3f  the   same   prince   came   an   annexation    on    a  far  ^^   ~
^n-eater  scale,  which  did  not  happen  till  the  first  years
jjf  the  thirteenth  century,  but  which  was  the  result  of
^auses    which    had    l)een   going    on    ever   since  tlie
leventh.
In    the   course    of  the    twelfth    century  a    power  <]rowthof

'>  ^  the  Udiise

Jrew  up  within  the  bounds  of  the  Western  Kingdom  ^f  Ahjou.
ooc


32  THE  KINGDOM  OF  FRANCE.
CHAP,     which  iu  extent  of  territory  tlirew  the  dominions  of


IX


the  Frencli  King  into  insignificance.  The  two  great
powers  of  northern  and  southern  Gaul,  Normandy  and
Aquitaine,  each  carrying  with  it  a  crowd  of  smaller
states,  were  united  in  the  hands  of  a  single  prince,  and
that  a  prince  who  was  also  the  king  of  a  powerful
foreign  kingdom.  The  Aquitanian  duchy  contained,
besides  the  county  of  Poitou,  a  number  of  fiefs,  of
which  the  most  important  were  those  of  Perigueux,
Limoges^  the  dauphiny  of  Anvergne,  and  the  county  of
Marche  which  gave  kings  to  Jerusalem  and  Cyprus.
Union  of      r^^  tlicse,  iu  tlic  eleventh  century,  the  duchy  of  Gasconv.
^^mv^^^'     ^'i^l^  i^s  subordinate  fiefs,  was  added,  and  the  dominions


«>nv
1052


of  the  lord  of  Poitiers  stretched  to  the  Pyrenees.  Meau-
Conqnestsof  wlillc  Dukc  William  of  Normandy,  before  his  conquest

William  of  .  .  .  ..
