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Anjou down to the centuries
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The name of Anjou is writ large in French history
books for having contributed to sagas involving the thrones of the most
powerful crowned heads in Europe. The Plantagenets ruled an empire that went
from Scotland to the Pyrenees. Princes from Anjou reigned in Hungary, Croatia,
Naples, Provence and even Jerusalem. The Maine-et-Loire is littered with
reminders of these epic periods and provides a welcome opportunity to turn back
the pages of history.
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Les gisants des Plantagenêt
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Monasteries sprung up as the first monks settled in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil,
Saint-Aubin d'Angers and Saint-Maur-de-Glanfeuil.
During the ninth century, Northeman (Normans) sailed up the Loire destroying
churches, setting fire to monasteries, market towns and castles. Brittany also
felt under threat and Robert the Strong, a fearsome defender of Anjou soil died
at Brissarthe in 866 while fighting the Normans.
After a very unsettled period in the tenth century, Fulk I (The Red),
established himself enough to found a shire-based dynasty that would be
influential for three hundred years. Fulk III (Nerra) defined the province
during the first House of Anjou with the acquisition of land. To protect
himself he built the main castles. His great-grandson, Fulk V, became King of
Jerusalem.
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Geoffrey V (The Fair) became ruler during the famous reign of the
Plantagenets, so called because they loved hunting on moors covered in genêts
(broom). His son Henry II, Count of Anjou became Count of Maine, and of
Touraine, Duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine and then . King of England. It was
a time of considerable development: bridges were built, embankments created,
wine grown, slate extracted, trade went up and down the Loire and the whole of
western France formed one with England. Henry's son, Richard 1 (Lionheart),
inherited the crown but when it passed to Richard's brother, John (Bad King
John), most of the Plantagenet empire was lost and not for nothing was John
nicknamed "Lackland". After the French king Louis VIII's victory in 1214 at the
battle of La Roche-aux-Moines near Savennières, Anjou became part of France.
During the thirteenth century and the second House of Anjou (its greatest),
princes wielded power in Provence and Italy and became kings of Sicily, Naples,
Hungary and Poland where they exercised considerable influence and were part of
the most important dynasty in medieval Europe.
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The period in which the princes appeared to have a monopoly was a time of
unprecedented expansion in Anjou and new villages sprang up around the castles.
In 1360 the province was elevated to a Duchy and the third House of Anjou was
created and headed by the most respected, indeed loved, Duke of Anjou and
titular King of Naples, René, known as King René who was born in Angers Castle
in 1409. A patron of the arts and a man of letters, he supported painters and
sculptors, built manor houses and châteaux but, alas, lost several estates.
After his death in 1480, Anjou reverted to being a simple province, under the
French crown.
The town of Angers was created at the end of the fifteenth century and played a
significant part until the civil war of the Fronde (1648-52). Saumur for almost
a century remained a stronghold of enlightened protestants. In 1589,
Duplessis-Mornay became its governor and created a Protestant Academy which
gave the town unparalleled influence during this period.
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Le Roi René
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After the destruction wrought by the Wars of Religion, the Roman
Catholic Counter-Reformation made its mark during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries with the transformation of several monasteries and the
construction of new churches. The landscape of the département took on
a new look. In Cholet and nearby Les Mauges the textile industry became firmly
established and each village included several weavers. In Angers, Leroy and
Baron Foullon set up several plant nurseries, while in Trélazé and around
Segré, slate was mined. Meanwhile boats on the Loire carried the fruits of the
land toward the sea where they were shipped to destinations far away.
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Les Guerres de Vendée
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The aftermath of the French Revolution
was marked in Anjou by uprisings in Les Mauges that began in 1793, and were
known as the wars of the Vendée. Battles were numerous and the bloody
confrontations were to leave behind an indelible memory. Under the Restoration,
the land was enriched partly due to the novel practice of adding lime. In
vineyards, grapes varieties improved and Ackerman invented the champagne
process. During the nineteenth century, roads and rail opened up new horizons
and prospering towns provided work for the people. In Angers, a continued
growth in textile firms led to the appearance of the Bessonneau empire which,
in 1920, employed 10,000 workers. In Les Mauges 50,000 people were producing
cloth from hemp and cotton and, thanks to the railways, slate production around
Segré and Angers had multiplied eightfold in a century. In the twentieth
century the towns' populations grew as industries like shoemaking, dressmaking
and then electronics flourished. In the countryside, land was given over to
horticulture, vines and seed production. In the second half of the century
service industries rose to importance particularly in Angers with the influence
of the city's university.
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