County Tours

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The county of Tours was a medieval feudal territory of France and corresponded in its scope to the historical province of Touraine (today the Indre-et-Loire department ). It was located in the southwest of the Paris basin , partly in the Loire Valley , the capital was Tours . In the late Middle Ages, the county was upgraded to the Duchy of Touraine .

The coat of arms of Philip the Bold , who held the Duchy of Touraine from 1360–64 as an apanage, which later became the coat of arms of the province
Location in France

In the early 9th century Tours was in the possession of the Etichones , but then fell under the rule of the Robertinians who, as Margraves of Neustria, controlled the north-west of what is now France. They installed their followers as vice counts in their main cities. In Tours it was initially Hardrad (Ardradus), who was related to the Lords of Preuilly and was followed around 898 by Fulko the Red . After taking over the county of Nantes around 909 Tours, Fulko had to cede Tours to Theobald the old , who was already acting as Vice Count of Blois and became the progenitor of the House of Blois . The old son and successor Theobald the deceiver accepted the title of count for his possessions.

Due to the collapse of the central power under the first kings of the Capetian dynasty , a long-lasting conflict broke out between the houses of Blois and Anjou for supremacy in western France. The legal possession of Tours, which was also claimed by the Anjous, was one of the causes. Count Fulko III. von Anjou strengthened its position in the Touraine at the beginning of the 11th century by building extensive castles (e.g. Loches , Montrésor ) and fended off an offensive by Count Odo II of Blois in the Battle of Pontlevoy (1016) . His son Theobald III. After the defeat in the Battle of Nouy (1044) Tours had to cede from Blois to Anjou for good.

The first count's house of Anjou was inherited by the Plantagenet dynasty at the end of the 11th century . Through their power and marriage policy in the 12th century, Tours became part of their extensive property, which is referred to in modern research as the " Angevin Empire ". Although the Plantagenets had to recognize the French king as their liege lord for their French territories, they were actually far more powerful than him. In his power struggle against the Plantagenets, King Philip II succeeded by 1205 to subdue all of their possessions north and partly south of the Loire, including the Touraine, and to incorporate them into the crown domain . In the Treaty of Paris (1259) , Henry III renounced . of England on his claims.

Since then, princes of the royal house have been apanaged with the county. When King John II gave the Touraine to his youngest son Philip the Bold in 1360 , he upgraded the fief to a duchy, at the same time the dignity of peers was associated with this property . The coat of arms of Philip II as Duke of Burgundy shows next to the Burgundian symbol that of the newly acquired duchy; this remained so with the subsequent dukes of Burgundy .

As part of the Auld Alliance , King Charles VII awarded the duchy to the Scottish military leader Archibald Douglas in 1424 . This was the first time that a French duke title was not given to any member of the royal family and for the first time to no French. Archibald fell a year later at the Battle of Verneuil , after which the Duchy of Touraine was no longer awarded.

Counts of Tours

Vice Count of Tours

Counts of Tours

  • Odo I († 996), his son, Count of Blois and Tours etc.
  • Theobald II († 1004), his son, Count of Blois and Tours etc.
  • Odo II († 1037), brother of Theobald II, Count of Blois and Tours etc.
  • Theobald III. († 1089), his son, Count of Blois and Tours etc.

The County of Tours became the property of the Counts of Anjou in 1044 .