county · France and the Low Countries

County of La Marche

958 CE – 1527 CE (approx.) · capital Guéret

A border county between Poitou and the Limousin, held by the Lusignans at the height of their power and later by Armagnac and Bourbon princes.

Origins

La Marche took its name from its position as a frontier zone, or march, of the duchy of Aquitaine. Around 958 Boso the Old, a lord of Charroux, held comital authority there, and his descendants ruled both La Marche and the neighbouring Périgord.

Rule and society

A poor upland county of pasture and woodland, La Marche mattered for its strategic place between the Plantagenet and Capetian spheres. From 1199 the Lusignans held it; Hugh X married Isabella of Angoulême, widow of King John, and joined a failed revolt against Louis IX in 1242. Guéret and Charroux were its main centres.

Decline and legacy

After the Lusignan line ended in 1308, Philip IV took the county. It passed to the Bourbons, the Armagnacs and back to the Bourbons as an appanage, until Francis I confiscated the lands of Constable Charles of Bourbon in 1523. It was united with the Kingdom of France in 1527.

Lineage

County of La MarcheKingdom of France 987 CE – 1792 CE

Connections (1)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of La Marche. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-la-marche
MLA
“County of La Marche.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-la-marche. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “County of La Marche.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-la-marche.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of La Marche’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-la-marche (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻