Anjou

Anjou was a medieval county around the city of Angers in western France that emerged from the turbulence of the tenth century to gain ascendency in the region during the next two centuries, and become powerful enough under Geoffrey Plantagenet to become linked to the English throne. Geoffrey's son became Henry II of England in 1154, founding the Angevin or Plantagenet dynasty that was to rule England until 1485.

Anjou was lost to England under the Treaty of Paris in 1259 and remained as a county then duchy in French hands until the demise of the French nobility and the creation of the Department of Maine-et-Loire during the French Revolution.