Anjou

Pouancé: medieval castle

Anjou, historical and cultural region encompassing the western French département of Maine-et-Loire and coextensive with the former province of Anjou. The former province of Anjou also encompassed the regions of La Flèche and Château-Gontier.

Organized in the Gallo-Roman period as the Civitas Andegavensis, it later became the countship of Anjou and (from 1360) the duchy of Anjou. Under the Carolingians, Anjou was nominally administered by a count representing the French king, but the region became vulnerable to attack by marauding Vikings, or Northmen, in the 9th century.