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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = County of Agenois
| common_name            = Agenois
| flag_caption           = Map of Agenois within its 18th century limits with the current municipalities and departments.
| image_map              = Carte de l'Agenais.svg
| capital                = [[File:Coat of Arms of Agen.svg|20px]] [[Agen]]
| religion               = [[Catholicism]]
| government_type        = [[County]]
| legislature            = [[Parlement]]
| upper_house            = [[Parliament of Bordeaux]]
| empire                 = Kingdom of France
| year_end               = 1791
| year_start             = 886
| image_map_alt          = Location of the county with modern departmental boundaries
| year_leader2           = 1718–1751{{efn|name=Titles|Following the death of Charles, Count of Armagnac in 1751, the title of 'Count of Armagnac' passed to the King of France, at the time being Louis XV.  This made the county a crownland, belonging to the King.}}
| leader2                = [[Charles, Count of Armagnac|Charles de Lorraine, Count of Armagnac]]{{efn|name=Titles}}
| event_start            = Established
| event_end              = Disestablishment of the Provinces
| s1                     = Lot-et-Garonne
| flag_s1                = Blason département fr Lot-et-Garonne2.svg
| era                    = [[France in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] / [[Early modern France|Early Modern]]
}}
'''Agenais''' ({{IPA|fr|aʒ(ə)nɛ|-|Fr-Agenais.ogg}}), or '''Agenois''' ({{IPA|fr|aʒ(ə)nwa}}), was an ancient region that became a [[county]] ([[Old French]]: ''conté'' or ''cunté'') of France, south of [[Périgord]].<ref name="WebsterNinthNewCollege">Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Agenais". ''[[Webster's Dictionary#The Collegiate Dictionary|Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary]]''. 9th ed. Springfield, MA: [[Merriam-Webster]] Inc., 1985. {{ISBN|0-87779-508-8}}, {{ISBN|0-87779-509-6}} (indexed), and {{ISBN|0-87779-510-X}} (deluxe).</ref>

==History==
In ancient [[Gaul]] the region was the country of the '''Nitiobroges''' with [[Agen|Aginnum]] for their capital, which in the fourth century was the Civitas Agennensium, which was a part of [[Aquitania|Aquitania Secunda]]<ref>[[Alexander Riese]], ''Geographi Latini Minores'', 1878, "[[Notitia Galliarum]]" p. 143</ref> and which formed the [[diocese of Agen]]. From 833 to 848, all the land seems to have been ravaged by the Vikings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cosmovisions.com/histAgenais.htm |title=L'Agenais (in French) |last=Tholin |first=G. |website=Imago Mundi |publisher=Serge Jodra |accessdate=11 December 2014}}</ref> Having in general shared the fortunes of [[Aquitaine]] during the [[Merovingian]] and [[Carolingian]] periods, Agenais from about 886 became an hereditary county in the part of the country now called [[Gascony]] (Vasconia).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Agenais|volume=1|page=373|first=Charles|last=Bémont|authorlink=Charles Bémont}}</ref><ref>Joseph Noulens, ''Le comté d'Agenais au xe siècle'' (Paris, 1877).</ref> The first count of Agenais (''comte d'Agen'') was William I of Périgord (d. 920), son of [[Wulgrin I of Angoulême]].

In 1038 this county was purchased by [[William VI, Duke of Aquitaine|William, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers]]. The marriage of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] with the future [[Henry II of England]] in 1152 brought the county under the sway of the [[Plantagenet]] house of Anjou. When [[Richard I of England|Richard Coeur-de-Lion]] married his sister Joan to [[Raymund VI, Count of Toulouse]], in 1196, Agenais formed part of the princess's dowry, and formed part of the other estates of the last independent [[count of Toulouse]].<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1212, during the [[Albigensian Crusade]], [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]] captured the [[Cathar]] fortress of [[Penne-d'Agenais]] and burned Cathars at the stake.<ref>William W. Kibler, ed.''Medieval France: an encyclopedia'', ''s.v.'' "Agenais".</ref> At the [[1259 Treaty of Paris]], [[Louis IX of France]] agreed to pay an annual rent to [[Henry III of England]] for Louis' possession of Agenais.<ref>Harry Rothwell, ed. ''English Historical Documents 1189–1327'', Routledge, 1996, {{ISBN|0-415-14368-3}}</ref> The estates of Agenais lapsed to the crown of France in 1271.<ref name="EB1911"/>

This, however, was not for long; the king of France had to recognize the prior rights of the king of England to the possession of the county, and restored it to him in 1279. During the [[Hundred Years' War]] between the English and the French, Agenais was frequently taken and retaken, the final retreat of the English in 1453 at last leaving the king of France in peaceable possession.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1561, [[Guyenne]] was made a [[provinces of France|province]], and included [[Bordeaux|Bordelais]], [[Bazas|Bazadais]], [[Limousin (province)|Limousin]], [[Périgord]], [[Quercy]], [[Rouergue]], Agenais, [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]], and [[Angoumois]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}} Thenceforth Agenais was no more than an administrative term. At the end of the [[Ancien Régime]] it formed part of the ''Gouvernement'' of [[Guienne]], and at the [[French Revolution|Revolution]] it was incorporated within the département of [[Lot-et-Garonne]], of which it constitutes nearly the whole. The title of count of Agenais, which the kings of England had allowed to fall into desuetude, was revived by the kings of France, and in 1789 was held by the family of the [[Duke of Richelieu|dukes of Richelieu]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070313161548/http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.86.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:] "Aginnum (Agen), Lot-et-Garonne, France"
{{refend}}

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[[Category:Agenais| ]]
[[Category:Geography of Gironde]]
[[Category:Geography of Lot (department)]]
[[Category:Geography of Lot-et-Garonne]]
[[Category:Geography of Tarn-et-Garonne]]
[[Category:History of Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]
[[Category:History of Occitania (administrative region)]]
[[Category:History of Gironde]]
[[Category:History of Lot (department)]]
[[Category:History of Lot-et-Garonne]]
[[Category:History of Tarn-et-Garonne]]
[[Category:Guyenne]]
<references />
[[Category:Former counties of France|Agenois]]
[[Category:Former provinces of France]]