Maine

Maine was the west French county between Anjou and Normandy, named for the Iron Age Cenomani and ruled from Le Mans from 832, when Charlemagne's son-in-law Rorgon held the countship, into the Revolution. A Carolingian march against Bretons and Vikings, it grew teeth under Gauzfrid and passed to Ragenold, who died on Viking spears at Rouen in 885. Then the great neighbors closed in: Anjou forced Hugh's homage, Normandy invaded, William seized Maine in 1063 and used its security to sail for England in 1066, the Manceaux revolted him out in 1070, and Fulk's son Geoffrey Plantagenet inherited Maine, Henry II held it with Anjou and Normandy together, and Richard's death in 1199 brought Philip Augustus down on the Plantagenet lands in 1204. Peerage in 1331, English occupation to 1448, return to the French crown in 1481, and the Revolution's departments in 1790 closed a thousand years of the county.