At length on the death of King Stephen, Henry was recognised as king of England (19th of December 1154). But then his brother Geoffrey, who had received as appanage the three fortresses of Chinon, Loudun and Mirebeau, tried to seize upon Anjou, on the pretext that, by the will of their father, Geoffrey the Handsome, all the paternal inheritance ought to descend to him, if Henry succeeded in obtaining possession of the maternal inheritance. On hearing of this, Henry, although he had sworn to observe this will, had himself released from his oath by the pope, and hurriedly marched against his brother, from whom in the beginning of 1156 he succeeded in taking Chinon and Mirebeau; and in July he forced Geoffrey to give up even his three fortresses in return for an annual pension. Henceforward Henry succeeded in keeping the countship of Anjou all his life; for though he granted it in 1168 to his son Henry “of the Short Mantle,” when the latter became old enough to govern it, he absolutely refused to allow him to enjoy his power. After Henry II.’s death in 1189 the countship, together with the rest of his dominions, passed to his son Richard I. of England, but on the death of the latter in 1199, Arthur of Brittany (born in 1187) laid claim to the inheritance, which ought, according to him, to have fallen to his father Geoffrey, fourth son of Henry II., in accordance with the custom by which “the son of the eldest brother should succeed to his father’s patrimony.” He therefore set himself up in rivalry with John Lackland, youngest son of Henry II., and supported by Philip Augustus of France, and aided by William des Roches, seneschal of Anjou, he managed to enter Angers (18th of April 1199) and there have himself recognized as count of the three countships of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, for which he did homage to the king of France. King John soon regained the upper hand, for Philip Augustus having deserted Arthur by the treaty of Le Goulet (22nd of May 1200), John made his way into Anjou; and on the 18th of June 1200 was recognized as count at Angers. In 1202 he refused to do homage to Philip Augustus, who, in consequence, confiscated all his continental possessions, including Anjou, which was allotted by the king of France to Arthur. The defeat of the latter, who was taken prisoner at Mirebeau on the ist of August 1202, seemed to ensure John’s success, but he was abandoned by William des Roches, who in 1203 assisted Philip Augustus in subduing the whole of Anjou. A last effort on the part of John to possess himself of it, in 1214, led to the taking of Angers (17th of June), but broke down lamentably at the battle of La Roche-aux-Moines (2nd of July), and the countship was attached to the crown of France.
Shortly afterwards it was separated from it again, when in August 1246 King Louis IX. gave it as an appanage to his son Charles, count of Provence, soon to become king of Naples and Sicily (see [Naples]). Charles I. of Anjou, engrossed with his other dominions, gave little thought to Anjou, nor did his son Charles II. the Lame, who succeeded him on the 7th of January 1285. On the 16th of August 1290, the latter married his daughter Margaret to Charles of Valois, son of Philip III. the Bold, giving her Anjou and Maine for dowry, in exchange for the kingdoms of Aragon and Valentia and the countship of Barcelona given up by Charles. Charles of Valois at once entered into possession of the countship of Anjou, to which Philip IV. the Fair, in September 1297, attached a peerage of France. On the 16th of December 1325, Charles died, leaving Anjou to his eldest son Philip of Valois, on whose recognition as king of France (Philip VI.) on the 1st of April 1328, the countship of Anjou was again united to the crown. On the 17th of February 1332, Philip VI. bestowed it on his son John the Good, who, when he became king in turn (22nd of August 1350), gave the countship to his second son Louis I., raising it to a duchy in the peerage of France by letters patent of the 25th of October 1360. Louis I., who became in time count of Provence and king of Naples (see Louis I., king of Naples,) died in 1384, and was succeeded by his son Louis II., who devoted most of his energies to his kingdom of Naples, and left the administration of Anjou almost entirely in the hands of his wife, Yolande of Aragon. On his death (29th of April 1417) she took upon herself the guardianship of their young son Louis III., and in her capacity of regent defended the duchy against the English. Louis III., who also succeeded his father as king of Naples, died on the 15th of November 1434, leaving no children. The duchy of Anjou then passed to his cousin René, second son of Louis II. and Yolande of Aragon, and king of Naples and Sicily (see [Naples]).
Unlike his predecessors, who had rarely stayed long in Anjou, René from 1443 onwards paid long visits to it, and his court at Angers became one of the most brilliant in the kingdom of France. But after the sudden death of his son John in December 1470, Rene, for reasons which are not altogether clear, decided to move his residence to Provence and leave Anjou for good. After making an inventory of all his possessions, he left the duchy in October 1471, taking with him the most valuable of his treasures. On the 22nd of July 1474 he drew up a will by which he divided the succession between his grandson René II. of Lorraine and his nephew Charles II., count of Maine. On hearing this, King Louis XI., who was the son of one of King René’s sisters, seeing that his expectations were thus completely frustrated, seized the duchy of Anjou. He did not keep it very long, but became reconciled to René in 1476 and restored it to him, on condition, probably, that René should bequeath it to him. However that may be, on the death of the latter (10th of July 1480) he again added Anjou to the royal domain.
Later, King Francis I. again gave the duchy as an appanage to his mother, Louise of Savoy, by letters patent of the 4th of February 1515. On her death, in September 1531, the duchy returned into the king’s possession. In 1552 it was given as an appanage by Henry II. to his son Henry of Valois, who, on becoming king in 1574, with the title of Henry III., conceded it to his brother Francis, duke of Alençon, at the treaty of Beaulieu near Loches (6th of May 1576). Francis died on the 10th of June 1584, and the vacant appanage definitively became part of the royal domain.
At first Anjou was included in the gouvernement (or military command) of Orléanais, but in the 17th century was made into a separate one. Saumur, however, and the Saumurois, for which King Henry IV. had in 1589 created an independent military governor-generalship in favour of Duplessis-Mornay, continued till the Revolution to form a separate gouvernement, which included, besides Anjou, portions of Poitou and Mirebalais. Attached to the généralité (administrative circumscription) of Tours, Anjou on the eve of the Revolution comprised five êlections (judicial districts):—Angers, Beaugé, Saumur, Château-Gontier, Montreuil-Bellay and part of the êlections of La Flèche and Richelieu. Financially it formed part of the so-called pays de grande gabelle (see [Gabelle]), and comprised sixteen special tribunals, or greniers à sel (salt warehouses):—Angers, Beaugé, Beaufort, Bourgueil, Candé, Château-Gontier, Cholet, Craon, La Flèche, Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Ingrandes, Le Lude, Pouancé, Saint-Remy-la-Varenne, Richelieu, Saumur. From the point of view of purely judicial administration, Anjou was subject to the parlement of Paris; Angers was the seat of a presidial court, of which the jurisdiction comprised the sénéchaussées of Angers, Saumur, Beaugé, Beaufort and the duchy of Richelieu; there were besides presidial courts at Château-Gontier and La Flèche. When the Constituent Assembly, on the 26th of February 1790, decreed the division of France into departments, Anjou and the Saumurois, with the exception of certain territories, formed the department of Maine-et-Loire, as at present constituted.
Authorities.—(1) Principal Sources: The history of Anjou may be told partly with the aid of the chroniclers of the neighbouring provinces, especially those of Normandy (William of Poitiers, William of Jumièges, Ordericus Vitalis) and of Maine (especially Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium). For the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries especially, there are some important texts dealing entirely with Anjou. The most important is the chronicle called Gesta consulum Andegavorum, of which only a poor edition exists (Chroniques des comtes d’Anjou, published by Marchegay and Salmon, with an introduction by E. Mabille, Paris, 1856-1871, collection of the Société de l’histoire de France). See also with reference to this text Louis Halphen, Êtude sur les chroniques des comtes d’Anjou et des seigneurs d’Amboise (Paris, 1906). The above may be supplemented by some valuable annals published by Louis Halphen, Recueil d’annales angevines et vendómoises (Paris, 1903), (in the series Collection de textes pour servir à l’étude et à l’enseignement de l’histoire). For further details see Auguste Molinier, Les Sources de l’histoire de France (Paris, 1902), ii. 1276-1310, and the book of Louis Halphen mentioned below.
(2) Works: The Art de vérifier les dates contains a history of Anjou which is very much out of date, but has not been treated elsewhere as a whole. The 11th century only has been treated in detail by Louis Halphen, in Le Comté d’Anjou au XIe siècle (Paris, 1906), which has a preface with bibliography and an introduction dealing with the history of Anjou in the 10th century. For the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, a good summary will be found in Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings (2 vols., London, 1887). On René of Anjou, there is a book by A. Lecoy de la Marche, Le Roi René (2 vols., Paris, 1875). Lastly, the work of Célestin Port, Dictionnaire historique, géographique et biographique de Maine-et-Loire (3 vols., Paris and Angers, 1874-1878), and its small volume of Préliminaires (including a summary of the history of Anjou), contain, in addition to the biographies of the chief counts of Anjou, a mass of information concerning everything connected with Angevin history.
(L. H.*)
ANKERITE, a member of the mineral group of rhombohedral carbonates. In composition it is closely related to dolomite, but differs from this in having magnesia replaced by varying amounts of ferrous and manganous oxides, the general formula being Ca(Mg, Fe, Mn)(CO3)2. Normal ankerite is Ca2MgFe(CO3)4. The crystallographic and physical characters resemble those of dolomite and chalybite. The angle between the perfect rhombohedral cleavages is 73° 48′, the hardness 3½ to 4, and the specific gravity 2.9 to 3.1; but these will vary slightly with the chemical composition. The colour is white, grey or reddish.