Anjou

Anjou (Lat. Andecavi), an ancient province of France, lying between Normandy, Poiton, Maine, Brittany, and Touraine. It is now divided into the departments of Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, and Indre-et-Loire. Charles the Bald made it a county and conferred it on a Breton named Tertule, about the end of the ninth century. From him descended Geoffrey of Anjou, who married Matilda, daughter of Henry I., and widow of the Emperor Henry V., and became father of Henry II., the founder of the Plantagenet or Angevin dynasty in England. Anjou belonged to England until 1203, when Philip Augustus wrested it from John. In 1290 the land came to the crown of France by marriage, and was made a duchy. It was not finally attached to France until 1482, since which the dukedom has been held by several princes of the blood, e.g. by Francis, by Henry III., and by Philip V. of Spain.