Angevin Empire

'Angevin' can refer either to Angers or to the inhabitants of Angers.

The term Angevin Empire describes a collection of states ruled by the Angevin Plantagenêt dynasty. The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries. Their 'empire' was roughly half of medieval France as well as all of England and Ireland. The term 'Angevin Empire' is a modern construction as the empire had no such collective term at the time. However, despite the extent of the Plantagenets' rule, they were defeated by the King of France, Philip II Augustus of the House of Capet, which left their empire split in two, losing the provinces of Normandy and Anjou. This defeat, which left the ruling Plantagenets with their English territories and Gascon in France, set the scene for the Saintonge and the Hundred Years' War.

(sources: "The Angevin Empire" by John Gillingham, editions Arnold.)

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angevin_Empire