For works with similar titles, see Maine (province).
MAINE, an ancient province of France, and with Perche one of the great military governments of the kingdom, bounded N. by Normandy, E. by Perche and Orléannais, S. by Touraine and Anjou, and W. by Brittany. It is now almost entirely included in the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe. Its capital was Le Mans. Under the Carlovingian and early Capetian kings the province was governed by counts; it was subsequently in turn united with Normandy and Anjou, became subject to the kings of England, was wrested from John by Philip Augustus, and after various transfers was united with the crown of France in 1481.