Agenais (), or Agenois (), was an ancient region that became a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

: ''conté'' or ''cunté'') of France, south of

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...

.Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Agenais". '' Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1985. , (indexed), and (deluxe). In ancient

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

the region was the country of the Nitiobroges with

Aginnum The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department ...

for their capital, which in the fourth century was the Civitas Agennensium, which was a part of Aquitania Secunda and which formed the

diocese of Agen The Diocese of Agen (Latin: ''Dioecesis Agennensis''; French: ''Diocèse d'Agen'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Diocese of Agen comprises the ''département'' of Lot-et-Garonne, in t ...

. From 833 to 848, all the land seems to have been ravaged by the Vikings. Having in general shared the fortunes of

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

during the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

and Carolingian periods, Agenais from about 886 became an hereditary county in the part of the country now called Gascony (Vasconia). The first count of Agenais (''comte d'Agen'') was William I of Périgord (d. 920), son of Wulgrin I of Angoulême. In 1038 this county was purchased by William, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers. The marriage of

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from 1 ...

with the future

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

in 1152 brought the county under the sway of the

Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in ...

house of Anjou. When Richard Coeur-de-Lion married his sister Joan to Raymund VI, Count of Toulouse, in 1196, Agenais formed part of the princess's dowry, and formed part of the other estates of the last independent count of Toulouse. In 1212, during the Albigensian Crusade,

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

captured the

Cathar Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

fortress of Penne-d'Agenais and burned Cathars at the stake. At the 1259 Treaty of Paris, Louis IX of France agreed to pay an annual rent to

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

for Louis' possession of Agenais.Harry Rothwell, ed. ''English Historical Documents 1189–1327'', Routledge, 1996, The estates of Agenais lapsed to the crown of France in 1271. This, however, was not for long; the king of France had to recognize the prior rights of the king of England to the possession of the county, and restored it to him in 1279. During the Hundred Years' War between the English and the French, Agenais was frequently taken and retaken, the final retreat of the English in 1453 at last leaving the king of France in peaceable possession. In 1561,

Guyenne Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux. The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...

was made a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, and included Bordelais,

Bazadais Bazas (; oc-gsc, Vasats) is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. Geography Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of ...

Limousin Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...

Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and ...

Rouergue Rouergue (; ) is a former province of France, corresponding roughly with the modern department of Aveyron. Its historical capital is Rodez. It is bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan ...

, Agenais, Saintonge, and Angoumois. Thenceforth Agenais was no more than an administrative term. At the end of the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...

it formed part of the ''Gouvernement'' of Guienne, and at the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

it was incorporated within the département of

Lot-et-Garonne Lot-et-Garonne (, oc, Òlt e Garona) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.dukes of Richelieu Duke of Richelieu (french: duc de Richelieu) was a title of French nobility. It was created on 26 November 1629 for Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (known as Cardinal Richelieu) who, as a Roman Catholic clergyman, had no issue to pass it down ...

Notes

References

Richard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:
"Aginnum (Agen), Lot-et-Garonne, France" {{coord, 44.20, 0.62, display=title Geography of Gironde Geography of Lot (department) Geography of Lot-et-Garonne Geography of Tarn-et-Garonne History of Nouvelle-Aquitaine History of Occitania (administrative region) History of Gironde History of Lot (department) History of Lot-et-Garonne History of Tarn-et-Garonne Guyenne County of Agenois