Orléanais (French pronunciation: [ɔʁleanɛ]) is a former province of France, around the cities of Orléans, Chartres, and Blois.The name comes from Orléans, its main city and traditional capital. The province was one of those into which France was divided before the French Revolution. It was the country around Orléans, the pagus Aurelianensis; it lay on both banks of the Loire, and for ecclesiastical purposes formed the diocese of Orléans.