Marie of Brittany, Lady of La Guerche

Marie of Brittany (18 February 1391 – 18 December 1446) was the

House of Montfort of the duchy of Brittany and the ducal House of Valois-Alençon

.

Childhood

Marie of Brittany was born to

John I d’Alençon in 1396.^[4]

Instead, after the death of John IV of Brittany, Marie's mother Joan would marry Henry IV of England.

Marriage

On 26 June 1396, John IV of Brittany signed a contract with

Pierre of Alençon and Perche which wedded Marie of Brittany to John of Perche, Pierre's son.^[5] The wedding was celebrated in July of that year at Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, Ille-et-Vilaine, near Fougères.^[6] Marie's dowry was to be 100,000 francs, but her father never paid the entire amount, creating tension between the duchies of Brittany and Alençon in later years.^[7]

In 1404, John succeeded his father as the Count of Alençon and Perche.

Marie and her husband John had five children:[8]

Pierre (4 October 1407 – 16 March 1408)
John II of Alençon (2 March 1409 – 1476).^[9]

Jeanne (17 September 1412 – 17 October 1420), buried at Bourgueil Abbey in Anjou in 1420.^[10]
Marie (died, age 2)
Charlotte (15 December 1413 – 24 March 1435), nun, died in 1435, and was buried in the Church of Our Lady at Lamballe in Brittany

In January 1414, Charles VI of France raised the county of Alençon to a duchy, and made Marie's husband, John, the first duke of Alençon.^[11]

Marie's husband died at the Battle of Agincourt, where he fought alongside the King of France.^[12]

Later life

After the death of her husband in 1415, Marie was forced to flee Normandy, where she had been living prior to the Battle of Agincourt.^[13] Her son, John, became John II of Alençon and was captured at the Battle of Verneuil in 1424. He paid for his freedom from the English in 1427, and became well known as a strong partisan of Joan of Arc.

Marie died on 18 December 1446. It is unknown where she was buried, despite the fact that all of her children's burial places are known. At her death, Marie was simply Marie of Brittany, Lady of La Guerche.

In context

Much like

Book of Hours.^[14]

Notes

^ Perceval de Cagny and Henri Morganvillé, Chroniques de Perceval de Cagny, publiée pour la première fois pour la Société de l'histoire de France, (Paris, France: Renouard, H. Laurens, successeur, 1902), 20, 38
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 93.
^ Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Henry V" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 26. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^ Michael Jones, Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399: Relations with England and France During the Reign of Duke John IV, (London, UK: Oxford University Press, 1970), 134–36; Michael Jones, "The Finances of John IV, Duke of Brittany, 1364–1399", in The Creation of Brittany: a late medieval state, (London, UK: Hambledon Press, 1988), 252
^ Jones, Ducal Brittany, 134.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 38.
^ Jones, "The Finances of John IV", 252.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 20.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 20–21; Tierney, “New Year's Day,” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11019a.htm.
^ Anselme, Histoire, 135.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 93.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 21.
^ Cagny, Chroniques, 22.
^ Susan Groag Bell, "Medieval Women Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture", Signs 7, no. 4 (1982): 747–48, 751, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173638 (accessed August 26, 2014).

References

Anselme de Sainte-Marie. Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France: le tout dressé sur les titres originaux. Amsterdam: Chatelain, 1713.
Bell, Susan Groag. "Medieval Women Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture". Signs 7, no. 4 (1982): 742–768. [1] (accessed August 26, 2014).
Cagny, Perceval de, and Henri Morganvillé. Chroniques de Perceval de Cagny, publiée pour la première fois pour la Société de l'histoire de France. Paris, France: Renouard, H. Laurens, successeur, 1902. [2].
Jones, Michael. "The Finances of John IV, Duke of Brittany, 1364–1399". In The creation of Brittany: a late medieval state, 239–262. London: Hambledon Press, 1988.
Jones, Michael. Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399: Relations with England and France During the Reign of Duke John IV. London, UK: Oxford University Press, 1970.
Tierney, John. "New Year's Day". In The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York, NY: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. [3]. (accessed December 7, 2014).

[1] Perceval de Cagny and Henri Morganvillé, Chroniques de Perceval de Cagny, publiée pour la première fois pour la Société de l'histoire de France, (Paris, France: Renouard, H. Laurens, successeur, 1902), 20, 38

[2] Cagny, Chroniques, 93.

[3] Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Henry V" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 26. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[4] Michael Jones, Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399: Relations with England and France During the Reign of Duke John IV, (London, UK: Oxford University Press, 1970), 134–36; Michael Jones, "The Finances of John IV, Duke of Brittany, 1364–1399", in The Creation of Brittany: a late medieval state, (London, UK: Hambledon Press, 1988), 252

[5] Jones, Ducal Brittany, 134.

[6] Cagny, Chroniques, 38.

[7] Jones, "The Finances of John IV", 252.

[8] Cagny, Chroniques, 20.

[9] Cagny, Chroniques, 20–21; Tierney, “New Year's Day,” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11019a.htm.

[10] Anselme, Histoire, 135.

[11] Cagny, Chroniques, 93.

[12] Cagny, Chroniques, 21.

[13] Cagny, Chroniques, 22.

[14] Susan Groag Bell, "Medieval Women Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture", Signs 7, no. 4 (1982): 747–48, 751, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173638 (accessed August 26, 2014).

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