Jean of Burgundy, Queen Consort of France

Notes:

Called "la Boiteuse" (the Lame). Died of the plague.

"[I]ntelligent, educated, strong-willed, venemous, frequently consulted by her husband, regent of France 1338." [The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England (citation details below)]

Jean married Philip VI, King of France in Jul 1313 in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France. Philip (son of Charles of France and Margaret of Anjou) was born in 1293; died on 22 Aug 1350 in Abbey of Coulombs near Nogent-le-Roi, Eure-et-Loir, France; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Jean II, King of France was born on 24 Apr 1319 in Château du Gué-de-Maulny, near Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays-de-la-Loire, France; died on 8 Apr 1364 in London, England; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France.

Notes:

"[T]itular King of Thessalonica, an ally of Rudolph I, first of the Hapsburg emperors, served on Philip IV's council and campaigned with him in Flanders." [The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England (citation details below)]

Robert married Agnes of France in 1279. Agnes (daughter of St. Louis IX, King of France and Margaret of Provence, Queen Consort of France) was born about 1260; died on 19 Dec 1325 in Château de Lantenay, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy, France; was buried in Abbey of Cîteaux, Dijon, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Duke of Burgundy 1218-1273, Count of Chalon-sur-Saone and Auxonne (France), titular king of Thessalonica (Greece) 1266." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz]

Hugh married Yolande of Dreux in 1229. Yolande (daughter of Robert III "Gasteblé" of Dreux and Alianor de St. Valéry) was born about 1212; died on 30 Oct 1248. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 25 Apr 1215, Poissy, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France

Notes:

Canonized 11 Aug 1297 by Boniface VIII; his feast day is 25 Aug. He led the Seventh Crusade, and died of dysentery while leading the Eighth Crusade.

From Matthew Gabriele and David Perry, "In St. Louis, History and Nostalgia Battle It Out", Smithsonian Magazine website, 9 Jul 2020:

Louis IX reigned over France in the middle of the 13th century. Like most medieval sovereigns, he implemented legal reforms and provided charity to the Christian poor. More significantly, Louis personally led two Crusades to North Africa against Muslims—the first to Egypt in 1248, and the second to Tunisia in 1270. These campaigns were simply a brief chapter in a much larger drama that saw Christians wage holy war throughout the Mediterranean world against Muslims, Jews, and sometimes their fellow Christians. The impact of the Crusades cannot be overstated, as this movement shaped the cultural, social, and economic direction of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East for centuries. Indeed, it continues to haunt the modern imagination.

Both of Louis IX’s Crusades failed spectacularly, with the king captured by the Egyptians and ransomed for an enormous sum in 1250 and dying of dysentery almost immediately upon arriving in Tunisia in 1270. Louis was canonized—largely for these efforts—in 1297, and he’s served as a symbol of France’s glorious past ever since. So, when French trappers established a fur-trading post on Cahokia lands in 1764, they named the site in honor of two kings: Louis IX and then-sovereign Louis XV. The settlement retained the name through French, Spanish and finally American occupation. […]

Louis IX’s acts as king certainly included care for the Christian poor—but they also encompassed moments of vicious anti-Judaism, including the burning of Talmuds in Paris in the 1240s; the arrest of all Jews in France and confiscation of their property in 1268; and the segregation of Christians and Jews, who were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothes as of 1269.

Louis married Margaret of Provence, Queen Consort of France on 27 May 1234 in Sens, Yonne, France. Margaret (daughter of Raymond Berenger and Beatrice of Savoy) was born in 1221 in Forcalquier, Alpes-de-Haut-Provence, France; died on 20 Dec 1295 in Faubourg St.-Marceau, Paris, France; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Duke of Burgundy.

Odo married Alice of Vergy in 1199. Alice (daughter of Hugh of Vergy and Gillette de Trainel) was born in 1182; died in 1252. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Dreux and Braine.

Robert married Alianor de St. Valéry in 1210. Alianor (daughter of Thomas de St. Valéry and Adele de Ponthieu) was born in 1192; died after 15 Sep 1250. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 5 Sep 1187, Paris, France
• Alternate death: 9 Nov 1226, Castle of Montpensier, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Notes:

Nicknamed "le Lion". Pretender to the throne of England, 1216-17.

Louis married Blanche of Castile, Queen Consort of France on 23 May 1200 in Church of Port-Mort, Eure, Normandy, France. Blanche (daughter of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, Toledo, and Extramadura and Eleanor of England) was born before 4 Mar 1188 in Palencia, Castile, Spain; died on 26 Nov 1252 in Paris, France; was buried in Maubuisson Abbey near Pontoise, near Paris, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 4 Mar 1188, Palencia, Castile, Spain
• Alternate death: 27 Nov 1252, Paris, France

Notes:

Also called Blanca.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1198

Notes:

Count of Provence & Forcalquier, 1209-45.

Raymond married Beatrice of Savoy on 5 Dec 1220. Beatrice (daughter of Tomaso I and Margaret of Geneva) died in Dec 1266. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 25 Aug 1192, Acre, Palestine

Notes:

Duke of Burgundy.

Hugh married Alice of Lorraine in 1165. Alice (daughter of Matthias I of Lorraine and Bertha of Swabia) was born in 1145; died in 1200. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hugh married Gillette de Trainel in 1175. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Dreux and Braine.

Robert married Yolande de Coucy in 1184. Yolande (daughter of Raoul I de Coucy and Agnès de Hainault) was born in 1164; died on 18 Mar 1222; was buried in Abbey of St. Yved, Braine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 22 Mar 1222

Thomas married Adele de Ponthieu. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Philippe married Isabella of Flanders, Queen Consort of France on 28 Apr 1180 in Abbey of Saint-Trinité, Bapaume, Pas-de-Calais, France. Isabella (daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders and Marguerite of Lorraine) was born on 23 Apr 1170 in Valenciennes, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 15 Mar 1190 in Paris, France; was buried in Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Isabella of Hainaut.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 5 Oct 1214, Gutiérre Muños, Arévalo, Spain
• Alternate death: 6 Oct 1214, Gutiérre Muños, Arévalo, Spain

Notes:

Also Lord of Gascony. "Defeated by the Moorish Almohad invaders in 1195, but defeated a combined army of the kings of Leon and Navarre the same year. Won a great victory over the Moors at Navas de Tolosa, 1212." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, which gives the date of his marriage to Eleanor as September 1177, unlike other sources which date it to September 1170.]

Alfonso married Eleanor of England in Sep 1170 in Burgos, Castile, Spain. Eleanor (daughter of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Consort of France; Queen Consort of England) was born on 13 Oct 1162 in Domfront, Normandy, France; died on 21 Sep 1214; was buried in Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1161 and 1162
• Alternate birth: 1161
• Alternate death: 25 Oct 1214, Burgos, Castile, Spain

Notes:

Also called Leonor.

"Of all Eleanor of Aquitaine's daughters, her namesake was the only one who was enabled, by political circumstances, to wield the kind of influence her mother had exercised. In her own marriage treaty, and in the first marriage treaty for her daughter Berengaria, Eleanor was given direct control of many lands, towns, and castles throughout the kingdom. She was almost as powerful as Alfonso, who specified in his will in 1204 that she was to rule alongside their son in the event of his death, including taking responsibility for paying his debts and executing his will. It was she who persuaded him to marry their daughter Berengaria to Alfonso IX of León. Troubadours and sages were regularly present in Alfonso VIII's court due to Eleanor's patronage." [Wikipedia]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 11 Sep 1209 and 30 Nov 1209, Palermo, Sicily

Notes:

Count of Provence.

Alfonso married Garsenda of Sabran in 1193. Garsenda (daughter of Rainou de Sabran dit du Cayler and Garsenda of Forcalquier) was born about 1180. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Garsenda of Forcalquier, Gersenda of Sabran, Garsenda de Proensa, Garsenda de Proença.

From Wikipedia (accessed 25 July 2021): She "was the Countess of Provence as the wife of Alfonso II from 1193 and the Countess of Forcalquier in her own right from 1209. She brought Forcalquier to the House of Barcelona and united it to Provence. She was also a patron of Occitan literature, especially the troubadours, and herself wrote some lyric poetry and is counted among the trobairitz as Garsenda de Proensa. She was, in the words of her most recent editors, 'one of the most powerful women in Occitan history'."

She retired to the monastery of La Celle in the mid-1220s, but in 1242 she visited her newborn great-granddaughter Beatrice of England and Beatrice's parents, granddaughter Eleanor of Provence and her husband King Henry III of England, in Bordeaux. Henry was pursuing a war in France at that time and Garsenda brought 60 knights to his service. Her date of death is unknown, but she may have lived as late as 1257.

Matt Baker of usefulcharts.com has pointed out that if this Garsenda were to be regarded as the founder of a matrilineal dynasty, and if that dynasty operated by rules paralleling that of patrilineal dynasties (i.e., male descendants are only considered members of the House if their mother was a member; having a grandmother as a member doesn't convey membership in the House), then the putative "House of Garsenda" would be the greatest royal dynasty in the history of Europe, containing within itself:

6 Queens Regnant
38 Queens Consort
27 Kings
7 Holy Roman Emperors
5 Holy Roman Empresses
3 Empresses Consort
1 Prince Consort (Prince Philip of Great Britain)
1 Kaiser (Wilhelm II)
1 Empress Regnant (Catherine the Great)
1 queen mother (Helene of Romania)

Video: Europe's Hidden Matrilineal Dynasty: House of Garsenda. Chart here.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1178, Aiguebelle, Savoy
• Alternate birth: 20 May 1178
• Alternate death: 1 Mar 1233, Moncalieri, Piedmont, Italy

Notes:

Count of Savoy. He was named after Thomas Becket.

Tomaso married Margaret of Geneva in May 1195. Margaret (daughter of William I of Geneva and Beatrice de Faucigny) died on 13 Apr 1236. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1256
• Alternate death: 8 Sep 1257

Notes:

Also called Beatrice of Geneva.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1120
• Alternate death: 27 Sep 1162

Notes:

Duke of Burgundy.

Odo married Marie de Champagne in 1145. Marie (daughter of Thibaut IV of Blois, Champagne, and Troyes and Mathilde of Carinthia) was born in 1128; died about 1190. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Marie of Blois.

Notes:

Duke of Lorraine.

Matthias married Bertha of Swabia about 1138. Bertha (daughter of Frederick II von Hohenstaufen and Judith of Bavaria) was born in 1123; died after Mar 1195. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Judith of Swabia.

Guy married Alix de Beaumont-sur-Vingeanne et d'Autry. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Dreux and Braine.

Robert married Agnes de Baudement in 1152. Agnes (daughter of Guy de Baudement and Alix) was born about 1130; died on 24 Jul 1204; was buried in Abbey of St. Yved, Braine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Raoul married Agnès de Hainault. Agnès (daughter of Baldwin IV of Hainaut and Alix de Namur) died before 1174. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Isleworth, Middlesex, England
• Alternate birth: of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England
• Alternate death: Abt 1191

Bernard married Eleanor de Domnart. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1121
• Alternate death: 19 Sep 1180

Louis married Adèle of Blois, Queen Consort of France on 18 Oct 1160. Adèle (daughter of Thibaut IV of Blois, Champagne, and Troyes and Mathilde of Carinthia) was born about 1140; died on 4 Jun 1206 in Paris, France; was buried in Abbey of Pontigny, Yonne, Burgundy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 24 Jun 1206, Paris, France

Notes:

Also called Alix of Champagne.

Notes:

Count of Hainault and Flanders. Margrave of Namur.

Baldwin married Marguerite of Lorraine in Apr 1169. Marguerite (daughter of Thierri III of Lorraine and Sibyl of Anjou) was born between 1140 and 1145; died on 12 Nov 1194. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 17 Dec 1195

Notes:

Also called Marguerite of Flanders.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1135

Notes:

The Desired (el Deseado).

Sancho married Blanche of Navarre, Queen of Castile on 30 Jan 1151 in Calahorra, La Rioja, Spain. Blanche (daughter of Garcia VI Ramirez, King of Navarre and Marguerite de l'Aigle, Queen of Navarre) was born in 1137; died on 12 Aug 1156; was buried in Cathedral Santa Maria la Real, Najera, La Rioja, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1140
• Alternate death: 24 Jun 1158

Notes:

Also called Sancha.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 4 Mar 1133, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Notes:

Also called Henry Fitz Empress; Henry Fitz Geoffrey.

Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Consort of France; Queen Consort of England on 18 May 1152 in Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, Gironde, France. Eleanor (daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aénor de Châtellerault) was born in 1122; died on 1 Apr 1204; was buried in Fontévrault Abbey, near Chinon, Anjou, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1124
• Alternate death: 31 Mar 1204, Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France

Notes:

Also called Alienor, Helienordis. Duchess of Aquitaine.

Notes:

Called "the Chaste" (el Casto); also "the Troubador." By 1162, as his paternal heritage, Count and Marquess of Barcelona, Tortosa, and Lerida, and Count of Tarragona, Gerona, and Cordagne. By 1164, as his maternal heritage, King of Aragon, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza. In 1166, by devolution, Marquess of Provence.

Christened Ramón, he was called both Ramón and Alfonso from birth. When he took the united throne of Aragon and Barcelona, he took Alfonso as his single name as a gesture to the Aragonese.

The issue of his birth year was for a time confused due to the fact that his mother's eldest son, b. 1155, was actually christened Alfonso. This prior Alfonso died in 1162.

Szabolcs de Vajay (citation details below) has his birth as in 1157, before 25 March, in "Villamayor del Valle," a place we cannot locate.

Alfonso married Sancha of Castile on 18 Jan 1174 in Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain. Sancha (daughter of Alfonso VII, King of Leon and Castile and Richeza of Poland) was born on 21 Sep 1154 in Toledo, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain; died on 9 Nov 1208 in Villanueva de Sigena, Huesca, Aragón, Spain; was buried in Monastery of Nuestra Señora, Sigena, Huesca, Aragón, Spain. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1155
• Alternate birth: 21 Sep 1155, Toledo, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
• Alternate birth: 1157

Notes:

Founded the Monastery of Nuestra Señora in 1188; became a nun there after her husband's death.

Notes:

Also called Rénier. Lord of Caylar and Ansouis. Mentioned 1155.

Rainou married Garsenda of Forcalquier about 1178. Garsenda (daughter of William IV of Forcalquier and Adelaida de Bézières) died before 1193. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Humbert. Count of Savoy, Maurienne, and Turin.

From Tom Major's "Saint of the Day" site:

March 4 -- Feast of Blessed Umberto III of Savoy

Humbert Humbert is the creepy stepfather narrating Nabokov's Lolita. He has a thing for young girls--nymphets, he calls them.

Humbert III had an opposite problem. He had a monastic vocation. Christopher Cope's The Lost Kingdom of Burgundy says that he "was disconsolate at being a prince and preferred the seclusion of the monastery." Unfortunately for him, he was the only son of Amadeus, Duke of Savoy. When Amadeus died, the thirteen-year-old Umberto was plunked on the throne, like it or not, shut up and put your crown back on, Your Grace.

The primary responsibility of any landed nobleman in the feudal age was to have a son, of course. This would mean that inheritance was clear and no wars for succession would be fought. There's nothing wrong with young Faidiva of Toulouse, Your Grace. Now do your duty and get into bed. Sadly, poor Faidiva died young. Eighteen-year-old Umberto, having done his best, entered a Carthusian monastery.

Not so fast, your Grace. Blood will run through the streets of Cambrai if you don't come back and get married again. Here's lovely Gertrude of Flanders. I know you two will hit it off. Oh my, it's getting late. Off to bed with the two of you.

They didn't 'hit it off.' In fact, Umberto divorced her and locked her up. Bishop Robert kindly let her out and sent her back to her brother, the Count of Flanders, but still there was no heir.

Your Grace, we know you haven't had much joy in marriage. No, we're not suggesting anything. We just think it is worth trying again. Third times a charm, they say. And take a look at Clementia of Zahringen! She's the divorced wife of Henry the Lion of Saxony. Now, now. You're divorced yourself, you know. And besides, she's got a track record. A son and two daughters by Henry. Not another word about it, Your Grace. Now get busy.

Clementia made a valiant effort, bearing two daughters before her death. Despondent over the loss of another wife, Henry thought about withdrawing to a monastery in grief but wiser heads prevailed.

The way of all flesh, Your Grace. Speaking of which, you yourself are not getting any younger, you know. You turned forty this year, sir, and we still don't have an heir. Have you met Beatrice of Viennois? Yes, she's thirty-eight, but there's plenty of child-bearing time left. Well, not plenty, but enough. If Your Grace gets the lead out.

Tommaso of Savoy was born in 1178. Saint Anthelm himself had blessed Umberto three times to help bring young Thomas (named for Thomas á Becket) into the world. Tommaso was about ten when Umberto, having founded the Monastery of Sant'Antonio di Ranverso, died.

When I read about Humbert's divorce and imprisonment of his ex-wife, I wondered how this guy got beatified. But on reflection, he plainly had a divine vocation, and he sacrificed that for the sake of temporal responsibilities. It might seem to be the opposite of Jesus' advice to the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-27, but perhaps it is not. Maybe the act of sacrifice, whether one is giving up the riches of the palace or the austerity of the monastery, is what stores up treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven.

*****

Note that Umberto and his fourth wife Beatrice were second cousins once removed, as William "The Great" of Burgundy (d. 1087) was his great-grandfather and her great-great grandfather. Presumably a papal dispensation was obtained.

Umberto married Beatrice de Mâcon about 1175. Beatrice (daughter of Gerard I of Burgundy and Guyonne de Salins) died before 8 Apr 1230 in Champagne-et-Fontaine, Aquitaine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Beatrix d'Ivrea de Vienne; Beatrice of Viennois.

Notes:

Count of Geneva.

William married Beatrice de Faucigny after 1172. Beatrice (daughter of Aymon I de Faucigny) died between 1174 and 1179. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]