The following pages provide lists of the principal office holders in the duchy/principality of Aquitaine up until the loss of the same to the French in 1453. The two main administrative offices were the lieutenancy in the duchy, and the seneschalcy of Gascony (Aquitaine after 1360). The first was an occasional office, irregularly used by the king’s of England, particularly when Aquitaine was under threat of attack, or when there was internal strife. The constable of Bordeaux, originally the keeper of the ducal castle in Bordeaux (the Ombrière), became the chief financial officer of Aquitaine. It is hoped that further lists of the other administrative officials will be added to these three before the end of the project.
The remaining two offices for which there are lists at this stage are those of the mayors of the two principal cities of Aquitaine which remained loyal to the English until 1451/1453 – Bordeaux and Bayonne. From the early fourteenth century the mayors of Bordeaux were generally not drawn from the major families of the city, but were frequently Englishmen appointed by the kings of England. The election of Bordeaux citizens had resulted in factional strife in the mid thirteenth century and the king had appointed mayors of Bordeaux directly from 1261 onwards (apart from two short periods). Bayonne retained a complicated annual electoral system, which saw the king or seneschal of Gascony select one nominee from three individuals elected in the city. Although other major cities and towns found within the fluid boundaries of Anglo-Gascon Aquitaine did have mayors, it is far more difficult to produce lists for them, though these may be added at a later date.