| Summary: | <p>At the end of the ninth century the members of two rival families were struggling to gain possession of the county of Poitou. Although the comital appointment was in theory still royally controlled, Ademar (the candidate of King Odo) was unable to maintain his position in the county when Ebles (the descendant of former Carolingian counts) seized Poitiers in 902. After an attempt by King Lothair and Duke Hugh the Great to capture Poitiers in 955 there was no further royal intervention in the county; and Hbles and his descendants, even though they maintained contacts with the royal court, ruled independently in Foitou. The history of Poitou at this period is important because documentary material survives to link the Carolingian county, where the count was still merely a royal official, with the feudal principality which was later evolved. For instance Ebles held malli publici in due Carolingian form and where the Norman ravages had not been too great took over the local administration; both he and his son seem to have established their own viscounts. Lands and rights which had once belonged to the royal fisc, (including palaces and royal monasteries) provided the foundations of Ebles' power; and the significance of these usurpations nay be judged from the fact that the authority of the Count of Poitou was never go strong where it did not rest upon the débris of Carolingian public authority. The acquisition of the title of Duke of Aquitaine, for instance, did not bring its holder any such solid advantages as the acquisition of the county of Foitou.</p>
<p>Continued in thesis ...</p>
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