Angers

Angers , city (1990 pop. 146,163), capital of Maine-et-Loire dept., W France, in Anjou, on the Maine River. A business and trade center, it is known for its wine and the famous Cointreau liqueur. It also has glassworks, printing plants, and factories making electronic and photographic equipment, textiles, food, paper products, and tiles. On its outskirts are the largest slate quarries in France. Of pre-Roman origin, Angers became the seat (870-1204) of the powerful counts of Anjou and the historic capital of the province. There is a fine cathedral (12th-13th cent.) and a museum containing 14th-century tapestries and a large collection of the sculpture of David d'Angers. The 13th-century castle was among the buildings damaged in World War II. Schools of fine arts and medicine are located there.

Angers, Pays de la Loire/France Juliomagus Named after the Andecavi, the Roman name for a Gallic tribe, whose capital this was. Their name came from the Gaulish ande ‘greater’ and cavi ‘allies’. Later, under the Romans, it was called ‘Julius (Caesar)'s Market’. As Angers, it became the capital of the former Duchy of Anjou. Geoffrey IV Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, married Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, in 1128. Their son became King Henry II of England in 1154, thus founding the English House of Plantagenet which provided fourteen kings 1154–1485. The House of Plantagenet was also called the House of Anjou and the empire ruled by Henry II (1154–89) and his successors, which extended from Scotland to the Pyrenees, was called the Angevin Empire.