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Aquitaine
Aquitaine , Lat. Aquitania, former duchy and kingdom in SW France. Julius Caesar conquered the Aquitani, an Iberian people of SW Gaul, in 56 BC The province that he created occupied the territory between the Garonne River and the Pyrenees; under Roman rule it was extended northward and eastward al...
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Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine , 1122?-1204, queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine, she married Louis in 1137 shortly before his accession to the throne. She accompanied him on the Second Crusade (1147-49). Eleanor ...
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Rosamond
Rosamond (Rosamond Clifford), d. 1176, mistress of Henry II of England. She was not openly acknowledged by the king until 1174, after he had imprisoned his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine . On Rosamond's death soon afterward she was buried in Godstow Abbey, but her remains were removed to the chapter...
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Guienne
Guienne Fr. Guyenne , region of SW France. The name referred to different territories at different times. Guienne as it existed from the time of Henry IV (late 16th-early 17th cent.) to the French Revolution covered the present departments of Gironde, Dordogne, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, and Aveyron and...
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Berry
Berry , former province, central France. Bourges, the capital, and Châteauroux are the chief towns. Cattle are raised on the Champagne Berrichonne, a semiarid plateau that covers most of the region. The valleys of the Indre and the Cher rivers are rich farming areas. A part of Roman Aquitaine,...
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Poitou
Poitou , region and former province, W France, stretching from the Atlantic coast eastward beyond the Vienne River. It now includes three departments—Vendée in the west, Deux-Sèvres in the center, and Vienne in the east, as well as small areas of several other departments. Poiti...
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Edward the Black Prince
Edward the Black Prince 1330-76, eldest son of Edward III of England. He was created duke of Cornwall in 1337, the first duke to be created in England, and prince of Wales in 1343. Joining his father in the campaigns of the Hundred Years War, he established his reputation for valor at the battle ...
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Gascony
Gascony , Fr. Gascogne, region of SW France. It is now coextensive with the departments of Landes, Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées and parts of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Gironde, and Ariège. The sandy and swampy Landes alon...
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Charles Martel
Charles Martel [O.Fr.,=Charles the Hammer], 688?-741, Frankish ruler, illegitimate son of Pepin of Heristal and grandfather of Charlemagne. After the death of his father (714) he seized power in Austrasia from Pepin's widow, who was ruling as regent for her grandsons, and became mayor of the pala...
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Louis I
Louis I or Louis the Pious, Fr. Louis le Pieux or Louis le Débonnaire, 778-840, emperor of the West (814-40), son and successor of Charlemagne. He was crowned king of Aquitaine in 781 and co-emperor with his father in 813. His court was a learned one; his advisers included Benedict o...
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