Queen Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of the illustrious King Charles V

Queen Jeanne de Bourbon was a cousin-wife to King Charles V of France known as the Wise (le Sage). Jeanne was born on the 3rd of February 1338 at Château de Vincennes, in the town of Vincennes, to Pierre I de Bourbon, Duke de Bourbon, and Isabella de Valois, Princess...

Life of Louis II, Duke de Bourbon

Louis II, Duke de Bourbon, called the Good (le Bon) was a prince du sang (a prince of the blood). He was the oldest son of Duke Pierre I de Bourbon, and his spouse, Princess Isabelle de Valois, who was the sister of King Philippe VI the Fortunate (le Fortuné)....

Valentina Visconti, Duchess d’Orléans: a devoted wife falsely accused of witchcraft

Valentina Visconti was born in Milan in 1370 or 71 to Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the 1st Duke of Milan, and his first spouse, Isabelle de Valois. Isabelle was a daughter of King Jean II the Good (le Bon) and his first wife, Bonne de Luxembourg. The girl’s name was unusual...

Jean de Valois, Duke de Berry: though a politician, but more a devout art collector

Jean de Valois, Duke de Berry (known as Jean the Magnificent) was born on the 30th of November 1340 (died on the 15th of June 1416). Jean had many titles: he was Duke de Berry and d’Auvergne, as well as Count de Poitiers and de Montpensier. He was the 3rd...

Charles d’Orléans: life, poetry, incarceration

Charles d’Orléans was born in Paris at Hôtel Saint-Pol on the 24th of November 1394. It was a bad irony that he first saw the world on the next day after his father’s barbaric assassination in the dark street of Paris upon the orders of Jean the Fearless, Duke of...

The brutal murder of Louis I d’Orléans in the streets of Paris

Today is a tragic day: another anniversary of the brutal assassination of Louis I d’Orléans, the second surviving son of King Charles V of France known as the Wise (le Sage) and his consort, Jeanne de Bourbon.  Louis was a younger brother to King Charles VI called the Mad (le...

Jeanne d’Albert: childhood and first marriage

Jeanne d’Albert was born at Château de Fontainebleau on the 7th of January 1528 (she died on the 16th of November 1572 in Paris, France, at the age of 43).  This wonderful princess, later Queen of Navarre in her own right, deserves several articles dedicated to her, for she lived...

King François I of France: a godfather of the French Renaissance

King François I of France was born on the 12th of September at Cognac, Aquitaine, France.  The only son of Charles d’Orléans, Count d’Angoulême, and his wife, Louise de Savoy, François was a great-great-grandson of King Charles V of France called the Wise (le Sage).  A son of the man with...

Jean the Fearless : assassination in vengeance and for political reasons

Jean (John) the Fearless (Jean sans Peur) , a member of the Valois Burgundian house, ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1404 until his death in 1419.  He succeeded his father – Philippe the Bold (le Hardi), who was the youngest son of King Jean II of France and his first...

Intricacies of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

On the night of the 23 and 24th of August 1572, the sanguineous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre was carried out in Paris.  It was the cold-blooded murder of thousands of French Protestants called ‘Huguenots’, which appears to have been orchestrated by the formidable mother of King Charles IX of France...

Madeleine, Summer Queen of Scotland – a fragile flower destined to wither

Madeleine de Valois was born on the 10th of August 1520 to King François I of France and his first wife Queen Claude, Duchess of Brittany, at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris.    The couple’s 5th child and 3rd daughter, Madeleine was a sickly girl since her early childhood.  Despite all...