The title of the heir to the French throne. Dauphiné was a province in south-east France. It was conquered by the Romans, Burgundians, and Franks. Once a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, it passed to the kingdom of Arles, and, in 1029 to the counts of D’Albon who, from 1133, took the title of Dauphin of Vienne. By 1282, it had acquired its regional name and it was sold to the future Charles V of France in 1346. Thereafter heirs to the French throne assumed the title of dauphin. The province acquired a Parlement in 1453, but was annexed to the crown in 1457 and lost its local privileges, especially during the French Wars of Religion.