See also: List of Angevin consorts.
| County/Dukedom of Anjou | |
| Creation Date: | 861 (county) 1360 (dukedom) |
| First Holder: | Robert the Strong (county) Louis I (dukedom) |
| Last Holder: | John the Good (county) Louis Stanislas Xavier of France (dukedom) |
| Status: | Extinct |
| Extinction Date: | 1795 |
The count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of count. The Robertians and the Capetian kings were distracted by wars with the Vikings and other concerns and were unable to recover the county until the reign of Philip II Augustus, more than 270 years later.
Ingelger's male line ended with Geoffrey II. Subsequent counts of Anjou were descended from Geoffrey's sister Ermengarde and Count Geoffrey II of Gâtinais. Their agnatic descendants, who included the Angevin kings of England, continued to hold these titles and property until the French monarchy gained control of the area.
In 1360, the count was raised to a dukedom becoming known as duke of Anjou, subsequently leading the Duchy of Anjou. The title was held by Philip V of Spain before his accession in 1700. Since then, some Spanish Legitimist claimants to the French throne have borne the title even to the present day, as does a nephew of the Orléanist pretender.
The Robertians, or Robertian dynasty, comprised:
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Robert the Strong 861–866 also: marquis of Neustria, count of Tours | 820 ? son of Robert III of Worms and Waldrade | ? two sons | 866 aged 45 | ||
| width=auto | Odo 866-898 also: king of the Franks, marquis of Neustria, count of Paris | 852 La Fère son of Robert the Strong and Adelaide of Tours | Théodrate of Troyes two sons | 898 aged 46 |
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Ingelger (Viscount of Angers) | 845 Rennes son of Tertullus (Tertulle) and Petronilla | Adelais of Amboise one son | 888 aged 42 | ||
| width=auto | Fulk I the Red 929–942 | 870 son of Ingelger and "Aelinde" D'Amboise | Rosalie de Loches one son | 942 aged 72 | ||
| width=auto | Fulk II the Good 942–958 | 905 son of Fulk the Red | Gerberge two children | 11 November 960 aged 55 Tours | ||
| width=auto | Geoffrey I Greymantle 960–987 | 940 son of Fulk II | (1) Adele of Meaux four children (2) Adelaise de Chalon March 979 one son | 21 July 987 aged 47 | ||
| width=auto | Fulk III the Black 987–1040 | 972 son of Geoffrey I Greymantle and Adelaide of Vermandois | (1) Elisabeth of Vendôme one daughter (2) Hildegard of Sundgau 1001 two children | 21 June 1040 Metz aged 68 | ||
| width=auto | Geoffrey II Martel 1040–1060 | son of Fulk the Black and Hildegard of Sundgau | (1) Agnes of Burgundy 1032 no issue (2) Grécie of Langeais no issue (3) Adèle no issue (4) Grécie of Langeais no issue (5) Adelaide no issue |
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geoffrey III the Bearded 1060–1067 | 1040 eldest son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais and Ermengarde of Anjou | (1) Julienne de Langeais no issue | 1096 aged 56 | ||
| Fulk IV the Ill-Tempered 1067–1109 | 1043 younger son of Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais and Ermengarde of Anjou | (1) Hildegarde of Beaugency one daughter (2) Ermengarde de Bourbon 1070 one son (3) Orengarde de Châtelaillon 1076 no issue (4) Mantie of Brienne 1080 no issue (5) Bertrade de Montfort 1089 one son | 14 April 1109 aged 66 | ||
| Geoffrey IV Martel the Younger 1103–1106 | 1070 son of Fulk IV and Ermengarde de Bourbon | never married no issue | 19 May 1106 Candé aged 36 | ||
| Fulk V the Young 1106–1129 also: king of Jerusalem | 1089 Angers son of Count Fulk IV, Count of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort | (1) Ermengarde of Maine 1110 four children (2) Melisende 2 June 1129 Jerusalem two children | 13 November 1143 Acre, Israel aged 54 |
In 1204, Anjou was lost to king Philip II of France. It was re-granted as an appanage for Louis VIII's son John, who died in 1232 at the age of thirteen, and then to Louis's youngest son, Charles, later the first Angevin king of Sicily.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | 1219–1232 | |||||
| width=auto | Charles I 1246–1285 also: king of Sicily, of Albania, of Jerusalem, count of Maine, of Provence, of Forcalquier | 21 March 1226 youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile | (1) Beatrice of Provence 31 January 1246 Aix-en-Provence seven children (2) Margaret of Burgundy 1268 one daughter | 7 January 1285 Foggia aged 58 | ||
| width=auto | Charles II 1285–1290 also: king of Naples, of Albania, prince of Salerno, of Achaea | 1254 son of Charles I of Anjou and Beatrice of Provence | Maria of Hungary 1270 14 children | 5 May 1309 Naples aged 55 | ||
| width=auto | Margaret 1290–1299 | 1272 daughter of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary | Charles of Valois 16 August 1290 Corbeil six children | 31 December 1299 aged 26 |
In 1290, Margaret married Charles of Valois, the younger brother of king Philip IV of France. He became Count of Anjou in her right.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Charles III 1290–1325 also: count of Valois | 12 March 1270 fourth son of Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon | (1) Margaret of Naples 1290 six children (2) Catherine of Courtenay 1302 four children (3) Mahaut of Châtillon 1308 four children | 16 December 1325 Nogent-le-Roi aged 55 | ||
| width=auto | Philip 1293–1328 also: Philip the Fortunate, count of Maine, of Valois | 1293 son of Charles of Valois and Margaret of Naples | (1) Joan the Lame July 1313 seven children (2) Blanche of Navarre 11 January 1350 one daughter | 22 August 1350 Nogent-le-Roi aged 57 |
The dukes contributed greatly to social reform in the 1300s and 1400s.[1]
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Louis I 1356–1360 as Count of Anjou 1360–1384 as Duke of Anjou also: count of Maine, de Provence and Touraine, king of Naples | 23 July 1339 Château de Vincennes second son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg | Marie of Blois 1360 three children | 20 September 1384 Bisceglie aged 45 | ||
| width=auto | Louis II 1384–1417 also: king of Naples | 1377 Toulouse son of Louis I of Anjou | Yolande of Aragon Arles 1400 five children | 29 April 1417 Angers aged 40 | ||
| width=auto | Louis III 1417–1434 also: count of Provence, Forcalquier, Piedmont and Maine, duke of Calabria, king of Naples | 25 September 1403 eldest son of Louis II of Anjou and Yolande of Aragon | Margaret of Savoy, Duchess of Anjou Cosenza 1432 no issue | 12 November 1434 Cosenza aged 31 | ||
| width=auto | René 1434–1480 also: count of Provence, Piedmont, duke of Bar, Lorraine, king of Naples | 16 January 1409 Château d'Angers second son of Louis II of Anjou and Yolande of Aragon | (1) Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine 1420 10 children (2) Jeanne de Laval 10 September 1454 Abbey of St. Nicholas, Angers no issue | 10 July 1480 Aix-en-Provence aged 71 | ||
| width=auto | Charles IV 1480–1481 also: Count of Maine, Guise and Provence | 1446 son of Charles of Maine, grandson of Louis II of Anjou | Joan of Lorraine 1474 no issue | 1481 aged 35 |
On the death of Charles IV, Anjou returned to the royal domain.
After the death of Henri, Count of Chambord, only the descendants of Philip V of Spain remained of the male line of Louis XIV. The most senior of these, the Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne, became the eldest of the Capetians. Some of them used the courtesy title of Duke of Anjou, as shown below:
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Jaime 1909 - 1931 also: duque de Madrid | 27 June 1870 Vevey third son of Carlos, Duke of Madrid and Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma | never married | 2 October 1931 Paris aged 60 | ||
| width=auto | Alfonso Carlos 1931 - 1936 also: duque de San Jaime | 12 September 1849 London second son of Juan, Count of Montizón and Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este | Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal 26 April 1871 Kleinheubach no issue | 29 September 1936 Vienna aged 87 |
At the death of Alfonso Carlos in 1936, the Capetian seniority passed to the exiled King of Spain, Alfonso XIII. In 1941, Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia, succeeded his father Alfonso XIII (Alphonse I of France according to the Legitimists) as the heir male of Louis XIV and therefore as the Legitimist claimant to the French throne. He then adopted the title of Duke of Anjou.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=auto | Jaime 1941 - 1975 also: duque de Segovia, duque de Madrid | 23 June 1908 Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso second son of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg | (1) Emmanuelle de Dampierre 4 March 1935 Church of San Ignacio de Loyola, Rome two children (2) Charlotte Tiedemann 3 August 1949 Innsbruck no issue | 20 March 1975 St. Gallen aged 66 | ||
| width=auto | Alfonso 1975 - 1989 also: duque de Cadiz, duc de Bourbon | 20 April 1936 Rome eldest son of Jaime and Emmanuelle de Dampierre | María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco 8 March 1972 Royal Palace of El Pardo two sons | 30 January 1989 Beaver Creek Resort aged 52 | ||
| width=auto | Louis Alphonse 1989 - present also: duc de Touraine, duc de Bourbon | 25 April 1974 Madrid second son of Alfonso and María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco | María Margarita Vargas Santaella 6 November 2004 La Romana four children | living |
On 8 December 2004, Henry, Count of Paris, Duke of France, Orléanist Pretender to the French throne, granted the title Duke of Anjou to his nephew, Charles-Philippe d'Orléans. Since he did not recognize his cousin's courtesy title, in his view, the title was available since 1795.