Auvergne county
The county of Auvergne is one of the oldest rulers in France, the main features of which already existed in the late Roman period. Under the Merovingians , the counts held the title of duke at times.
The family of the Counts of Auvergne ruled the country since the 10th century . Around 1155 after the death of Count Robert III. († probably 1145) within the family to the crisis. The county inherited Robert's son Wilhelm VII , but his uncle Wilhelm , Count von Velay , took advantage of the young Count's participation in the Second Crusade (1147–1149) in order to appropriate almost the entire Auvergne, and the absent heir only a few lords who then ruled his successors as the Dauphin of Auvergne (the mother of Wilhelm VII came from the family of the Dauphin of Viennois ).
Since the Count and Dauphin were partisans of the Plantagenet , the French King Philip August occupied part of Auvergne in 1195 (including the capital Riom ) and added it to the Domaine royal in 1213 as Terre d'Auvergne . After a renewed intervention by the king, caused by a dispute between Count Guido II and the clergy of the country, the entire county was confiscated and incorporated into the Domaine royal.
1241 a new county Auvergne, much as the old county built smaller and the son of Guido II. Was William X. given. The land remained in the family until the death of Maria de Montgascon (1347), through whom the county of Auvergne came to the La Tour family, which later became La Tour d'Auvergne . Catherine de Medici , heiress of La Tour d'Auvergne and wife of King Henry II , then brought the county of Auvergne into the possession of the royal family.
In 1651 the land was then given again to Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon , who received the Auvergne and Albret in exchange for the strategically much more important Sedan and Raucourt . His descendants were deposed during the French Revolution .
The Terre d'Auvergne was raised in 1360 by King John II for his son John to the Duchy of Auvergne , so that from now on there was a competing rule of the same name, which was awarded within the royal family.