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Anjou

 

Contents

Flags

Meaning/Origin of the Flag

Coat of Arms

Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

Map of the historical Regions in France

Explanations about the Regions

History

Origin of the Country's Name



Flags

Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Anjou
Flag of Anjou – Drapeau de Anjou,
Source, by: Die Welt der Flaggen




Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Pays-de-la-Loire
from 1960,
Unofficial flag of Pays-de-la-Loire Region
– Drapeau de officieux de la Pays-de-la-Loire region,
Source, by: Wikipedia (D)



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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The flag of Anjou is a scutcheon-flag, its design is actually the image of the coat of arms of the line of the Valois, like it was reproduced since the 16th century, with three lilies. The in 1960 created Region of "Pays-de-la-Loire", to which Anjou belongs, uses an unofficial flag modeled after historical coats of arms. It shows the heraldry of Maine, Anjou, Vendée and Brittany.

Source: Wikipedia (D), Volker Preuß

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Coat of Arms


Wappen arms crest blason Anjou
929–1060, Ingelgeriens,
Coat of arms of Anjou,
Source, by: m695.blogspot.com


Wappen arms crest blason Anjou
1060–1150, Château-Landon,
Coat of arms of Anjou,
Source, by: m695.blogspot.com


Wappen arms crest blason de Plantagenet Anjou
1060–1219,
Coat of arms of the House of Plantagenet,
Source, by: Wikipedia (FR)


Wappen arms crest blason Anjou
1219–1290, Kapetinger/Capétiens,
Coat of arms of the Counts of Anjou
– Armes des comtes capétiens d'Anjou,
Source, by: Wikipedia (FR)


Wappen arms crest blason Anjou
1360–1481, de Valois,
Coat of arms of the Counts of Anjou
– Armes des comtes capétiens d'Anjou,
Source, by: Wikipedia (FR)


Wappen arms crest blason Anjou
16.–18. Jahrhundert,
Coat of arms of the Dukes of Anjou
– Armes des ducs d'Anjou,
Source, by: Wikipedia (FR)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

The first Counts of Anjou, which go back to Ingelger, showed a blue shield with a red shield-head, topped with a golden three-armed lily cross. When Count Geoffrey II. Martel died in 1060, this line extincted. Successor was his nephew, Geoffrey III., he founded the line of the Counts of Anjou out of the House of Gatinais (later Plantagenets). They first used an a blue shield with a red shield-head, topped with a golden lion. Then the heraldry of Anjou was determinated by the line of the Plantagenet, on the one hand with the six golden lions on blue, on the other hand with the insignia of the Kings of England: two or three golden lions on red. When King Louis IX . his younger brother, Prince Charles I fief of France in 1246 with the county of Anjou , the fleur de lis of the Capetians was for him supplemented with a red collar tournament , Charles - following the rules of the French Heraldry - featured as a younger son. The progenitor of the line of Valois, Prince Charles (1270–1325, son of King Philipp III.), Count of Valois, Anjou and Maine, took over the coat of arms from Prince John Tristan (1250–1270, Count of Valois, son of King Ludwig IX.). He surrounded the lily arms of the Capetians with a wide red border. The coat of arms of the Capetians showed three golden lilies on blue, but originally was the coat of arms sprinkled with lilies. From 1365 (by others sources 1376), the number of lilies was reduced to three. The lily-symbol is very old, already the Germanic tribe of the Franks has used it. The House of the Capetians has provided the kings of France between 987 and 1328. It goes back to Hugo Capet, son of Hugo the Great, who was electet to the King of France, in 987, after the death of King Ludwig V. from the House of the Carolingians. The Capetians brought out three branch lines which became the Kings of France: Valois 1328–1589, Bourbon 1589–1792 and 1814–1830, and Orléans 1830–1848.

Source: Heraldique Europeenne, Volker Preuß, Wikipedia (D)

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Map of the historical Regions in France

The historical, French Regions:

in black: governorate and province in 1776,
in red: former county, province oder governorate

Map: Volker Preuß

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Explanations about the Regions

The until the French Revolution existing provinces (or governorates) have been historically grown structures, which had their roots oftenly in former fiefdoms of the French crown, historic counties and duchies. They oftenly existed for hundreds of years and had preserved regionality (e.g. cultural particularities and regional languages). On the occasion of the French Revolution such phenomena were of course not desirable, and as part of their bloody and violent egalitarianism any regional references were eliminated. Shortly after the French Revolution the provinces were dissolved and France became divided into many départements, which should have approximately the same size and the same status. The départements were named after rivers or mountains, to use never and in no circumstances the name of an old province. However, there was no success in cutting the connections of the people of France to their respective regions, so that administrative regions were re-created in 1960, to have a better control in regional administrative processes. In this way became départements, which were placed in a historical province, administratively grouped to an oftenly historically named region. The resulted structures coincide only approximately with the boundaries of the old provinces. In the strictly centralist France any regionality is avoided, so that even the official flags of these regions mostly look like flags of companies, unloving, unhistorical, technocratic and modernistic, and these flags should not be a subject of any lexical considerations here. Only in a few of that regions, exist official flags which remember the historical models. But, even the existence of these today's regions is douptful, because in 2014 was passed a territorial reform valid from the year 2016, that reduces the number of the existing regions by merging to nearly the half. However, there exist unofficial flags in nearly all of these regions, which should remember the old provinces and the old heraldry.

Wikipedia Link to the regions of France: click or tap here
FOTW Link to the regions of France: click or tap here

Source: Flags of the World, Wikipedia (D), Volker Preuß

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History

antiquity · settlement by Celtic tribes , the largest of them are the Andecavers

56 B.C. · Roman conquest, to the province of Gallia Lugdunensis

5th century A.D. · the territories north of the Loire River belong to the kingdom of the Roman Governor Syagrius, south of the Loire to the kingdom of the Visigoths, from 480 conquest of Gaul by the Franks, until 507 (under King Clovis) expansion of the empire to the Atlantic, the Pyrenees and the Alps, the area of today's Anjou comes to the Frankish Empire

511 · death of King Clovis, division of the Frankish Empire by Salic law of succession among his four sons (residences in Paris, Soissons, Orleans, Reims)

ca. 550 · administrative division of the kingdom into the kingdoms of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, today's Anjou comes to Neustria, later to the Duchy of Francia

865 · first mention of Duke of "Francia", called Robert the Strong

880 · at the division of the Frankish Empire (Treaty of Verdun and Ribbemont) was created the West Frankish Kingdom – the later France (including today's Anjou) under a line of the Carolingians

898 · death of Robert the Strong, succession by his brother Robert II.

922 · Robert II. calls himself King of France

923 · Robert II. dies in the Battle of Soissons, the inheritance goes to his son Hugo (Hugh) the Great, he wins the battle, but rejects the crown of France

ca. 925 · Hugh the Great employs Ingelger as a Viscount in Angers, he founds the first line of the Counts of Anjou

929 · Fulk I., the Red, son of Ingelger calls himself Count of Anjou

930 · Hugh the Great recognizes Fulk I. as Count of Anjou

936 · Hugh the Great is guardian of King Louis IV.

942 · Hugo the Great receives Neustria (now Northern France, which includes Anjou) and Burgundy

956 · death of Hugh the Great

987 · death of Louis V. (986–987) from the house of the Carolingians, Hugo Capet, son of Hugo the Great was elected to the King of France and becomes the founder of the Capetian dynasty (Kings of France 987–1328), the Counts of Anjou support the king and they rise to a powerful dynasty in the west of today's France

992 · Count Fulk III . Nerra beats the Bretons in the second battle of Conquereuil, expansion of the controled area

1016 · Count Fulk III . Nerra beats the Counts of Blois in the Battle of Pontlevoy

1033 · Count Geoffrey II. Martel beats the Duke of Aquitaine in a battle, expansion the controled area

1060 · death of Count Geoffrey II. Martel, he is succeeded by his nephew, Geoffrey III . , The Bearded, he founds the line of the Counts of Anjou out of the House of Gatinais

1109 · Count Fulk V., the Younger, son of Fulk IV., is the successor after his death

1110 · Count Fulk V. of Anjou marries Eremburg of Beaugency, the heiress of Maine

1128 · Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Count Fulk V., marries Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. of England

1129 · Count Fulk V. becomes a crusader, he hands over the County of Anjou to his son Geoffrey V. Plantagenet

1131 · Fulk V. becomes King of Jerusalem (Angevin dynasty to 1205)

1135 · death of King Henry I. of England, his son-in-law, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, becomes Duke of Normandy, however, King Louis VI . of France had already given the Normandy as a fief to Count Stephen of Blois, a nephew of King Henry I.

1144 · Geoffrey Plantagenet establishes finally its rule as Duke of Normandy against Count Stephen of Blois

1150 · Henry, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, is Duke of Normandy

1151 · death of Geoffrey Plantagenet

1152 · Henry marries Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony come to the house of Anjou-Plantagenet

1154 · death of Stephen of Blois (King of England) , Henry is his successor as Henry II., Anjou becomes in this way a fief of the French king, which is a part of the crown of England (House of Anjou-Plantagenet)

1189 · death of Henry II., he is succeeded by his son Richard the Lionheart

1199 · death of Richard the Lionheart, he is succeeded by his son John Lackland

1204 · Philip Augustus, King of France, conquers Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine (Angevin Empire of the Plantagenets)

1206 · John Lackland renounces the areas north of the Loire

1214 · John Lackland renounces further areas in the Loire area (the Plantagenets still remain as Kings of England until 1485 and they keep some areas in France), Anjou comes to the French crown domain

1246 · King Louis IX . of France enfeoffes his younger brother, Prince Charles I., with the County of Anjou (Charles I. in 1266 terminated the reign of the Hohenstaufen in southern Italy - Kingdom of Sicily - lower Italy comes as Kingdom of Naples to the House of Anjou and remains to 1435 under the reign of the line Anjou-Capet, from 1301 to 1386 the kings of Hungary came from the House of Anjou-Capet)

1290 · Marguerite d' Anjou, daughter of Charles II. of Naples, marries the French prince Charles of Valois, her is given the County of Anjou as a dowry in the marriage, arise of the House of Anjou-Valois

1328 · death of King Charles IV. (the Fair), extinction of the direct Capetian line, according to Salic Law Count Philip of Valois (Son of Prince Charles of Valois, first cousin of King Charles IV.) came on the French throne (as King Philip VI .), Anjou comes thus to the royal domain (royal possessions), the English king Edward III. lays claim to the throne as a maternal nephew of Charles IV., reason for the "Hundred Years War" (Anglo-French War, 1338–1453), out of the House of Valois came all kings of France from 1328 to 1589

1360 · King John II. of France raises Anjou to a duchy and passes it to his second son Louis I. (second line of Anjou-Valois)

1380 · Queen Joanna I. of Naples adopts Louis I. and made him to the heir, the Kingdom of Naples comes thus to the second line of Anjou-Valois

1442 · Alfonso V. of Aragon conquers the Kingdom of Naples, to 1504 war between Spain and France for Naples, finally it came to the House of Habsburg in 1516

1481 · death of Duke Charles IV., end of the second line Anjou-Valois, the land comes back to the crown, the title of the duke and the country are awarded in the following years as an appanage to royal princes again and again

1776 · the already in the 14th century created governorates of the civil administration of the kingdom of France become committed to a number of 39, and correspond in this way to the number of provinces, in previous years could any provinces be summarized in one governorate

1789 · French Revolution, the governorates (provinces) become abolished, Anjou is divided into departments (approximately Mayenne-et-Loire, Vienne , Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne and Sarthe)

1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, formation of the Region of Pays de la Loire with Nantes as capital, but not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating of the departments of Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe und Vendée

Source: Wikipedia (D), Brockhaus Konversationslexikon


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Origin of the Country's Name

The name "Anjou" has its roots in the name of the city of Angers. The city has its name from the Celtic tribe of the Andecaver (also Andeavii), which can be translated with "residents of the water land".

Source: Atlas der wahren Namen, Volker Preuß

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