#House Valois

[venicepearl]

Radegonde of Valois (born in Chinon in 1425/August 1428 and died in Tours on 19 March 1445) was a French princess, eldest daughter of King Charles VII of France and Marie of Anjou. She was betrothed to Sigismund, Archduke of Austria.

[cy-lindric]

Last of their name

[eve-to-adam]

Book illustration - Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland with her daughters.

[illustratus]

Mediaeval Battle of French and English — The Surrender of John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers.

English School, (19th century)

[classic-art-favourites]

Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France by Jooris van der Straeten, 1573.

[a-turtle-dove-on-my-breast]

Thanks @hilda-dewitt for this great piece of work depicting Louis I of Anjou and Marie of Blois, great-grandparents of Margaret of Anjou. Louis I of Anjou was the founder of the Angevin cadet branch of the House of Valois, and Marie of Blois was the first of a series of powerful women in the House of Valois-Anjou.

I really found their story to be full of fun and drama. After King John II of France was taken prisoner in the Battle of Poitiers, Louis broke the Aragonese marriage contract arranged by his father to marry Marie, the daughter of one major claimant to the ducal throne of Brittany, neighboring his appanage of Anjou. His desire to meet his wife pushed him to end his hostage career in England prematurely on his own, and more or less led to the decision of John II to return to captivity, lol. While Marie's father fell in battle six months after John the Good's death in London, the couple remained close and intimate throughout their lives. Louis served as a leading military commander in his elder brother Charles V's reconquest of southwestern France during the second phase of the Hundred Years' War. He was also a loyal friend and protector of Bertrand du Guesclin, who fought for Marie's father before entering service for the Valois. However, due to his role in the 1378 tax revolts and his overambitious claim to the throne of Naples, Louis remained a controversial figure in France, and his past accomplishments were little appreciated. After Louis's death in the unsuccessful march to Naples, Marie continued their quest for the Neapolitan crown, and, after a tough fight against opposing claimants, secured for their seven-year-old son Louis II the County of Provence, which was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Naples. She acted as regent for Louis II during his minority, and arranged the marriage between him and Yolande of Aragon.

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Empresses (2/5) ↬ Catherine de Valois-Courtenay (before 15 April 1303 – October 1346)

The official Neapolitan investigation into Andrew of Hungary’s murder targeted Johanna’s closest supporters and left her isolated and vulnerable. Her aunt, Catherine of Valois, took advantage of that vulnerability to become the queen’s confidant in order to make certain that one of her sons would be Naples’s next king. At first, it appeared that this son would be Robert, the eldest of the Tarantini, who for a time seemed to be winning the competition between the Angevin princes for power and whom Johanna requested a papal dispensation to marry. Soon, however, Louis gained the upper hand, and Johanna’s requests for dispensations began to identify him as her intended. — From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples by Elizabeth Casteen Of the many relatives who chose to avail themselves of the glittering social whirl of the capital, one stood out: Joanna’s aunt, Catherine of Valois, widow of Robert the Wise’s younger brother Philip, prince of Taranto. Catherine was Joanna’s mother’s older half-sister (both were fathered by Charles of Valois). Catherine had married Philip in 1313, when Philip was thirty-five and she just ten. Catherine was Philip’s second wife. He had divorced his first on a trumped-up charge of adultery after fifteen years of marriage and six children in order to wed Catherine, who had something he wanted. She was the sole heir to the title of empress of Constantinople. … Catherine was twenty-eight years old, recently widowed, and a force to be reckoned with when the newly orphaned Joanna and her sister, Maria, first knew her at the Castel Nuovo in 1331. Shrewd, highly intelligent, and vital, Catherine was supremely conscious of her exalted ancestry and wore her title of empress of Constantinople as though it were a rare gem of mythic origin. Even the death of her husband, Philip, in 1331 had not dissuaded her from persisting in her efforts to reclaim the Latin Empire for herself and her three young sons: Robert, Louis, and Philip. A series of shockingly inept leaders had left the Byzantine Empire vulnerable to attack from the west, and this state of affairs was well known in Italy. Moreover, Catherine was used to getting her way. — The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

[dreamconsumer]

Marguerite d'Anjou, Reine d'Angleterre (1430-1482).

[marianadecarlos]

Charles The Bold, Duke of Burgundy Fanart

Charles allied himself to England because of his second wife, Margaret of York, during the latest stages of the War of Roses.

Dedicated to my friend @rmelster I hope you liked ☺️

[vigilantkilliforniakatholixxx]

[venicepearl]

Marie of France (18 September 1344 – 15 October 1404) was the sixth child and second daughter of John II of France and Bonne of Bohemia.

[scotlandsladies]

♕ Youngest Queen Consorts (at beginning of tenure)

[eve-to-adam]

'His darling the fayre Lady Katherin'

I wanted to draw a scene with Henry V and Catherine de Valois for a long time and now I actually managed to do it! I imagined a scene in which the couple was walking in the garden, somewhere before the departure of Henry V back to France, in the summer of 1421. Catherine, being pregnant with their son, receives a small gift from the king, probably a brooch to remind her of him while he is gone.

For some reason, I'm pretty excited!

[illustratus]

Madness of Charles VI: crossing the forest of Le Mans on an expedition against Pierre de Craon, the king, brandishing a sword, mistakes the members of his retinue for enemies and attacks them.

— Froissart's Chronicles

[classic-art-favourites]

Francis I of France by Jean Clouet, 1527-1530.

[rmelster]

Isabelle de Bourbon, countess consort of Charolais, circa 1460.