From the end of the 5th Century A.D. most of what is now modern France was ruled by the Franks, a Teutonic tribe from Northern Europe.

One their leaders, Charles Martel, was responsible for halting and reversing the progress of Moorish armies through Aquitaine in the 8th Century. During this period and later, powerful families controlled most of the Region and one of these, the house of Talleyrand, ruled the Périgord in the 10th Century.

During the 12th Century the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry Plantagenet, soon to become Henry II of England, brought about the gradual occupation of most of Western France, including the Périgord and Quercy, by the English.

However, the so-called Hundred Years War between the two kingdoms broke out in 1345 and the territory passed back and forward between them. Ultimately the English lost the Périgord which was returned to French rule permanently by 1369, although the Quercy remained English until 1440.

Next: 1500–1700: Wars of Religion