Editing Provinces of France (section)

== Military provinces: general governments ==
These are the fiefs that depend directly on the crown (duchies, counties and marches) and owe it military aid.

In addition to the Duchy of France, which became part of the royal domain, the first six major fiefs have the title of peerage:

* The three duchies of [[Duke of Aquitaine|Aquitaine or Guyenne]], [[Duke of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and [[Duke of Normandy|Normandy]],
* The three counties of [[Count of Toulouse|Toulouse]], [[Count of Flanders|Flanders]] and [[Count of Champagne|Champagne]] (circa 1212).

Their holders were considered electors of the King of France, along with six other ecclesiastical peers:

* The three bishop-dukes of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims|Reims]], [[Ancient Diocese of Laon|Laon]] and [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres|Langres]],

* The three bishop-counts of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Beauvais|Beauvais]], [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Châlons|Châlons]] and [[Ancient Diocese of Noyon|Noyon]] (of Merovingian origin).

The number of grand fiefs varies with history (inheritances, confiscations, conquests, losses, treaties) and increases with the definitive attachment of the [[County of Provence]], the [[Duchy of Anjou]], the [[Duchy of Burgundy]], the [[Duchy of Brittany]], the [[Duchy of Lorraine]], and so on. Some of these provinces were simply the return to the crown of a former fiefdom, such as the [[Duchy of Burgundy]], which had been held by Hugues Capet's brother. Others, such as the [[Duchy of Savoy]], [[Corsica]], [[Comtat Venaissin|Comtat-Vénessin]] and the [[County of Nice]], were acquired from the Empire or the Holy See.

Unlike the ecclesiastical provinces, their extent varies over the course of history according to the possessions of their holders, or to political reorganizations. For example, the Duchy of Gascony disappeared in the 11th century, and the Duchy of Normandy was divided into two military governments.

In modern times, the "thirty-six governments" corresponded to the provinces on which all the fiefs and arrière-fiefs depended, providing territorial districts for defense and marshaling, the raising of men-at-arms, the construction of squares, arsenals and castles, judges-at-arms, and therefore also all questions of nobility, armorial bearings, etc.

At the end of the Ancien Régime, not counting overseas territories such as the French islands of America, Pondicherry, Mauritius or New France (a province from 1663 to 1763, when it was ceded to Great Britain and Spain), there were thirty-six regions with a governor in charge of defense, called governments. Each had its own nobility.

Together with the regions attached to France since 1791, these thirty-six governments correspond to what are usually known today as the "former provinces of France".

=== List of former general governments of France ===
The list below shows the major provinces of France at the time of their dissolution during the French Revolution. Capital cities are shown in parentheses. '''Bold''' indicates a city that was also the seat of a judicial and quasi-legislative body called either a ''[[parlement]]'' (not to be confused with a [[French Parliament|parliament]]) or a ''conseil souverain'' (sovereign council). In some cases, this body met in a different city from the capital.
[[File:1789 + 2022 France, noms des régions.png|right|thumb|480px|General governments of France in 1789, superimposed by modern administrative boundaries and the names of current regions]]
[[File:Provinces of France (numered).svg|thumb|480x480px|{{center|'''Provinces of France in 1789 relative to the modern borders of France'''}}Note: The Comtat Venaissin (annexed 1791), Mulhouse (annexed 1798), Montbéliard (annexed 1816), Savoy and Nice (annexed 1860), as well as small portions of other provinces were not part of the Kingdom of France.]]
# [[Île-de-France]] ('''[[Paris]]''')
# [[Berry, France|Berry]] ([[Bourges]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Berry |volume=3 |page=809}}</ref>
# [[Orléanais]] ([[Orléans]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Orléanais |volume=20 |page=281}}</ref>
# [[Normandy]] ('''[[Rouen]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Normandy |volume=19 |page=749}}</ref>
# [[Languedoc]] ('''[[Toulouse]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Languedoc |volume=16 |page=179}}</ref>
# [[Lyonnais]] ([[Lyon]])
# [[Dauphiné]] ('''[[Grenoble]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Dauphiné |volume=7 |page=851}}</ref>
# [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] ([[Troyes]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Champagne |volume=5 |page=829}}</ref>
# [[Aunis]] ([[La Rochelle]])
# [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]] ([[Saintes, Charente-Maritime|Saintes]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Saintonge |volume=24 |page=34}}</ref>
# [[Poitou]] ([[Poitiers]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Poitou |volume=21 |page=899}}</ref>
# [[Guyenne]] and [[Gascony]] ('''[[Bordeaux]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Gascony |volume=21 |page=494–495}}</ref>
# [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]] ('''[[Dijon]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Burgundy |volume=4 |page=821}}</ref>
# [[Picardy]] ([[Amiens]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Picardy |volume=21 |page=576}}</ref>
# [[Duchy of Anjou|Anjou]] ([[Angers]])
# [[Provence]] ('''[[Aix-en-Provence]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Provence |volume=22 |page=503}}</ref>
# [[Angoumois]] ([[Angoulême]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Angoumois |volume=2 |page=42}}</ref>
# [[Bourbonnais]] ([[Moulins, Allier|Moulins]])
# [[County of Marche|Marche]] ([[Guéret]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Marche (France) |volume=17 |page=689–690}}</ref>
# [[Brittany]] ('''[[Rennes]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Brittany |volume=4 |page=617}}</ref>
# [[Maine (province)|Maine]] and [[Perche]] ([[Le Mans]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Maine (province) |volume=17 |page=433}}</ref>
# [[Touraine]] ([[Tours]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Touraine |volume=27 |page=102–103}}</ref>
# [[Limousin (province)|Limousin]] ([[Limoges]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Limousin |volume=16 |page=701}}</ref>
# [[County of Foix|Foix]] ([[Foix]])
# [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]] ([[Clermont-Ferrand]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Auvergne |volume=3 |page=49}}</ref>
# [[Béarn]] ('''[[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]]''')
# [[Alsace]] ([[Strasbourg]], ''conseils souverains'' in '''[[Colmar]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Alsace |volume=1 |page=755}}</ref>
# [[Artois]] ([[Arras, France|Arras]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Artois |volume=2 |page=698}}</ref>
# [[Roussillon]] ('''[[Perpignan]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Roussillon |volume=23 |page=780}}</ref>
# [[French Flanders|Flanders]] and [[French Hainaut|Hainaut]] ([[Lille]], ''conseils souverains'' in '''[[Douai]]''')
# [[Franche-Comté]] ('''[[Besançon]]''')<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Franche-Comté |volume=10 |page=931}}</ref>
# [[Lorraine and Barrois]] ('''[[Nancy, France|Nancy]]'''); [[Three Bishoprics|Trois-Évêchés]] (Three Bishoprics within Lorraine): '''[[Diocese of Metz|Metz]]''', [[Diocese of Toul|Toul]] and [[Diocese of Verdun|Verdun]]<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Lorraine |volume=17 |page=9}}</ref>
# [[Corsica]] ([[Ajaccio]], ''conseils souverains'' in '''[[Bastia]]''')
# [[Nivernais]] ([[Nevers]])<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Nièvre |volume=19 |page=673}}</ref>

Areas that were not part of the Kingdom of France, though they are currently parts of [[Metropolitan France]]:{{ordered list
| start = 35|[[Comtat Venaissin]], a [[Papal States|Papal]] fief ([[Avignon]])|[[County of Saarwerden]]|[[Salm-Salm|Principality of Salm-Salm]]|[[Republic of Mulhouse]]|[[County of Montbéliard|Montbéliard]] ([[Montbéliard]]), a fief of [[Württemberg]]|[[Savoy]] ([[Chambéry]]), a [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinian]] fief|[[County of Nice|Nice]] ([[Nice]]), a [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinian]] fief
}}