fjt_04402 - ANJOU - NOBILITY n.d.

ANJOU - GENTRY

4712

Anjou was formed into a county in 878 for Ingelger, founder of the Angevin dynasty from which came the Plantagenets and the English kings from Henry II. In 1203, the county was confiscated but it was given by will to Charles of Anjou, brother of Saint Louis in 1246. Thereafter, the matrimonial alliances of the princes of Anjou allowed the house to reign in different places in Europe : Naples, Hungary, Tarente, etc. In 1328, Anjou was again united to the crown by Philippe VI of Valois but again became a duchy in 1360 for the second son of Jean le Bon. The last descendant of this family, King René, died in 1481 and Anjou was definitively attached to the Crown in 1482, even if the title was still carried by several princes of the blood, such as the future Philippe V of Spain..