Starting Population     271                     % of Worldwide          0.9%                    

                                                Population                                      

Starting Income         4,389                   % of Worldwide          0.7%                    

                                                Income                                          

Starting GDP            56,921                  % of Worldwide GDP      1.1%                    

Starting Surplus        401                     % of Worldwide          1.2%                    

                                                Surplus                                         

13 fiefs in province                            Overlord:               de Valois (200)
         

Kingdom: France

Comments: Poitiers is a large county in the western part of France. Properly the county is known as Poitou, pronounced 'pwha-too'. Originally a part of Celtic Aquitainia, it was added to the Roman world by Juilius Caesar in 56 B.C. and eventually thoroughly Romanized and Christianized. In the early 5th century it was occupied by the Visigoths, but they in turn gave way to the Franks almost a century later. Upon the breakup of the Carolingian Empire, the county came under the control of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and, in 1152, passed to England as a result of the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II. Over the next century the county was gradually regained by France, but there is a latent English claim. Ecclesiastical authority is vested in the Archbishop of Bordeaux. There is a little commerce and some industry, but the county is primarily agricultural, producing a variety of grains.