Count of Périgord (Fr.: comte de Périgord) is a noble title in the peerage of France. Originally known as "The sovereign house of the Counts of Périgord, princes by the grace of God". The first recorded sovereign Count was Emenon, who was also Count of Poitiers and Count of Angoulême. Most likely, the title was bestowed on Emenon in 845 by Pepin I of Aquitaine as a reward for Emenon fighting with Pepin against Louis the Pious. The title takes its name from the Périgord region of France, and the historic seat of the Counts of Périgord was Périgueux.
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Count of Périgord in the context of Emenon
Emenon (or Emeno) was the Count of Poitou (828–839), Périgord (863–866), and Angoulême (863–866).
It is unknown who nominated him count of Poitou, but it was probably Pepin I of Aquitaine, at whose side he had fought against the emperor Louis the Pious. During his tenure in Poitou, the Empress Judith was imprisoned in the abbey of Sainte-Croix at Poitiers for a while. The country of Herbauges was taken from him and given in benefice to Ragenold of Neustria. When Pepin died, Emenon joined the nobles who proclaimed Pepin II king. Louis invaded Aquitaine and took Poitiers, passing Christmas there in 839 and appointed Ranulf I in his place as count.
Count of Périgord in the context of Louis I, Duke of Orléans
Louis I (13 March 1372 – 23 November 1407) was Duke of Orléans from 1392 to his death in 1407. He was also Duke of Touraine (1386–1392), Count of Valois (1386?–1406) Blois (1397–1407), Angoulême (1404–1407), Périgord (1400–1407) and Soissons (1404–07).
Louis was the younger brother of King Charles VI of France, and a powerful and polarizing figure in his day. Owing to the King's highly public struggles with mental illness, Louis worked with Charles's wife Queen Isabeau to try to lead the kingdom during Charles's frequent bouts of insanity. He struggled for control of France with John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. Louis was unpopular with the citizens of Paris due to his reputation for womanizing and his role in the Bal des Ardents tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of four French nobles and the near death of the king himself. He was assassinated in 1407 on orders of John the Fearless; John not only admitted to his role in the murder, but bragged openly about it. What began as a feud between factions of the royal family erupted into open warfare as a result of Louis's death. Louis's grandson would later become king of France as Louis XII.
Count of Périgord in the context of John, Count of Angoulême
John of Orléans (French: Jean, 26 June 1399 – 30 April 1467), Count of Angoulême and Périgord, was a younger son of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, and Valentina Visconti, and a grandson of Charles V of France. He was the younger brother of the noted poet, Charles, Duke of Orléans, and grandfather of Francis I of France.
John was handed over to the English in 1412, according to the terms of the Treaty of Buzançais, and not released until 1444. In 1415 he was joined by his older brother Charles, with whom he shared an interest in literature. He had to sell part of his estates to pay for his ransom, but still collected many books. After that, he fought under the orders of his illegitimate half-brother, Jean de Dunois, driving the English out of Guyenne in 1451.