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| | FRANCIA |
 | | By 774, the Franks were virtually the only organized Christian kingdom between Islâm in Spain, the pagan powers to the east, and the remaining Roman Empire, now Greek in character, to the southeast. |
 | | Meanwhile, Pope Innocent III had declared a "Crusade" against the heretical Cathari (or Albigensians) in the south of France (or Languedoc). |
 | | After the deaths of René the Good (1480), whose male heirs had predeceased him, and of Charles III, René's nephew, Louis XI secured the return of the Duchy of Anjou, the County of Provence, and, according to some sources, the French part of the Duchy of Bar. |
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