Armagnac

Small territory in historical Gascony, southwestern France. A portion was part of the Roman province of Aquitania (see Aquitaine). From c. 960 it was the separate countship of Armagnac, and it grew to occupy a buffer zone between lands controlled by the French kings (Toulouse) and those controlled by the English (Guyenne). It led the resistance to the English king Henry V's invasion of France but suffered a setback at the Battle of Agincourt. It was first annexed to France in 1497, became a countship again, but finally, by descent through the rulers of Navarra, returned to the French crown in 1607. Again a countship from 1645, it was dissolved in 1789. The region produces the famous Armagnac brandy.