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85-552: The Duchy of Orléanais ( French pronunciation: [ɔʁleanɛ] ) is a former province of France , which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution , the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five départments (less some communes to others). The Duchy of Orléanais was created in 1344 by raising the former County of Orléans to

170-536: A Dukedom under King Philip VI for his second son Philip de Valois . With the creation of the duchy, several localities around the former county were also integrated, they included the County of Beaugency and the Seigneurities of Neuville-aux-Bois , Yèvre-le-Châtel , Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais , Lorris , and Boiscommun . In 1375, Prince Philip died without a legitimate heir, the title of 'Duke of Orléans' and

255-460: A county council which also performs the functions of a district, or a district council which also performs the functions of a county. The effect is the same, with only marginal differences in terminology; district councils are elected by wards, county councils by electoral divisions . The local government counties are listed below, with the numbers corresponding to the adjoining map. There have been no county councils since 1986; these are governed by

340-517: A county in terms of local government legislation, Greater London is deemed to comprise two counties for the purposes of lieutenancy: the City of London (covering the 'square mile' at the centre of the conurbation) and a Greater London lieutenancy county covering the rest of the area, being the 32 London boroughs. The Council of the Isles of Scilly was formed in 1890 as a sui generis district council. It

425-436: A court, a university, a military post, a bishopric, a stock exchange, a fair, a hospital, etc. The protests of the towns which had always fulfilled one of these functions and which were thus deprived of their court of appeal, their arsenal, their university or their fair, prevented this plan from being completely implemented. In some cases, modern regions share names with the historic provinces; their borders may cover roughly

510-595: A different city from the capital. Areas that were not part of the Kingdom of France, though they are currently parts of Metropolitan France : Partial display of historical provincial arms: Counties of England The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England . Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England:

595-446: A hundred individual peoples (300 according to Flavius Josephus), some with very different customs. Julius Caesar called each of these independent states civitas (city, without the word in this case referring to the idea of town or village), some of which were subdivided into pagi . Many of the smaller Gallic peoples were clients of their neighbors, and therefore dependent on them, sometimes paying them tribute. These confederations,

680-516: A military district instead of the equivalent of an English county or American state ). In 1558, the province was elevated into a Generality ( Géneralité ) or General Government ( Gouvernment Général ) and a permanent governor was installed in the region. During this period, the Duke of Orléans was de jure owner of the land, but the Governor was de facto overseer of the province. In 1776, as part of

765-404: A precise legal definition, clearly defined boundaries and codified administrative structures. The number of provinces, their organization and boundaries varied widely over the course of five centuries, and each was headed by a proconsul or propraetor . In addition to Provincia (Provence), which was already Roman, Caesar divided Gaul into three provinces: Aquitanica , Celtica and Belgica . Over

850-515: A province in France before the revolution was initially the representative of the King in the area and held no real power. Until the transformations under Louis XIV , the governorship of a province was more of a de jure appointment, and had no status in decision making. However, after Louis XIV's reforms, the governorship of a province transformed into a military-held appointment. From then, the governor

935-612: A reorganisation of the military general governments (provinces), the governments were divided into three categories. The highest or "most important" were the First Category including notably Rennes , Lyon , Aix , Strasbourg , and Metz ; the Second Category included Orléanais, La Rochelle , Angoulême , Nevers ; and the Special Category including Paris and Monaco . The first category's military governor

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1020-473: A sheriff or lieutenant; the same person was usually appointed to be lieutenant of both Cumberland and Westmorland until 1876, whilst Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire shared a sheriff until 1965. The counties' role as constituencies effectively ceased following the Reform Act 1832 and the associated Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 . Most counties were divided into smaller constituencies, with

1105-439: A union centred on a nearby town, whether or not that town was in the same county. The unions were administered by elected boards of guardians , and formed the basis for the registration districts created in 1837. Each union as a whole was assigned to a registration county , which therefore differed in places from the legal counties. The registration counties were used for census reporting from 1851 to 1911. The unions also formed

1190-560: The Local Government Act 1972 which reorganised local government from 1 April 1974 into a two-tier structure of counties and districts across the whole of England apart from the Isles of Scilly and Greater London (which retained its two-tier structure of the Greater London Council and London boroughs which had been introduced in 1965). The administrative counties and county boroughs were all abolished, and

1275-582: The Metropolitan Board of Works since 1856, which covered the City of London and parts of Middlesex , Surrey and Kent . In those counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, separate county councils were created for each part. The area controlled by a county council was termed an administrative county . The 1888 Act also adjusted the county boundaries for all other purposes, including judicial functions, sheriffs and lieutenants, to match groups of

1360-546: The counties palatine , the right to appoint sheriffs rested elsewhere; for example with the Bishop of Durham for County Durham , and with the Earl of Chester for Cheshire . A county's magistrates sat four times a year as the quarter sessions . For more serious cases judges visited each county twice a year for the assizes . In some larger counties the practice arose of holding the quarter sessions separately for subdivisions of

1445-661: The names of many of the territorial subdivisions of the Ancien Régime refer to Gallic civitates . Before the French Revolution, France was made up of territorial divisions resulting from history, geography and settlement, which differed according to the different powers that were exercised there, with different categories such as metropolises, dioceses , duchies , baronies, governments, states, elections, generalities, intendances, parliaments, countries, bailliages, seneschaussées, etc. Each of these categories took

1530-453: The night of 4 August , decided to establish a uniform division of the territory, the départements , and that this division would be the same for the different functions of the State: military, religious, fiscal, administrative, university, judicial, etc. The town chosen as the capital of each department would have to be the seat of each of these functions, and at the same time have a prefecture,

1615-427: The "former provinces of France". The list below shows the major provinces of France at the time of their dissolution during the French Revolution. Capital cities are shown in parentheses. Bold indicates a city that was also the seat of a judicial and quasi-legislative body called either a parlement (not to be confused with a parliament ) or a conseil souverain (sovereign council). In some cases, this body met in

1700-445: The 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy ; the 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government ; and the 39 historic counties which were used for administration until 1974 . The historic counties of England were mostly formed as shires or divisions of the earlier kingdoms , which gradually united by the 10th century to become England. The counties were initially used primarily for

1785-544: The 90 départements and their capital cities, although their ethnonyms have been replaced by names related to physical geography: rivers, mountains, coasts. Depending on their laws, customs and languages, the territory of the kingdom is divided into countries of written law (roughly south of a line from La Rochelle to Geneva) and countries of customary law (north of the same line). Each of these groups includes several parliaments, which are appeal courts whose jurisdictions form as many judicial provinces, and to which belong all

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1870-533: The Duchy of Gascony disappeared in the 11th century, and the Duchy of Normandy was divided into two military governments. In modern times, the "thirty-six governments" corresponded to the provinces on which all the fiefs and arrière-fiefs depended, providing territorial districts for defense and marshaling, the raising of men-at-arms, the construction of squares, arsenals and castles, judges-at-arms, and therefore also all questions of nobility, armorial bearings, etc. At

1955-440: The Isles of Scilly. There are six metropolitan counties and 78 non-metropolitan counties. Of the non-metropolitan counties, 21 are governed in a two-tier arrangement with an upper-tier county council and a number of lower-tier district councils , 56 are governed by a unitary authority performing both county and district functions, and one ( Berkshire ) is governed by six unitary authorities whilst remaining legally one county. For

2040-460: The Kingdom of France itself was dissolved in 1830. The Province of Orléanais roughly corresponds to the old Duchy of Orléanais and was created on 7 April 1498 when Louis II became King Louis XII. The new province incorporated local counties, including the Orléans , Blois , Vendôme , Chartrès , and Étampes . With the duchy absorbed into the royal domain, it was transformed into a province (really

2125-794: The adjoining new town . Four of the non-metropolitan counties established in 1974 were given names that had not previously been used for counties: Avon , Cleveland , Cumbria , and Humberside . Another was a merger of two former counties and combined both their names: Hereford and Worcester . The pre-1974 counties of Cumberland, Rutland, Westmorland, and Huntingdon and Peterborough were considered too small to function efficiently as separate counties, and did not have their names taken forward by new counties. Cumberland and Westmorland were both incorporated into Cumbria (alongside parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire). Huntingdon and Peterborough became lower-tier districts within Cambridgeshire, and Rutland

2210-448: The administration of justice, overseen by a sheriff . They subsequently gained other roles, notably serving as constituencies and as areas for organising the militia , which was the responsibility of the lord-lieutenant . The county magistrates also gradually took on some administrative functions. Elected county councils were created in 1889, taking over the administrative functions of the magistrates. The functions and territories of

2295-449: The administrative counties and county boroughs. As such, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Sussex retained a single sheriff and lieutenant each, despite being split between multiple administrative counties. Yorkshire kept a single sheriff, whilst each of its ridings retained a separate lieutenant and formed their own administrative counties. In 1890 the Isle of Wight

2380-407: The administrative functions of the quarter sessions. Some towns and cities were considered large enough to run their own county-level services and so were made county boroughs , independent from the new county councils. Urban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were placed entirely in one county. A new County of London was created covering the area which had been administered by

2465-558: The basis for the sanitary districts created in 1872, which took on various local government functions. The county of Westmorland was formed in 1227. From then until 1889 there were generally agreed to be 39 counties in England, although there were some liberties such as the Liberty of Ripon which were independent from their host counties for judicial purposes. The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 formally absorbed Wales into

2550-603: The best-known of which are those of the Arverni , Aedui and Armoricans , formed a kind of province before Roman reorganization. The Gallic cities, with their territory and the name given to their chief town, became dioceses under the Lower Empire; their status as "mainmorte", having escaped the division of patrimonial domains, explains why they remained almost intact until the end of the Ancien Régime. These divisions were subsequently taken over and partly regrouped to form

2635-414: The boundaries between Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were adjusted to transfer 26 parishes between the three counties, largely to eliminate the remaining exclaves not addressed in 1844. The functions of county councils gradually grew. Notable expansions in their responsibilities included taking over education from the abolished school boards in 1902, and taking over the assistance of

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2720-639: The boundaries were. Boundaries were recorded by the Ordnance Survey gradually in a process which started in 1841 and was not fully completed until 1888. Many counties had detached exclaves , away from the main body of the county. Most exclaves were eliminated by boundary adjustments under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 . The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 created poor law unions , which were defined as groups of parishes and frequently crossed county boundaries. Parishes were typically assigned to

2805-488: The case, which causes confusion as to the borders of some provinces. Today, the term "province" is used to name the resulting regional areas, which retain a cultural and linguistic identity. Borrowed from the institutions of the Roman Empire , the word first appeared in the 15th century and has continued to spread, both in official documents and in popular or common usage. Whatever the century or dictionary consulted,

2890-428: The concept of province with that of generality. The concepts do occasionally coincide, when the extent of a generality more or less overlaps that of an older territorial entity, but they are not synonymous. These are the fiefs that depend directly on the crown (duchies, counties and marches) and owe it military aid. In addition to the Duchy of France, which became part of the royal domain, the first six major fiefs have

2975-427: The counties as had been adjusted for all other purposes. This lasted until the constituencies were next reviewed in 1918 , when they were realigned to nest within the newer versions of the counties. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the wider version of the county, including any associated county boroughs or parts which had been made administrative counties. The informal term 'geographical county'

3060-524: The counties have evolved since then, with significant amendments on several occasions, notably in 1889, 1965 and 1974. Following the 1974 reforms, England (outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly ) had a two-tier structure of upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils, with each county being designated as either a metropolitan county or a non-metropolitan county . From 1995 onwards numerous unitary authorities have been established in

3145-561: The county, including the Ridings of Yorkshire , the Parts of Lincolnshire and the Eastern and Western divisions of Sussex . The quarter sessions were also gradually given various civil functions, such as providing asylums, maintaining main roads and bridges, and the regulation of alehouses. When parliaments began to be called from the 13th century onwards, the counties formed part of

3230-515: The course of four centuries of Roman control, the number of provinces increased from three to eleven, due to both the expansion of the empire and the reduction in size of the original provinces: 1st and 2nd Germania , 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Lugdunensis , 1st and 2nd Aquitanica , 1st and 2nd Belgica , 1st and 2nd Narbonensis , Novempopulanie , Sequanorum , Viennensis , Alpes Cottiarum , Alpes Maritimae , Alpes Graiae et Poeninae . These provinces were subdivided into cities (civitas or civitates in

3315-498: The definition of the word often remains vague, due to the coexistence of several territorial division systems under the Ancien Régime. Some geographers, even some of the most famous, such as Onésime Reclus , have widely criticised the idea of provinces and provincial identity, sometimes denying that the word covers any tangible reality. In fact, the many lists and maps showing the provinces of France are neither perfectly superimposable nor exactly comparable. The fact remains, however, that

3400-416: The duchy itself were merged into the royal domain (crown lands) of the King of France. In 1392, the duchy was re-created by King Charles VI for his younger brother Louis de Valois-Orléans . The duke was later succeeded by his son Charles de Valois-Orléans who reigned until 1465 when he died of natural causes. He was succeeded by his own son Louis de Valois-Orléans , who became King Louis XII in 1495 and

3485-479: The dukedome was once again merged into the crown. In 1626, Louis XIII re-created the Dukedom of Orléans for his younger brother Gaston, Duke of Anjou who reigned as duke until 1660 when he died of natural causes. Once again the title merged into the crown for the last time. Finally in 1661 the Dukedom of Orléans was created for the final time by King Louis XIV for his brother Prince Philip, Duke of Anjou . He

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3570-519: The end of the Ancien Régime, not counting overseas territories such as the French islands of America, Pondicherry, Mauritius or New France (a province from 1663 to 1763, when it was ceded to Great Britain and Spain), there were thirty-six regions with a governor in charge of defense, called governments. Each had its own nobility. Together with the regions attached to France since 1791, these thirty-six governments correspond to what are usually known today as

3655-518: The existing counties and districts and having most local government functions exercised by all-purpose unitary authorities. Following the change in government at the 1970 general election , the incoming Conservative administration of Edward Heath abandoned the Redcliffe-Maud proposals, having campaigned against them as part of their election manifesto. Instead, the Heath government produced

3740-461: The following: Beauce , Blésois , Vendômois , Bas-Vendômois , Chartrès , Dunois , and Gâtinais (only part). The Généralite of Orléanis had a 52 member assembly in Orléans who worked alongside the Duke of Orléans to run the province. Among the notable presidents was Anne-Charles-Sigismond de Montmorency-Luxembourg , Duke of Montmorency-Luxembourg . Province of France The country

3825-411: The functions of the abolished councils, with some functions (such as emergency services, civil defence and public transport) being delivered through joint committees. Further reform in the 1990s allowed the creation of non-metropolitan counties containing a single district, where one council performed both county and district functions. These became informally known as unitary authorities . The first

3910-524: The generalités, then the départements, but replacing their former ethnic names (e.g. Poitou for the country of Pictons, Auvergne for the country of Arverni, Rouergue for the country of Ruteni , Périgord for country of Pétrocores, etc.) with a physical geographic name (giving respectively the départements of Vienne , Puy-de-Dôme , Aveyron , Dordogne , etc.). The Latin etymology of the term provincia gives us an idea of its original meaning: pro vincere , conquered in advance. Each of Gaul's Roman provinces had

3995-633: The group of constituencies within each county being termed the 'parliamentary county'. County boundaries were sometimes adjusted, for example by some of the Inclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries. County and other boundaries were not centrally recorded with any accuracy before the 19th century, but were instead known by local knowledge and custom. When the Ordnance Survey started producing large scale maps, they had to undertake extensive research with locals to establish where exactly

4080-952: The kingdom of England and completed its division into 13 counties on the English model. Contemporary lists after that sometimes included Monmouthshire as a 40th English county, on account of its assizes being included in the Oxford circuit rather than one of the Welsh circuits . The 39 historic counties were: By the late 19th century, there was increasing pressure to reform the structure of English counties; borough councils and boards of guardians were elected, but there were no elections for county-level authorities. Some urban areas had also grown across county boundaries, creating problems in how they were administered. The Local Government Act 1888 sought to address these issues. It established elected county councils, which came into being in 1889 and took over

4165-530: The loss of judicial functions in 1972, the counties' roles were the administrative functions of local government, plus the limited ceremonial roles of the sheriffs and lieutenants. As part of the reforms under the Local Government Act 1972 the post of sheriff was renamed ' high sheriff ', and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new counties created in 1974. Whilst the administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished in 1974,

4250-476: The lower tier of district councils was reorganised. The Heath government also reformed the judicial functions which had been organised by geographical counties; the Courts Act 1971 abolished the quarter sessions and assizes with effect from 1972. The sheriffs and lieutenants continued to exist, but both roles had lost powers to become largely ceremonial by the time of the 1970s reforms. As such, following

4335-440: The metropolitan borough councils with some joint committees. Most now form part or all of a combined authority . Upper-tier county council and multiple lower-tier district councils: County council serving as unitary authority: District council serving as unitary authority: No county council but multiple districts serving as unitary authorities: Greater London and the Isles of Scilly do not form part of any county for

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4420-423: The name of a province, without covering the same geographical area. For example, the jurisdiction of the parlement d'Artois did not correspond to the same territory as the gouvernement d'Artois or the intendance d'Artois. The Constituent Assembly of 1789 , having abolished all the rights and customs specific to the different regions (also known as privileges, such as those of the classes, nobility and clergy) during

4505-483: The name of an ancient Gallic people, also given to the diocesan capital. Dioceses were made up of parishes , groups of inhabitants who could gather in the same church, whose names and boundaries have been preserved in the 36,000 French communes. Ecclesiastical districts, by virtue of their mainmortal status, are the oldest and most stable territorial circumscriptions, from late antiquity to the general reorganization of 1802. Today, these 130 or so districts are grouped into

4590-421: The names of historic counties and were defined by reference to the administrative and geographical counties which preceded them, retaining the same or similar boundaries where practicable. Whilst the Heath government had rejected the more radical Radcliffe-Maud proposals, they did still make adjustments to boundaries where they concluded they were necessary to better align with functional economic areas. For example,

4675-480: The non-metropolitan counties, usually by creating a non-metropolitan county containing a single district and having one council perform both county and district functions. Since 1996 there have been two legal definitions of county: the counties as defined in local government legislation, and the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy (the latter being informally known as ceremonial counties). The local government counties today cover England except for Greater London and

4760-642: The non-metropolitan counties. Since the most recent changes in 2023, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly has been divided into 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government purposes. The 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy have been unchanged since 1998. Since the latest changes in 2023 there have been 84 counties for local government purposes, which are categorised as metropolitan or non-metropolitan counties. The non-metropolitan counties may governed by one or two tiers of councils. Those which are governed by one tier (unitary authorities) may either be governed by

4845-478: The north-western part of Berkshire was transferred to Oxfordshire on account of being separated from the rest of Berkshire by the Berkshire Downs hills and having better connections to the city of Oxford than to Berkshire's largest town and administrative centre of Reading . Similarly, Gatwick Airport was transferred from Surrey to West Sussex so that it could be in the same county as Crawley ,

4930-552: The plural), the number of which rose from 33 to 113. Metropolises are territories under the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop , also known as provinces because they originate from the Roman provinces administered by the first bishops after the fall of the Roman Empire. They are made up of the dioceses which, by the same process, succeeded the ancient civitas or romanized Gallic cities, and which almost always retained

5015-489: The poor from the abolished boards of guardians in 1930. A Local Government Boundary Commission was set up in 1945 which reviewed the structure of local government and recommended a significant overhaul, including extensive changes to counties and county boroughs. The commission was wound up in 1949 when the government decided not to pursue these proposals. A Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London

5100-425: The pre-1974 powers in such cases. Whilst these unitary authorities are legally all non-metropolitan counties, they are rarely referred to as counties other than in the context of local government law. The pre-1974 counties of Rutland, Herefordshire and Worcestershire also regained their independence. Rutland was made a unitary authority in 1997, and in 1998 Herefordshire was made a unitary authority and Worcestershire

5185-427: The purposes of lieutenancy England (including Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) is divided into 48 counties, which are defined as groups of one or more local government counties. Counties are also frequently used for non-administrative purposes, including culture, tourism and sport, with many organisations, clubs and leagues being organised on a county basis. For the purpose of sorting and delivering mail, England

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5270-681: The purposes of local government legislation. Greater London was created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 as a sui generis administrative area, with the Greater London Council functioning as an upper-tier authority. It consists of the City of London plus 32 London boroughs . It was left unaltered by the 1972 Act. The Greater London Council was abolished along with the metropolitan county councils in 1986. Since 2000, Greater London has had an elected Assembly and Mayor responsible for strategic local government. Whilst not

5355-603: The return to the crown of a former fiefdom, such as the Duchy of Burgundy , which had been held by Hugues Capet's brother. Others, such as the Duchy of Savoy , Corsica , Comtat-Vénessin and the County of Nice , were acquired from the Empire or the Holy See. Unlike the ecclesiastical provinces, their extent varies over the course of history according to the possessions of their holders, or to political reorganizations. For example,

5440-418: The royal jurisdictions, baillages (bailiwicks) and seneschaussées (seneschalties) . They are made up of several countries , each corresponding to a general custom, or even a particular custom corresponding to former vici that have retained local customs. For example, the seneschalty of Quercy is made up of five secondary bailiwicks, corresponding to five former vigueries . Some authors attempt to equate

5525-535: The same territory. It's worth noting that the old Gallic states retained their names, their boundaries and a kind of moral existence in people's memories and affections until very recently. Neither the Romans, nor the Germans, nor feudalism, nor monarchy destroyed these enduring units; they can still be found in the provinces and countries of present-day France. Gaul was occupied by fifty-four main peoples and more than

5610-484: The sheriff. Some larger towns and cities were made self-governing counties corporate , starting with London in c.  1132 , with the right to hold their own courts and appoint their own sheriffs. The counties corporate continued to be deemed part of the wider county for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exception of London which had its own lieutenants. The Ridings of Yorkshire had their own lieutenants from 1660 onwards. Sometimes smaller counties shared either

5695-467: The system for electing members of parliament . Certain towns and cities were parliamentary boroughs sending their own representatives, and the remainder of each county served as a county constituency , with the MPs for such constituencies being known as knights of the shire . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the functions previously held by

5780-453: The title of peerage: Their holders were considered electors of the King of France, along with six other ecclesiastical peers: The number of grand fiefs varies with history (inheritances, confiscations, conquests, losses, treaties) and increases with the definitive attachment of the County of Provence , the Duchy of Anjou , the Duchy of Burgundy , the Duchy of Brittany , the Duchy of Lorraine , and so on. Some of these provinces were simply

5865-404: The title was merged into the crown once more. In 1519, the dukedom was once again created by King Francis I for his second son Henri de Valois-Angoulême . However, Henri later renounced his title when he became Dauphin of France (heir to the throne) in 1536. He was then succeeded by his son Charles de Valois-Angoulême who reigned as duke until he died of the flu in 1545. In 1549, the dukedom

5950-415: The wider geographical or historic counties were not explicitly abolished by the 1972 Act, albeit they were left with no administrative or ceremonial functions. Following the 1974 reforms there were 45 counties, six of which were classed as metropolitan counties, covering the larger urban areas: The other 39 counties were classed as non-metropolitan counties: Most of the non-metropolitan counties retained

6035-534: Was again created for the one year old Prince Louis de Valois-Angoulême , who died just a few months into his tenure. He was succeeded by his older brother Charles, who became King Charles IX in 1560 and renounced his dukedom. Charles was succeeded by Henri de Valois-Angoulême, but dropped his title in 1566 in exchange for the Dukedom of Anjou . In February 1566, the title was transferred to Queen Consort Chatherine de' Medici as Duchess of Orléans. She died in 1589 and

6120-625: Was also used on Ordnance Survey maps to distinguish the wider version of the county from the administrative counties. There were various adjustments to county boundaries after 1889. There were numerous changes following the Local Government Act 1894 , which converted rural sanitary districts into rural districts and established parish councils , but said that districts and parishes were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. The number of county boroughs gradually increased, and boundaries were occasionally adjusted to accommodate urban areas which were developing across county boundaries. In 1931

6205-407: Was divided into postal counties until 1996; they were then abandoned by Royal Mail in favour of postcodes . Most of the historic English counties were established between the 7th and 11th centuries. Counties were initially used for the administration of justice and organisation of the militia, all overseen by a sheriff. The sheriff was usually appointed by the monarch but in some cases, known as

6290-541: Was established in 1957 and a Local Government Commission for England in 1958 to recommend new local government structures. The major outcomes of the work of the commissions came in 1965. The County of London was abolished and was replaced by the Greater London administrative area, which also included most of the remaining part of Middlesex (which was abolished as an administrative county) and areas formerly part of Surrey, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire. Huntingdonshire

6375-475: Was given the "powers, duties and liabilities" of a county council in 1930. Some functions, such as health and economic development, are shared with Cornwall Council . For lieutenancy purposes the islands form part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall. From 1974 to 1996 the local government counties were also used for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exceptions that the Isles of Scilly were deemed part of Cornwall for lieutenancy purposes, and Greater London

6460-664: Was legally a new non-metropolitan county and a district covering the same area, with the district council also performing county functions. Rather than appoint lieutenants and high sheriffs for these new counties created in 1996, it was decided to resurrect the pre-1974 practice of defining counties for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty separately from the local government counties. Several other unitary authorities were created between 1996 and 1998. Many of these were districts based on larger towns and cities, including several places that had been county boroughs prior to 1974. Being made unitary authorities therefore effectively restored

6545-445: Was made a district of Leicestershire. The metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986 after just 12 years in operation. The Greater London Council was abolished at the same time. The metropolitan counties and Greater London continued to legally exist as geographic areas and retained their high sheriffs and lieutenants despite the loss of their upper-tier councils. The lower-tier metropolitan boroughs and London boroughs took on

6630-402: Was made an administrative county whilst remaining part of Hampshire for other purposes. Constituencies were not changed by the 1888 Act and so the parliamentary counties continued to be defined as they had been when the constituencies were last reviewed in 1885 , by reference to the counties as they had then existed. This led to a mismatch in some areas between the parliamentary counties and

6715-547: Was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough , and the original administrative county of Cambridgeshire was merged with the Isle of Ely to form Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely . A Royal Commission on Local Government in England was set up in 1966 and produced the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, which recommended the complete redrawing of local government areas in England, replacing

6800-469: Was not just the King's representative, but also military commander of the area. In addition to his military duties, the governor was de facto leader of the province while the titular holder (ex: Duke of Orléans) was de jure owner of the province. Below is a list of the Governors of Orléanais: In 1558, most provinces in France were separated further into tax districts or Élections . Orléanais included

6885-422: Was re-established as a two-tier county. Berkshire County Council was abolished in 1998 and the county's six districts became unitary authorities, but unusually the non-metropolitan county of Berkshire was not abolished. The six Berkshire unitary authorities are the only ones not to also be non-metropolitan counties. Further reforms in 2009 and between 2019 and 2023 saw more unitary authorities created within

6970-409: Was subdivided ecclesiastically into dioceses, judicially into généralités , militarily into general governments. None of these entities was called "province" by their contemporaries. However, later interpretations confused the term of "general government" (a military division) with that of a cultural province, since the general governments often used the names and borders of a province. It was not always

7055-456: Was succeeded by his son, then his grandson, great-grandson, and finally great-great grandson Louis Philippe II . In 1793, he was executed for treason during the Reign of Terror and succeeded by his son Louis Philippe III (later King Louis Philippe). The title then transferred for the last time to Prince Ferdinand Philippe de Orléans who died in an accident in 1842 and the title was dissolved as

7140-474: Was the Isle of Wight, where the two districts were abolished and the county council took over their functions in 1995. In 1996, Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished after just 22 years in existence. None of those three had attracted much public loyalty, and there had been campaigns to abolish them, especially in the case of Humberside. Those three counties were split into unitary authorities, each of which

7225-472: Was to be a Marshal of France , the second class were reserved for Lieutenant Generals , and the special regions were assigned by the King. In 1791, under the auspicious of 'unity of France', the provinces were dissolved and succeeded by smaller départments . The former province was split between several new départments : Loiret , Loir-et-Cher , Eure-et-Loir , Seine-et-Oise , and Yonne . Some communes joined other départments , including: A governor of

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