Anjou

(a ˙ n ˙ -zhö), an ancient province of France, now forming the department of Maine-et-Loire, and parts of the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, and Sarthe; area, about 3000 sq. miles. In 1060 the province pa ed into the hands of the House of Gat in a is, of which sprang Count Godfrey V, who, in 1127, married Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, and so became the ancestor of the Plantage net kings. Anjou remained in the po e ion of the English kings up to 1204, when John lost it to the French king Philip August us. In 1226 Louis VIII bestowed this province on his brother Charles; but in 1328 it was reunited to the French Crown. John I raised it to the rank of a duchy, and gave it to his son Louis. Henceforth it remained separate from the French Crown till 1480, when it fell to Louis XI.