
History
Frankish county
The Roman civitas was afterward preserved as an administrative district under the Franks with the name first of pagus—then of comitatus or countship—of Anjou.[4]
At the beginning of the reign of
A brave man was needed to defend it. The chroniclers of Anjou named a "Tertullus" as the first count, elevated from obscurity by
The Fulks
Odo acceded to the throne of France in 888, but he seems to have already delegated the country between the Maine and the Mayenne to Ingelger as a viscount or count around 870.
Geoffrey inaugurated a policy of expansion, having as its objects the extension of the boundaries of the ancient countship and the reconquest of those parts of it which had been annexed by other states; for, though western Anjou had been recovered from the dukes of
Geoffrey's son
On the death of Odo I, Fulk seized Tours (996); but King Robert the Pious turned against him and took the town again (997). In 997 Fulk took the fortress of Montsoreau. In 1016 a fresh struggle arose between Fulk and Odo II, the new count of Blois. Odo II was utterly defeated at Pontlevoy (6 July 1016), and a few years later, while Odo was besieging Montboyau, Fulk surprised and took Saumur (1026).[4]
Finally, the victory gained by
On the death of Geoffrey Martel (14 November 1060), there was a dispute as to the succession. Geoffrey Martel, having no children, had bequeathed the countship to his eldest nephew,
Fulk V the Young (14 April 1109 – 1129) succeeded to the countship of Maine on the death of Elias (11 July 1110); but this increase of Angevin territory came into such direct collision with the interests of
The Plantagenets
From the outset,
May 1137 began a fresh campaign in which he devastated the district of
All the while that
Another rising was crushed in 1134 by the destruction of
Thus, on the death of
At length on the death of
County of Anjou (1259-1360)
Shortly afterwards it was separated from it again, when in August 1246
Government
At first Anjou was included in the gouvernement (or military command) of Orléanais, but in the 17th century was made into a separate one. Saumur, however, and the Saumurois, for which King Henry IV had in 1589 created an independent military governor-generalship in favour of Duplessis-Mornay, continued till the Revolution to form a separate gouvernement, which included, besides Anjou, portions of Poitou and Mirebalais. Attached to the généralité (administrative circumscription) of Tours, Anjou on the eve of the Revolution comprised five êlections (judicial districts):--Angers, Baugé, Saumur, Château-Gontier, Montreuil-Bellay and part of the êlections of La Flèche and Richelieu. Financially it formed part of the so-called pays de grande gabelle, and comprised sixteen special tribunals, or greniers à sel (salt warehouses):--Angers, Baugé, Beaufort, Bourgueil, Candé, Château-Gontier, Cholet, Craon, La Flèche, Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Ingrandes, Le Lude, Pouancé, Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne, Richelieu, Saumur. From the point of view of purely judicial administration, Anjou was subject to the parlement of Paris; Angers was the seat of a presidial court, of which the jurisdiction comprised the sénéchaussées of Angers, Saumur, Beaugé, Beaufort and the duchy of Richelieu; there were besides presidial courts at Château-Gontier and La Flèche. When the Constituent Assembly, on 26 February 1790, decreed the division of France into departments, Anjou and the Saumurois, with the exception of certain territories, formed the department of Maine-et-Loire, as at present constituted.[4]
Notes
- King of France, and the county was consequently taken into the French Royal Domain
References
- ^ "Anjou". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ "Anjou" (US) and "Anjou". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-01-09.
- ^ "Anjou". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Halphen 1911.
- ^ a b c d e f g Baynes 1878.
- ^ Collins, p. 33.
Sources
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 58
- Collins, Paul, The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Halphen, Louis (1911), "Anjou", in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 55–58
- The chronicles of Ordericus Vitalis(in Latin)
- The chronicles of Actus pontificum cenomannisin urbe degentium (in Latin)
- The Gesta consulum Andegavorum(in Latin)
- Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou, published by Marchegay and Salmon, with an introduction by E. Mabille, Paris, 1856–1871 (in French)
- Louis Helphen, Êtude sur les chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise (Paris, 1906) (in French)
- Louis Helphen, Recueil d'annales angevines et vendómoises (Paris, 1903) (in French)
- Auguste Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France (Paris, 1902), ii. 1276–1310 (in French)
- Louis Helphen, Le Comté d'Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906) (in French)
- Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings (2 vols., London, 1887)
- A. Lecoy de La Marche, Le Roi René (2 vols., Paris, 1875). (in French)
- Célestin Port, Dictionnaire historique, géographique et biographique de Maine-et-Loire (3 vols., Paris and Angers, 1874–1878) (in French)
- idem, Préliminaires. (in French)
- Edward Augustus Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England, its Causes and its Results (2d vol.)
- Luc d'Achery, Spicilegium, sive Collectio veterum aliquot scriptorum qui in Galliae bibliothecis, maxime Benedictinorum, latuerunt (in Latin)
