Jeanne Of ORLEANS

Jeanne married John II Of ALENCON in 1424 in Blois. John (son of John I Duke Of ALENCON and Mary DE MONTFORT) was born on 02 Mar 1409 in Chateau d'Argentan; died in 1476 in Paris. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Charles of Valois, Duke of OrlÈans (November 24, 1394 ? January 5, 1465) became Duke of OrlÈans in 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis, Duke of OrlÈans on the orders of Duke John-the-Fearless of Burgundy. He was also Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont and of Blois, lord of Coucy, and the inheritor of Asti in Italy via his mother Valentina Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. He is now remembered as an accomplished poet owing to the more than five hundred extant poems he produced, most written during his twenty-five years spent as a prisoner of war.

Ascending to the title of Duke at the age of fourteen after the assassination of his father, Charles was expected to carry on his father's leadership against the Burgundians, a French faction which supported the Duke of Burgundy. The latter was never punished for his role in Louis' assassination, and Charles had to watch as his grief-stricken mother Valentina Visconti succumbed to illness not long afterwards. At her deathbed, Charles and the other boys of the family were made to swear the traditional oath of vengeance for their father's murder.

During the early years of his reign as Duke, the orphaned Charles was heavily influenced by the guidance of his father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, for which reason Charles' faction came to be known as the "Armagnacs".

A depiction of Charles' imprisonment in the Tower of London from an illuminated manuscript of his poemsAfter war with the Kingdom of England was renewed in 1415, Charles was one of the many French noblemen wounded in the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415. Captured and taken to England as a hostage, he would remain in captivity for the next twenty-five years. The conditions of his confinement were not strict; he was allowed to live more or less in the manner to which he had become accustomed, like so many other captured nobles. However, he was not offered release in exchange for a ransom, since Henry V of England had left instructions forbidding any release: Charles was the natural head of the Armagnac faction and in the line of succession to the French throne, and was therefore deemed too important to be returned to circulation. It was during these twenty-five years that Charles would write most of his poetry, including melancholy works which seem to be commenting on the captivity itself, such as "Le Foret de Longue Attente".

Finally freed in 1440 by the efforts of his former enemies, Philip III, Duke of Burgundy and his consort Isabella of Portugal, he set foot on French soil again after 25 years, "speaking better English than French" according to one source. Meeting the Duchess of Burgundy after disembarking, the gallant Charles said: "M'Lady, I make myself your prisoner." At the celebration of his third marriage, with Marie of Cleves, he was created a Knight of the Golden Fleece. His subsequent return to OrlÈans was marked by a splendid celebration organized by the citizens.

He made a feeble attempt to press his claims to Asti in Italy, before settling down as a celebrated patron of the arts.

Charles appears in Shakespeare's play Henry V as the "Duke of Orleans".

Charles married Isabella Of VALOIS in 1406 in Compiegne. Isabella (daughter of Charles VI King Of FRANCE and Isabeau Of BAVARIA) was born on 09 Nov 1389 in Paris; died on 13 Sep 1410. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Isabelle De France
• Fact: There were no issues.

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Excerpt from Wikipedia:

On 31 October, 1396, when Isabella was six, she was married to the widower King Richard II of England, in a move for peace with France. Although the union was political, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutual respectful relationship. Isabella was moved to Wallingford Castle for protection while Richard went on a campaign in Ireland. When, on his return to England, richard II was imprisioned and murdered, Isabella was ordered by new king Henry IV to move out of Windsor and had to settle in the Bishop of Salisbury's Thameside palace at Sonning.

Henry IV did not know what to do with her; he then decided that she should marry his son, the future Henry V of England, but Isabella put her foot down and utterly refused to have anything to do with the prince. Knowing her husband was dead, she went into mourning and ignored Henry IV's demand; eventually Henry let her go back to France.

On 29 June 1406, Isabella was married again to her cousin Charled, duc d'Orleans. Isabella died in childbirth at the age of 21, leaving one daughter. Said daughter Jeanne (1409-1432) married John II of Alencon in 1424.