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{{Short description|Former French province (1360–1482)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox former subdivision
| common_name            = Anjou
| year_leader2           = 1461–1482
| deputy1                = [[Louis I of Anjou]]
| year_deputy1           = 1360–1384
| year_deputy2           = 1480–1481
| deputy2                = [[Charles IV of Anjou]]
| s1                     = Duchy of Anjou#Province of Anjou{{!}}Province of Anjou
| title_deputy           = [[Duke of Anjou]]
| native_name            = Duché d'Aniu
| title_leader           = [[King of France]]
| demonym                = ''Angevin, Angevins, Angevine, Angevines''
| p1                     = County of Anjou#County of Anjou (1259-1360){{!}}County of Anjou
| conventional_long_name = Duchy of Anjou
| government_type        = [[Duchy#France|Duchy]]
| era                    = [[France in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages]]
| year_start             = 1360
| year_end               = 1482
| event_start            = County of Anjou raised to Duchy
| event_end              = Integrated into Kingdom of France
| image_coat             = Arms of Hercule dAnjou.svg
| capital                = [[Angers]]
| leader1                = [[Charles V of France|Charles V]]
| year_leader1           = 1360–1380
| leader2                = [[Louis XI]]
}}

The '''Duchy of Anjou''' ({{IPA|fr|ɑ̃ʒu|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-Lyokoï-Anjou.wav}}; {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|ɑ̃|ʒ|uː|,_|ˈ|æ̃|ʒ|uː}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ɑ̃|ˈ|ʒ|uː|,_|ˈ|æ|n|(|d|)|ʒ|uː|,_|ˈ|ɑː|n|ʒ|uː}};<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Anjou|access-date=11 May 2019}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190511133501/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/Anjou "Anjou"] (US) and {{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Anjou |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109123852/https://www.lexico.com/definition/anjou |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-01-09 |title=Anjou |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Anjou|access-date=11 May 2019}}</ref> {{langx|la|Andegavia}}) was a [[provinces of France|French province]] straddling the lower [[Loire]]. Its capital was [[Angers]], and its area was roughly co-extensive with the [[diocese of Angers]]. Anjou was bordered by [[Brittany]] to the west, [[Maine, France|Maine]] to the north, [[Touraine]] to the east and [[Poitou]] to the south. The adjectival form is [[wikt:Angevin|Angevin]], and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. In 1482, the duchy became part of the Kingdom of France and then remained a province of the Kingdom under the name of the Duchy of Anjou. After the decree dividing France into departments in 1791, the province was disestablished and split into six new ''départements''. The majority of its area formed the new [[Maine-et-Loire]] department and its remaining area split between the departments of [[Deux-Sèvres]], [[Indre-et-Loire]], [[Loire-Atlantique]], [[Sarthe]], and [[Vienne (department)|Vienne]].

== Duchy of Anjou ==
The county of Anjou was united to the [[royal domain]] between 1205 and 1246, when it was turned into an [[apanage]] for the king's brother, [[Charles I of Anjou]]. This second Angevin dynasty, a branch of the [[Capetian dynasty]], established itself on the thrones of [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], and the joint throne of [[Kingdom of Croatia (1102-1526)|Croatia]] and [[Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526)|Hungary]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arms of René d'Anjou on Šipan |url=https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/visiting-the-college/history/college-facts/misc/arms-of-rene-danjou-on-sipan |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=Queens' College |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Abulafia |first=David |title=The kingdom of Sicily under the Hohenstaufen and Angevins |date=1999 |work=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=5: c.1198–c.1300 |pages=498–522 |editor-last=Abulafia |editor-first=David |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/new-cambridge-medieval-history/kingdom-of-sicily-under-the-hohenstaufen-and-angevins/11E2E574FD9E195816451580B50C31B4 |access-date=2024-01-27  |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-36289-4}}</ref> Anjou itself was united to the royal domain again in 1328, but was detached in 1360 as the '''Duchy of Anjou''' for the king's son, [[Louis I of Anjou]]. The third Angevin dynasty, a branch of the [[House of Valois]], also ruled for a time the Kingdom of Naples. The dukes had the same autonomy as the earlier counts, but the duchy was increasingly administered in the same fashion as the royal domain and the royal government often exercised the ducal power while the dukes were away.

On 17 February 1332, [[Philip VI of France|Philip VI]] bestowed it on his son [[John II of France|John the Good]], who, when he became king in turn (22 August 1350), gave the countship to his second son [[Louis I, Duke of Anjou|Louis I]], raising it to a duchy in the peerage of France by letters patent of 25 October 1360. Louis I, who became in time [[count of Provence]] and titular king of Naples, died in 1384, and was succeeded by his son [[Louis II of Anjou|Louis II]], who devoted most of his energies to his Neapolitan ambitions, and left the administration of Anjou almost entirely in the hands of his wife, [[Yolande of Aragon]]. On his death (29 April 1417), she took upon herself the guardianship of their young son [[Louis III of Anjou|Louis III]], and, in her capacity of regent, defended the duchy against the English. Louis III, who also devoted himself to winning Naples, died on 15 November 1434, leaving no children. The duchy of Anjou then passed to his brother [[René of Anjou|René]], second son of Louis II and Yolande of Aragon.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

== Province of Anjou ==
{{Infobox former subdivision
| common_name            = Duchy of Anjou
| s2                     = Indre-et-Loire
| year_leader2           = 1774 – 1791
| deputy1                = [[Louise of Savoy]]
| year_deputy1           = 1515 – 1531
| year_deputy2           = 1755 – 1791
| deputy2                = [[Louis XVIII|Louis Stanislas Xavier de Bourbon]]
| flag_s1                = Blason département fr Deux-Sèvres.svg
| s1                     = Deux-Sèvres
| flag_s2                = Arms of Charles le Bel.svg
| title_deputy           = [[Duke of Anjou]]
| flag_s3                = Blason département fr Loire-Atlantique.svg
| s3                     = Loire-Atlantique
| s4                     = Maine-et-Loire
| flag_s4                = Blason département fr Maine-et-Loire.svg
| flag_s5                = Blason département fr Sarthe.svg
| s5                     = Sarthe
| flag_s6                = Blason département fr Vienne.svg
| native_name            = Province of Anjou
| title_leader           = [[King of France]]
| demonym                = ''Angevin, Angevins, Angevine, Angevines''
| p1                     = Duchy of Anjou
| conventional_long_name = Province of Anjou
| government_type        = Province
| era                    = [[France in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] / [[Early modern France|Early Modern]]
| year_start             = 1482
| year_end               = 1791
| event_start            = Integrated into Kingdom of France
| event_end              = Decree dividing France into departments
| image_map_caption      = Location of Anjou and Saumurois within the Kingdom of France in 1789
| image_coat             = Arms of Hercule dAnjou.svg
| image_map              = Anjou and Saumurois in France (1789).png
| capital                = [[Angers]]
| leader1                = [[Louis XI]]
| year_leader1           = 1482 – 1483
| leader2                = [[Louis XVI]]
| flag_p1                = Arms of Hercule dAnjou.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of Anjou.svg
| s6                     = Vienne (department){{!}}Vienne
}}

[[File:Anjou - old traditional countries - fr.svg|thumb|upright 0.9|{{ubl| Map of Anjou in the 18th century. |In red: the [[Maine-et-Loire]] current département.}}|left]]

Unlike his predecessors, who had rarely stayed long in Anjou, René from 1443 onwards paid long visits to it, and his court at Angers became one of the most brilliant in the kingdom of France. But after the sudden death of his son [[John II, Duke of Lorraine|John]] in December 1470, René, for reasons which are not altogether clear, decided to move his residence to [[Provence]] and leave Anjou for good. After making an inventory of all his possessions, he left the duchy in October 1471, taking with him the most valuable of his treasures. On 22 July 1474 he drew up a will by which he divided the succession between his grandson [[René II, Duke of Lorraine|René II of Lorraine]] and his nephew Charles II, count of Maine. On hearing this, [[Louis XI of France|King Louis XI]], who was the son of one of King René's sisters, seeing that his expectations were thus completely frustrated, seized the duchy of Anjou. He did not keep it very long, but became reconciled to René in 1476 and restored it to him, on condition, probably, that René should bequeath it to him. However that may be, on the death of the latter (10 July 1480) he again added Anjou to the royal domain.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

Later, [[Francis I of France|King Francis I]] again gave the duchy as an appanage to his mother, Louise of Savoy, by letters patent of 4 February 1515. On her death, in September 1531, the duchy returned into the king's possession. In 1552 it was given as an appanage by Henry II to his son [[Henry III of France|Henry of Valois]], who, on becoming king in 1574, with the title of Henry III, conceded it to his brother [[François, Duke of Anjou|Francis, duke of Alençon]], at the treaty of Beaulieu near Loches (6 May 1576). Francis died on 10 June 1584, and the vacant appanage definitively became part of the [[Crown lands of France|royal domain]].{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

=== 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 [[Henry IV of France|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, Indre-et-Loire|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-en-Vallée|Beaufort]], [[Bourgueil]], [[Candé]], Château-Gontier, [[Cholet]], [[Craon, Mayenne|Craon]], La Flèche, [[Saint-Florent-le-Vieil]], [[Ingrandes, Maine-et-Loire|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.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

Under the [[kingdom of France]], Anjou was practically identical with the [[diocese of Angers]], bound on the north by [[Maine (province of France)|Maine]], on the east by [[Touraine]], on the south by [[Poitou]] ([[Poitiers]]) and the [[Mauges]], and the west by the countship of [[Nantes]] or the duchy of [[Brittany]].{{sfn|Baynes|1878}}{{sfn|Halphen|1911}} Traditionally Anjou was divided into four natural regions: the Baugeois, the Haut-Anjou (or Segréen), the Mauges, and the Saumurois.

It occupied the greater part of what is now the [[department (France)|department]] of [[Maine-et-Loire]]. On the north, it further included: [[Craon, Mayenne|Craon]]; [[Candé]]; {{ill|Bazouges, Château-Gontier|lt=Bazouges|fr|Bazouges}} ([[Château-Gontier]]); and [[Le Lude]]. On the east, it further added [[Château-la-Vallière]] and [[Bourgueil]]; while to the south, it lacked the towns of [[Montreuil-Bellay]], [[Vihiers]], [[Cholet]], and [[Beaupréau]], as well as the district lying to the west of the [[Ironne]] and [[Thouet]] on the left bank of the [[Loire]], which formed the territory of the {{Interlanguage link|Mauges|fr}}.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

== Region of Anjou ==
Since the end of the provincial system in 1791, the name of 'Anjou' has been used to describe the former region in which the duchy and province occupied.  This region roughly correlates to several regions: Mayenne angevine (north west), Haut Anjou (centre-northern), Segreen (western), Baugeois (eastern), Les Mauges (south western), and [[Saumurois]] (south).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Saumur_chateau_350.jpg 
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Anjou |volume=2  |page=58 }}
* {{citation |last=Collins |first=Paul |title=The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century }}.

'''Attribution'''
* {{EB1911 |mode=cs2 |last=Halphen |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Halphen |wstitle=Anjou |volume=2  |pages=55–58}}

==Further reading==
{{Portal|France}}
* The chronicles of [[Normandy]] by [[William of Poitiers]] and [[William of Jumièges|of Jumièges]] and [[Ordericus Vitalis]] {{in lang|la}}
* The chronicles of [[Maine (France)|Maine]], particularly the ''[[Actus pontificum cenomannis]] in urbe degentium'' {{in lang|la}}
* The ''[[Gesta consulum Andegavorum]]'' {{in lang|la}}
** ''Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou'', published by Marchegay and Salmon, with an introduction by E. Mabille, Paris, 1856–1871 {{in lang|fr}}
* Louis Helphen, ''Êtude sur les chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise'' (Paris, 1906) {{in lang|fr}}
* Louis Helphen, ''Recueil d'annales angevines et vendómoises'' (Paris, 1903) {{in lang|fr}}
* Auguste Molinier, ''Les Sources de l'histoire de France'' (Paris, 1902), ii. 1276–1310 {{in lang|fr}}
* Louis Helphen, ''Le Comté d'Anjou au XI<sup>e</sup> siècle'' (Paris, 1906) {{in lang|fr}}
* [[Kate Norgate]], ''England under the Angevin Kings'' (2 vols., London, 1887)
* A. [[Lecoy de La Marche]], ''Le Roi René'' (2 vols., Paris, 1875). {{in lang|fr}}
* [[Célestin Port]], ''Dictionnaire historique, géographique et biographique de Maine-et-Loire'' (3 vols., Paris and Angers, 1874–1878) {{in lang|fr}}
* idem, ''Préliminaires''. {{in lang|fr}}
* [[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 lang|la}}

{{Historic Provinces of France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anjou| ]]
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]
[[Category:Former provinces of France]]
[[Category:History of Deux-Sèvres]]
[[Category:History of Indre-et-Loire]]
[[Category:History of Loire-Atlantique]]
[[Category:History of Maine-et-Loire]]
[[Category:History of Mayenne]]
[[Category:History of Sarthe]]
[[Category:History of Vienne (department)]]
[[Category:History of Centre-Val de Loire]]
[[Category:History of Pays de la Loire]]
[[Category:History of Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]
[[Category:Former duchies of France]]