Poictesme () is a fictional country or province which forms the setting of the fantasy works of

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His work ...

, known collectively as ''

Biography of the Life of Manuel ''Biography of the Life of Manuel'' is a series of novels, essays and poetry by James Branch Cabell. It purports to trace the life, illusions and disillusions of Dom Manuel, Count of Poictesme (a fictional province of France), and of his physical ...

''. Poictesme is ruled by the Count Dom Manuel. It was the author's intention to situate Poictesme roughly in Southern France. The name suggests the two real French cities of Poitiers (medieval ''Poictiers'') and Angoulême (medieval ''Angoulesme''). Poictesme is a fief of King Ferdinand of Castile and León, who installs Manuel as count in the year 1234. Cabell's fictional history of the country extends as far as the 17th century. The first map of Poictesme was drawn by Cabell himself, but other maps were created by artists such as Frank C. Papé, Peter Koch, and Judith Ann Lawrence. At the height of Cabell's popularity in the 1920s, Cabell's publishers sold framed wall-maps of Poictesme. The undergraduate literary journal of

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

is named ''pwatem'' after the fictional province.

Other references

H. Beam Piper Henry Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 – ) was an American science fiction writer. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alt ...

's popular science fiction novel, ''Junkyard Planet'' (Putnams 1963 & Wildside Press, 2007 , also published as "The Cosmic Computer" in paperback edition), Poictesme is the name of the planet on which the main body of the story occurs. A specific reference is made to Cabell. Poictesme is also a moon of the planet

Sauron Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Midd ...

in ''War World: The Battle of Sauron'' by John Carr and Don Hawthorne (Pequod Press, 2007, ). Poictesme and Lotharingia are two of the three kingdoms in a short story by Isaac Asimov, "Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon". The story first appeared in ''Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales'' (Del Rey / Ballantine Books, 1991); it also appears in Asimov's anthology '' Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection'' (Harper Collins Publishers, 1996, ). The graphic novel/webcomic ''

Girl Genius ''Girl Genius'' is an ongoing comic book series turned webcomic, written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company Studio Foglio LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment. The comic won the Hugo Award for Best Graph ...

'' makes a passing reference to a "Poictesme Province" within its own fantasy version of Europe, in the strip of March 31, 2014. In

Judith Tarr Judith Tarr (born January 30, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author. Life Tarr was born in Augusta, Maine on January 30, 1955. She is the daughter of Earle A. Tarr, Jr. (a waterworks manager and salesman of real estate), and ...

's novel ''Kingdom of the Grail'', Poictesme is a region in the mystical land of Montsalvat, along with

Lyonesse Lyonesse is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean. I ...

, Caer Sidi, and Carbonek.

References

External links

Maps of Poictesme
"
James Branch Cabell: Literary Life and Legacy
'' Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
(pwatem)
Student literary magazine, Virginia Commonwealth University Fictional European countries Fictional regions France in fiction {{Fict-location-stub