Louis I Of Naples And ANJOU

Notes:

Louis I of Anjou (July 23, 1339, Ch‚teau de Vincennes, ? September 20, 1384, Biselia) was the second son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg. He was the Count of Anjou 1356?1360, Duke of Anjou 1360?1384, Count of Maine 1356?1384, Duke of Touraine 1370?1384, and titular King of Naples and Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier 1382?1384.

Louis was present at the Battle of Poitiers (1356), in the battalion commanded by his brother Charles, the Dauphin. They hardly fought and the whole group escaped in the middle of the confrontation. Although humiliating, their flight allowed them to avoid capture by the English, who won the battle decisively. King John II and Louis' younger brother Philip were not so fortunate and were captured by the English, commanded by Edward, the Black Prince. Their ransom and peace conditions between France and England were agreed in the Treaty of BrÈtigny, signed in 1360. Amongst the complicated items of the treaty was a clause that determined the surrender of 40 high-born hostages as guarantee for the payment of the king's ransom. Louis, already Duke of Anjou, was in this group and sailed to England in October 1360. However, France was not in good economic condition and further installments of the debt were delayed. As consequence, Louis was in English custody for much more than the expected six months. He tried to negotiate his freedom in a private negotiation with Edward III of England and, when this failed, decided to escape. On his return to France, he met his father's disapproval for his unknightly behavior. John II considered himself dishonored and this, combined with the fact that his ransom payments agreed to in the Treaty of BrÈtigny were in arrears, caused John to return to captivity in England to redeem his honor.

From 1380 to 1382 Louis served as regent for his nephew, King Charles VI of France, but left France in the latter year to claim the throne of Naples following the death of Queen Joanna I. She had adopted him to succeed her, as she was childless and did not wish to leave her inheritance to any of her close relatives, with whom she had quarreled. While he was able to succeed her as Count of Provence and Forcalquier after her murder in 1382 by Charles of Durazzo (her second cousin), he was unsuccessful in regaining the Kingdom of Naples from Charles.

Louis married Marie Lady Of GUISE in 1360. Marie (daughter of Duke Of Brittany Charles Of BLOIS and Joanna Of BRITTANY) was born in 1345; died in 1404. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Marie Of ANJOU was born in 1370; died after 1383.
2. Louis II Of Naples And ANJOU was born in 1377; died on 29 Apr 1417.
3. Prince of Taranto Charles Count Of ROUCY was born in 1380; died in 1404 in Angers.

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Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
John II of France (French: Jean II de France; April 16, 1319?April 8, 1364), was Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, and Duke of Normandy from 1332, Count of Poitiers from 1344, and Duke of Guyenne from 1345, and King of France from 1350 until his death, as well as Duke of Burgundy from 1361 on. John was a member of the Valois Dynasty and was the son of Philippe VI and Jeanne of Burgundy. John was nicknamed John the Good (Jean le Bon).

John's coronation as king took place in 1350 in the Notre-Dame de Reims. As king, John surrounded himself with poor administrators, preferring to enjoy the good life his wealth as king brought. The men he relied on to administer his kingdom were brutal thieves but eventually King Jean changed.

In the 1356 Battle of Poitiers against Edward, the Black Prince (son of King Edward III of England), Jean suffered a humiliating defeat and was taken as captive back to England. While negotiating a peace accord, he was at first held in the Savoy Palace, then at a variety of locations, including Windsor, Hertford, Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, and Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire. A local tradition in St Albans is that he was held in a house in that town, at the site of the 15th-century Fleur de Lys inn, before he was moved to Hertford. There is a sign on the inn to that effect, but apparently no evidence to confirm the tradition [1]. Eventually, John was taken to the Tower of London.

As a prisoner of the English, John was granted royal privileges, permitted to travel about, and to enjoy a regal lifestyle. At a time when law and order was breaking down in France and the government was having a hard time raising money for the defense of the realm, his account books during his captivity show that he was purchasing horses, pets and clothes while maintaining an astrologer and a court band.[citation needed]

The 1360 Treaty of BrÈtigny set his ransom at 3,000,000 crowns. In keeping with the honor between himself and King Edward III, and leaving his son Louis of Anjou in English-held Calais as a replacement hostage, John was allowed to return to France to raise his ransom funds.

While King John tried to raise the money, his son Louis, accorded the same royal dignity, easily escaped from the English. An angry King John surrendered himself again to the English, claiming an inability to pay the ransom as the reason. The true motive of John's decision remains murky today, with many pointing to the devastation in France caused by war with England and the Jacquerie peasant uprising as likely candidates. His councillors and nearly the whole nation was critical of the decision, since they had raised the ransom through painstaking sacrifice. However Jean arrived in England in early 1364, looked upon by ordinary citizens and English royalty alike with great admiration. Accordingly, he was held as an honored prisoner in the Savoy Palace but died in London a few months later.

His body was returned to France, where he was interred in the royal chambers at Saint Denis Basilica

John married Bonne Of BOHEMIA. Bonne (daughter of John I King Of BOHEMIA and Elizabeth Of BOHEMIA) was born on 20 May 1315; died on 11 Sep 1349. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]