This article is about the county in France. For other uses, see Armagnac.

Coat of arms of the county of Armagnac (before 1304).

Coat of arms of the county of Armagnac (after 1304).

The hilly county of Armagnac (Occitan: Armanhac) in the foothills of the Pyrenées, between the Adour and Garonne rivers is a historic comté of the Duchy of Gascony (Gascogne), established in 601 in the southwest of Aquitaine (now France). Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan The Pyrenees (Pirineos French: Pyrénées; Catalan: Pirineus; Occitan: Pirenèus; Aragonese: Perinés The Adour (Aturri is a River in southwestern France. It rises in High- Bigorre ( Pyrenees) at the Col du Tourmalet, and flows into The Garonne (Garonne in Occitan, Catalan and Spanish: Garona; Garumna is a River in southwest France and northern Gascony (Gascogne gaskɔɲ Gascon Occitan: Gasconha, pronounced) is an area of southwest France that constituted a province of France Events By Place Byzantine Empire Peter (Byzantine General defeats the Eurasian Avars. Aquitaine (Aquitània Akitania archaic Guyenne / Guienne (Occitan Guiana) is one of the 26 Regions of France, in the south-western part of This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. It is in a region in southwestern France, including parts of the Gers, Landes, and Lot-et-Garonne departments. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Once an important countship, it reached its greatest power and extent during the 14th and 15th centuries. The area is watered by several small rivers that descend from the Lannemezan plateau; the Gers River is the largest of these. The region, predominantly agricultural, is noted for its Armagnac brandy, the oldest eau-de-vie in France. Armagnac (aʁmaˈɲak is a distinctive kind of Brandy or Eau de vie produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France

History

Under Roman rule, Armagnac was included in the Civitas Ausciorum, or district of Auch, of Aquitania. This article is for the French town For the bird see Great auk. Under the Merovingians it was part of the duchy of Aquitania. The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin Near the end of the ninth century the part now known as Fezensac became a hereditary countship. In 960, Armagnac was separated from Fezensac as a separate county, under Bernard le Louche, Géraud Trancaléon and Bernard II, who reunited under his control all of Gascony (1040-1052); in 1052 Gascony became part of "Aquitania", by personal union of duke William VIII. About 1140 Bernard's grandson, Géraud III, briefly reunited the comté of Fezensac, which was then detached as an appanage for a younger son, styled comté de Fézensaguet. An apanage or appanage is the grant of an estate titles offices or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign who under the system of When Gascogne was linked once more to Aquitaine by the Treaty of Meaux in 1229, the county of Armagnac was the most powerful of the fiefs of Gascony. Under the system of Feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing The chance of dynastic succession continued repeatedly to separate Fezensac. ^[1]

The three great territorial lords in the south were the Count of Armagnac, the Count of Foix, and the Lord of Albret. Armoiries Armagnac-Rodezpng|thumb|125px|Coat of arms of the county of Armagnac (after 1304 counts of Foix ruled the independent County of Foix, in what is now southern France, during the Middle Ages. lordship ( seigneurie) of Albret (Labrit Lebret situated in the Landes, gave its name to one of the most powerful feudal families of France in the The counts of Armagnac increased their territory through marriage and purchase. Jean I, comte d'Armagnac (1319-1373) and his successors joined to Armagnac the comté of Rodez and that of Carlat, and the vicomtés of Lomagne and Auvillars, Comminges and briefly Charolais (which Jean III alienated in 1390). Rodez ( Occitan: Rodés) is a city and commune in southern France, in the Aveyron département, of which it is Carlat is a commune in the Cantal département in south-central France.

During the Hundred Years' War the southern part of France, including Armagnac, was ceded to England by the Treaty of Bretigny (1360). The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Treaty of Brétigny was a Treaty signed on May 8, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II (the Good Edward, the Black Prince, administered the area for his father, King Edward III of England. He soon alienated the nobles by giving privileges to the towns and levying heavy taxes. Until this time Armagnac had remained practically independent by shifting alliances, but the rule of the Black Prince was so harsh that the count of Armagnac appealed to the French king for help in 1369. By submitting themselves to King Charles V of France, noble families like the Armagnacs were able to retain much of their former power and assure themselves of protection. Charles V ( 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380) called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death and a member

In 1410 the daughter of Count Bernard VII of Armagnac (d. 1418) was married to Duke Charles I of Orleans. Charles of Valois Duke of Orléans ( November 24, 1394 &ndash January 5, 1465) became Duke of Orléans in 1407 following the murder Charles' father had been killed by supporters of the duke of Burgundy, who resented Orleans' influence on the king. Burgundy (Bourgogne Burgund is a region historically situated in modern-day France and Switzerland, inhabited in turn by Celts ( Gauls) After the marriage, the Armagnac family became associated with the part of King Charles VI against Burgundy, and the royal faction came to be called Armagnacs. Until his death in 1418, Count Bernard remained a bitter enemy of Burgundy. When Burgundy allied itself with England during the later stages of the Hundred Years' War, the friction between the two parties greatly increased. The two factions engaged in a bloody civil war that ended in 1435.

After peace was established, many veterans originally recruited by Count Bernard VII formed mercenary bands that also became known as the Armagnacs. Although they were in the service of King Charles VII, the Armagnacs became notorious for their rapacious plundering in the north of France. Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461 called the Victorious (le Victorieux or the Well-Served (le Bien-Servi was King of France from 1422 In 1444 they were sent to Switzerland on an expedition known as the Armagnac War, which culminated in a battle between the Swiss and the Armagnac mercenaries on August 26, 1444. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert. Although the Swiss were badly defeated, their determined resistance persuaded the Armagnacs to withdraw from Switzerland. Soon after, the Armagnacs were incorporated into Charles VII's regular army.

After the death of Bernard VII in 1418, the counts of Armagnac gradually lost their powerful position in southern France. In the late fifteenth century Count Jean V opposed King Louis XI. He was driven from the Armagnac lands and was killed by the king's soldiers in 1473. After the last court died in 1497, Armagnac was united temporarily with the crown. However, King Francis I gave the district to a nephew of the last count, and it subsequently passed by marriage to the family of Henry of Navarre. Henry IV (Henri IV ( 13 December 1553 &ndash 14 May 1610) ruled as King of France from 1589 to 1610 and as Henry III Henry became king of France as Henry IV in 1589 and joined Armagnac to the royal domain in 1607.

In 1645, Louis XIV granted the title to Henri de Lorraine-Harcourt, whose heirs possessed it until the Revolution. Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an

Today the area is associated with the production of Armagnac, one of the world's greatest brandies. Armagnac (aʁmaˈɲak is a distinctive kind of Brandy or Eau de vie produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France Brandy (from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn — “burnt wine” is a spirit produced by distilling Wine It is also renowned for its manufacture of foie gras.

See also

Count of Armagnac

Notes

References

• The Encyclopedia Americana 1977