Alençon and the Orne — Alençon, Argentan, La Ferté-Macé
Alençon, Argentan, La Ferté-Macé. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.
Whose archive this ground was
| Years | Who held it | Whose archive that means |
|---|---|---|
| 950–1291 | Lords of Bellême, then the County of Alençon | no registers survive Before registers. The Bellême line held Alençon from the 10th to the early 13th century. |
| 1291–1414 | County of Alençon — appanage of Charles of Valois | Archives municipales d'Alençon · FamilySearch Charles of Valois was given the county in appanage in 1291 (the same source also gives 1293). |
| 1414–1525 | Duchy of Alençon — Valois-Alençon dukes | Archives municipales d'Alençon · Archives départementales de l'Orne · FamilySearch The county was raised to a duchy in 1414. Duke Jean I was killed at Agincourt on 25 October 1415; Jean II was dispossessed at Verneuil on 17 August 1424 and reconquered the domain in 1449. The duchy reverted to the crown on the death of the childless Charles IV (dated 1524 in the text and 1525 in the list of dukes). |
| 1525–1790 | Kingdom of France — Alençon held as dower and appanage | Archives municipales d'Alençon · Archives départementales de l'Orne · FamilySearch Marguerite, Charles IV's widow, held the title until 1549; it went to Catherine de' Medici as jointure in 1559 and became an appanage in 1566 (François, Duke of Anjou), 1646 (Gaston, Duke of Orléans), 1710 (the Duke of Berry) and 1774 (the Count of Provence). |
| 1790–2026 | France — Orne department | Archives départementales de l'Orne · Archives municipales d'Alençon · FamilySearch · Geneanet Civil registration began in 1792. Registers older than 100 years are in the departmental archives and those of Alençon also in the municipal archives; pre-1792 church registers are usually in the departmental archives. |
The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.
See the whole span, 950–2026, on the map →
The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.