#married charles iv duke of alencon

[widvile-blog]

Margaret of Angoulême, Duchess of Alençon and Queen of Navarre (11 April 1492 - 21 December 1549)

[madamelamarquys]

Today in history - The death of Isabella of Valois

On June 29, 1406, Isabelle married her first cousin, the eldest son and heir of her uncle, the Duke of Orleans. Based mainly in Blois, she was witness to the growing strife of her family, particularly when her father-in-law was murdered on the orders of Burgundy in November 1407. Siding with her in-laws, she was estranged from her parents who pardoned Burgundy out of necessity until a peace was reached at Chartres in March 1409. By then Isabelle was pregnant with her first child. She gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne, on September and died a few days later on the 13th. She was only 19 years old.

Her second husband, Charles, Duke of Orleans, became a leader of one faction in the ongoing Burgundian-Armagnac civil war. He made a deal with Henry IV’s government in England in 1412/1413 in the hopes of using them to permanently oust Burgundy, however Henry IV’s death in 1413 and Henry V’s accession helped fast-track England’s invasion. He fought at the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415 and was captured. He remained a prisoner in England until his release in 1440.

Her daughter, Jeanne, married Jean, Duke of Alencon in 1424. She died, childless, in 1432.

Isabelle’s younger sister, Katherine, born after Isabelle’s marriage to Richard and raised in the convent of Poissy, married Henry V in 1420 and was the mother of Henry VI. After her husband’s death in 1422 she married Owen Tudor, eventually becoming the grandmother and great-grandmother of Henry VII and Henry VIII.