The chief concern of this book is direct links between the Regno and northern France. But a brief section must be devoted to those areas that belonged to the Angevins, either within or on the borders of what Louis IX would have recognised as his realm. These, Anjou and Maine, Provence, and Tonnerre, were all places in which Frenchmen, either inhabitants or visitors, might make contact with customs or ideas that originated in the Regno. None of these was particularly important as a channel of communication, and two (Anjou and Maine and Tonnerre) did not fulfill this role for long. But all may well have been more influential than the surviving record shows; and all had at least some impact.

Anjou and Maine

Although Anjou and Maine did form an indirect channel of communication, and we shall deal with this aspect later, it also offers a case study of an area of northern France that felt the impact, direct and strong if brief, of the adventure in the Regno. Charles became count of Anjou and Maine in August 1246 through the gift of his brother, Louis IX. He had been established there for twenty years before the battle of Benevento, and seems to have been a reasonably popular figure.