county · France and the Low Countries
County of Angoulême
Origins
In 866 Charles the Bald appointed his kinsman Vulgrin I count of Angoulême and Périgord to defend the region against Viking raids. His descendants, called the Taillefer line after the nickname of Count William I Taillefer, held Angoulême for more than three centuries.
Rule and society
The counts were vassals of the dukes of Aquitaine and controlled the Charente valley, with Angoulême on its fortified hill. The cathedral of Saint-Pierre, rebuilt in the 12th century, shows the domed Romanesque style of the region.
Decline and legacy
Isabella of Angoulême married King John of England in 1200 and later Hugh X of Lusignan, whose family then held the county. On the death of the last Lusignan heir in 1308 it passed to the French crown. It was later an appanage of the Valois-Angoulême branch, which gave France Francis I.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- County of Angoulême was a vassal of Duchy of Aquitaine893 CE – 1204 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Angoulême. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-angouleme
- MLA
- “County of Angoulême.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-angouleme. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “County of Angoulême.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-angouleme.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Angoulême’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-angouleme (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻