Poitou

Poitou, a former province of south-western France, coincident with the present departments of Deux Sèvres, Vendée, and Vienne. It was divided into Upper and Lower Poitou, and had for its capital Poitiers. Its early history is the same as that of Aquitania (q.v.). Poitou became a possession of the English crown when Eleanor, Countess of Poitou and Duchess of Aquitaine, married (1152) Henry of Anjou (see HENRY II.). Philip Augustus reconquered it in 1205. In 1360 it reverted to England, but nine years later was retaken by Charles V. See Anber, Histoire de Poitou (1886-88).