Editing Duchy of Anjou (section)

=== Government ===
At first Anjou was included in the ''gouvernement'' (or military command) of Orléanais, but in the 17th century was made into a separate one. Saumur, however, and the Saumurois, for which [[Henry IV of France|King Henry IV]] had in 1589 created an independent military governor-generalship in favour of Duplessis-Mornay, continued till the Revolution to form a separate ''gouvernement'', which included, besides Anjou, portions of Poitou and Mirebalais. Attached to the ''[[généralité]]'' (administrative circumscription) of Tours, Anjou on the eve of the Revolution comprised five ''êlections'' (judicial districts):--[[Angers]], [[Baugé]], [[Saumur]], [[Château-Gontier]], [[Montreuil-Bellay]] and part of the ''êlections'' of [[La Flèche]] and [[Richelieu, Indre-et-Loire|Richelieu]]. Financially it formed part of the so-called ''pays de grande [[gabelle]]'', and comprised sixteen special tribunals, or ''greniers à sel'' (salt warehouses):--[[Angers]], [[Baugé]], [[Beaufort-en-Vallée|Beaufort]], [[Bourgueil]], [[Candé]], Château-Gontier, [[Cholet]], [[Craon, Mayenne|Craon]], La Flèche, [[Saint-Florent-le-Vieil]], [[Ingrandes, Maine-et-Loire|Ingrandes]], [[Le Lude]], [[Pouancé]], [[Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne]], Richelieu, Saumur. From the point of view of purely judicial administration, Anjou was subject to the parlement of Paris; Angers was the seat of a presidial court, of which the jurisdiction comprised the ''sénéchaussées'' of Angers, Saumur, Beaugé, Beaufort and the duchy of Richelieu; there were besides presidial courts at Château-Gontier and La Flèche. When the Constituent Assembly, on 26 February 1790, decreed the division of France into departments, Anjou and the Saumurois, with the exception of certain territories, formed the department of Maine-et-Loire, as at present constituted.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}

Under the [[kingdom of France]], Anjou was practically identical with the [[diocese of Angers]], bound on the north by [[Maine (province of France)|Maine]], on the east by [[Touraine]], on the south by [[Poitou]] ([[Poitiers]]) and the [[Mauges]], and the west by the countship of [[Nantes]] or the duchy of [[Brittany]].{{sfn|Baynes|1878}}{{sfn|Halphen|1911}} Traditionally Anjou was divided into four natural regions: the Baugeois, the Haut-Anjou (or Segréen), the Mauges, and the Saumurois.

It occupied the greater part of what is now the [[department (France)|department]] of [[Maine-et-Loire]]. On the north, it further included: [[Craon, Mayenne|Craon]]; [[Candé]]; {{ill|Bazouges, Château-Gontier|lt=Bazouges|fr|Bazouges}} ([[Château-Gontier]]); and [[Le Lude]]. On the east, it further added [[Château-la-Vallière]] and [[Bourgueil]]; while to the south, it lacked the towns of [[Montreuil-Bellay]], [[Vihiers]], [[Cholet]], and [[Beaupréau]], as well as the district lying to the west of the [[Ironne]] and [[Thouet]] on the left bank of the [[Loire]], which formed the territory of the {{Interlanguage link|Mauges|fr}}.{{sfn|Halphen|1911}}