Eu (Augusta) was in existence under the Romans. The first line of its counts, supposed to be descended from the dukes of Normandy, had as heiress Alix (died 1227), who married Raoul (Ralph) de Lusignan, known as the Sire d'Issoudun from his lordship of that name. Through their grand-daughter Marie, the countship of Eu passed by marriage to the house of Brienne, two members of which, both named Raoul, were constables of France. King John confiscated the countship in 1350, and gave it to John of Artois (1352). His great-grandson, Charles, son of Philip of Artois, count of Eu, and Marie of Berry, played a conspicuous part in the Hundred Years' War. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt (1415), and remained in England twenty-three years, in accordance with the dying injunctions of Henry V. that he was not to be let go until his son, Henry VI., was of age to govern his dominions. He accompanied Charles VII. on his campaigns in Normandy and Guyenne, and was made lieutenant-general of these two provinces. It was he who effected a reconciliation between the king and the dauphin after the revolt of the latter. He was created a peer of France in 1458, and made governor of Paris during the war of the League of the Public Weal (1465). He died on the 15th of July 1472 at the age of about seventy-eight, leaving no children. His sister's son, John of Burgundy, count of Nevers, now received the countship, which passed through heiresses, in the 15th century, to the house of Cleves, and to that of Lorraine-Guise. In 1660 Henry II. of Lorraine, duke of Guise, sold it to "Mademoiselle," Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier (q.v.), who made it over (1682) to the duke of Maine, bastard son of Louis XIV., as part of the price of the release of her lover Lauzun. The second son of the duke of Maine, Louis Charles de Bourbon (1701-1775), bore the title of count of Eu. In 1755 he inherited from his elder brother, Louis Auguste de Bourbon (1700-1755), prince de Dombes, great estates, part of which he sold to the king. The remainder, which was still considerable, passed to his cousin the duke of Penthièvre. These estates were confiscated at the Revolution; but at the Restoration they were bestowed by Louis XVII. on the duchess-dowager of Orléans who, in 1821, bequeathed them to her son, afterwards King Louis Philippe. They were again confiscated in 1852, but were restored to the Orleans family by the National Assembly after the Franco-German War. The title of count of Eu was revived in the 19th century in favour of the eldest son of the duke of Nemours, second son of King Louis Philippe.