Charles I De Valois Duke Of ORLEANS

Notes:

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]

Family/Spouse: Marie Of CLEVES. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Bonne Of ARMAGNAC in 1410. Bonne died before 1440. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Abbess of Fontevrault and Poitiers

Marie married Jean Of Foix Count Of ETAMPES in 1476. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Louis XII, King of France was born on June 27, 1462 in the Ch‚teau de Blois, France. The son of Charles, duc d'OrlÈans and Marie of ClËves, he succeeded his father as Duke of OrlÈans in 1465.

[edit] Marriage
In 1476 Louis was required to marry the pious, but disabled Jeanne of France (1464 ? 1505), the daughter of his second cousin, Louis XI, King of France. After Louis?s predecessor Charles VIII, King of France died childless, this marriage was annulled in order to allow Louis to marry Charles? widow, Anne of Brittany (1477-1514), the heiress and daughter of Francis I of Brittany in a strategy meant to ally the French Monarchy with the duchy of Brittany. After Anne's death, Louis married Mary Tudor (1496 ? 1533), the daughter of Henry VII, King of England in Abbeville, France on October 9, 1514 in an attempt to conceive an heir to his throne, but was unsuccessful.

[edit] Children
Louis's only marriage which produced any children was his second, with Anne of Brittany. By her he had two surviving daughters:

Claude of France (1499 ? 1524), later married to Francis I, King of France.
RenÈe of France (1510 ? 1575), later married to Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.

[edit] Notable events

The Louis XII wing he constructed at the Ch‚teau de Blois.In an attempt to make good his claim to the duchy of Milan, Louis led several invasions of Italy. He successfully secured Milan in 1499 from his enemy Ludovico Sforza, and it remained a French stronghold until 1511, when Pope Julius II formed the Holy League to oppose the French ambition in Italy. The French were eventually driven from Milan by the Swiss in 1513.

Louis also pursued Charles VIII's claim to the kingdom of Naples with Ferdinand II, King of Aragon. Each power took a partition of this kingdom during the Treaty of Granada (1500), but were eventually at war over the partitioning, and by 1504 France had lost its share of Naples.

[edit] Death
Louis proved to be a popular king, introducing reforms in the judicial system and reducing taxes. These reforms and his caring nature earned him the epithet Father of the People. He was the protector and patron of the historian Paulus Aemilius Veronensis (Paolo Emilio of Verona). Louis died on January 1, 1515 and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. Because of the Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne of France, he was succeeded by his cousin, Francis, Count of AngoulÍme, husband of Louis's daughter Claude of France, who reigned as Francis I.

Louis married Mary Tudor Princess Of ENGLAND on 09 Oct 1514 in Abbeville, France. Mary (daughter of Henry VII King Of ENGLAND and Elizabeth PLANTAGENET) was born on 18 Mar 1496; died on 25 Jun 1533. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louis married Duchess of Orleans Jeanne Of FRANCE in 1476. Jeanne (daughter of Louis XI King Of FRANCE and Charlotte Of SAVOY) was born on 23 Apr 1464; died on 04 Feb 1505. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne Of BRITTANY. Anne (daughter of Frances II Duke Of BRITTANY and Margaret Of FOIX) was born on 25 Jan 1477 in Nantes, Brittany; died on 09 Jan 1514. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]