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Bourbonnais

 

Contents

Flag

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



Flag

Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Bourbonnais Bourbon
Flag of Bourbonnais
– Drapeau de Bourbonnais,
Source, by: Wikipedia (FR)




Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Auvergne
1960–2016,
Unofficial flag of the Auvergne Region
– Drapeau de officieux de la Region de Auvergne,
Source, by: Wikipedia (D)



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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The flag of Bourbonnais shows the image of the coat of arms of the House of Bourbon, who owned the county from the 14th to the 16th century. The between 1960 and 2016 existing Region of "Auvergne", to which the Bourbonnais belonged in lage parts, used an unofficial flag. This flag showed a red gonfanon yellow (gold), the heraldry of the ancient County of Auvergne.

Source: Volker Preuß

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Coat of Arms


Wappen arms crest blason Bourbon-Dampierre
1173–1257, Bourbon-Dampierre
Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon-Dampierre
– Blason de Maison du Bourbon-Dampierre,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen arms crest blason Blois Châtillon
1257–1288, Burgund
Coat of arms of the House of Burgundy
– Blason de Maison du Bourgogne,
Source, by: Heraldique Europeenne


Wappen arms crest blason de Bourbon
1310–1365, de Bourbon
Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon
– Blason de Maison du Bourbon,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen arms crest blason de Bourbon
1365–1527, de Bourbon
Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon
– Blason de Maison du Bourbon,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen arms crest blason de Bourbon-Condé
1661–1830, Bourbon-Condé
Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon-Condé
– Blason de Maison du Bourbon-Condé,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

The first coat of arms of the County of Bourbon is those of the the House of Bourbon-Dampierre. It dates from the 12th/13th century. This dynasty was created by marriage and thus a connecting of the old line of Bourbon with the House of Dampierre. That coat of arms, which is considered today as the coat of arms of Bourbonnais, is the coat of arms of the House of Bourbon, who owned the county from the 14th to the 16th century. The associated Heraldry showed the blue, with golden lilies topped shield of the Capetians, which was covered with a red oblique-right bar. 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: Wikipedia (DE), Wikipedia (FR), Volker Preuß

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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 · colonization by Celtic tribes

52 B.C. · Roman conquest, forming of the province of Aquitania in the west of Gaul

418 A.D. · the Visigoths be settled as federates

5th century A.D. · conquest of Gaul by the Franks (under King Clovis) to 507 conquest of Aquitaine, expansion of the empire to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pyrenees and the Alps

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

ca. 550 · administrative division of the empire into the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria, and the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Kingdom of Burgundy, the most part of today's Bourbonnais belongs to Aquitaine, the eastern areas belong to Burgundy

639 · death of King Dagobert I., the power goes over to the Mayors of the Palace (maior domus) of Austrasia (House of the Carolingians)

687 · Pepin II. asserts itself as Mayor of the Palace throughout the Frankish Empire

8th century · fights between the Dukes of Aquitaine and the Frankish kings, the Bourbonnais, then called Burbonis, belongs to the County of Bourges, as first count of Bourges is mentioned Cunibert, who had in 762 to submit to the King of France as a follower of the Duke of Aquitaine

751 · Pepin the Short (III., grandson of Pepin II.) eliminates the Merovingian monarchy and let hisself elect to the king from the Franks

843 · division of the Frankish Empire (Treaty of Verdun), there arise the West Frankish Kingdom of Charles II. (the Bald), the Middle Frankish Kingdom of Lothar (Lotharingia), and the East Frankish Kingdom of Louis II., the Bourbonnais comes to the Empire of Charles the Bald

870 · at the division of the Frankish Empire (Treaty of Meersen) arises the West Frankish Kingdom, the East Frankish Kingdom, and the Frankish Kingdom of Italy

877 · Ludwig ascends the West Frankish throne

880 · by the division of the Frankish Empire (Treaties of Verdun and Ribbemont) arises the West Frankish Kingdom (later France), the East Frankish Kingdom (later German Empire), the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy (under Rudolf the Welf) and the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy persists, the Bourbonnais comes to the West Frankish Kingdom

898 · Odo, Count of Paris and Duke of Francia, is elected to the king of the East Frankish Empire

916 · Adémar is the first count of Burbonis (later called Bourbon or Bourbonnais)

1077 · Count Archambault III. separates the Bourbonnais from the supremacy of the County of Bourges, the Bourbonnais comes its own county

1109 · the county Bourges is affiliated to the royal domain after the death of Eudes, the last count

1171 · Guido II. of Dampierre marries Mathilde I. of Bourbon, after the death of Count Archambault (probably in 1173), the County of Bourbon comes to the House of Dampierre (Bourbon-Dampierre)

1248 · Agnes of Dampierre marries John of Burgundy

1257 · death of Countess Matilda II. of Bourbon, the legacy goes over her sister Agnes, which is merried with John of Burgundy to the House of Burgundy

1268 · death of John of Burgundy

1276 · Beatrice of Burgundy, daughter of John and Agnes, marries Robert de Clermont, a son of Louis the Saint (House of Capet, King of France)

1279 · Birth of Louis I. (the lame), son of Robert and Agnes, progenitor of the Capetian dynasty of the Bourbons

1288 · death of Agnes of Bourbon

1310–1327 · reign of Louis I.

1327 · Louis I. exchangew with King Charles IV., the Fair, the County of Clermont against the county of La Marche, the County of Bourbon (Bourbonnais) becomes on this occasion a duchy, the descendants of Louis I. call themselves as a result "de Bourbon", Louis I. has two sons, they are the progenitors of the older and younger line of the Bourbons, the older line the takes the Duchy of Bourbon, the younger takes the county of La Marche, out of the House of Bourbon came all kings of France from 1589 to 1793 and from 1814 to 1830

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 .), 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

1527 · death of Charles III. of Bourbon, the elder line of the Bourbons extincts, King Francis I. acquires Bourbon as a completed fief, and thus he enfeoffs his mother with it

1531 · the Boubonnais is affiliated to the royal domain

1661 · Louis XIII., King of France, from the House of Bourbon, hands over to his cousin, the Grand Prince Condé, the hereditary title of the Duke of Bourbon

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 and provinces become abolished, the Bourbonnais is divided into departments (for the most part the Département of Allier and the south of the Département of Cher)

1830 · death of Louis Henri Joseph de Condé, extinction of the line of Bourbon-Condé

1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, the Bourbonnais doesn't play a role, affiliation with the newly created Auvergne region, to which the Boubonnais in this way belongs for the most part (capital is Clermont-Ferrand), of course not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating of the departments of Allier, Cantal Aurillac, Haute-Loire und Puy-de-Dôme

2016 · the Auvergne region merges with the Rhône-Alpes region in the new, larger region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Source: Wikipedia (DE), Meyers Konversationslexikon

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Origin of the Country's Name

The origin of "Bourbon" lies in the Castrum Borboniense, an ancient castle in the town of Aquae Bormonis (today Bourbon l'Archambault). The first counts of the old line of Bourbon took their name from the castle. The dynasty has its origin in Hildebrand, a younger brother of Charles Martel. Topographically the county of Bourbon is called Bourbonnais.

Source: Meyers Konversationslexikon, Volker Preuß

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