Angoulême (Angoumois) in western France was part of the Carolingian Empire as the kingdom of Aquitaine. Under Charlemagne's successors, the local Count of Angoulême was independent and was not united with the French crown until 1307. By the terms of the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Angoumois, then ruled by the Counts of Angoulême, was ceded as English territory to Edward III. In 1371 it became a fief of the dukes of Berry, a cadet line of the French royal family. When Francis I, formerly the Count of Angoulême, became king in 1515, Angoumois was definitively incorporated into the French crown lands, as a duchy.
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