Peter I of Alençon (c. 1251 – 6 April 1284) was the son of

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...

and

Margaret of Provence Margaret of Provence (french: Marguerite; 1221 – 20 December 1295) was Queen of France by marriage to King Louis IX. Early life Margaret was born in the spring of 1221 in Forcalquier. She was the eldest of four daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV ...

. He became

Count of Alençon Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

in 1269 and in 1284, Count of

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

and

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

, and Seigneur de Guise in 1272 and 1284. He was also

Count of Perche The county of Perche was a medieval county lying between Normandy and Maine (province), Maine. It was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. One of these, Geoffroy V, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before ...

Life

Peter was born at

Atlit Atlit ( he, עַתְלִית, ar, عتليت) is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. The community is in the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in the Haifa District of Israel. Off the coast of Atlit is a submerged Neolithic village. Atli ...

, Kingdom of Jerusalem, while his father led the Seventh Crusade. Back in France, he lived in Paris until 1269 when his father gave him in appanage the County of Alençon. He accompanied his father to Tunis during

Eighth Crusade The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see ...

(1270), but this expedition was a fiasco, because of the

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

epidemic that decimated the army of crusaders. His father and his brother Jean Tristan succumbed to the disease. Following the death of his father in 1270, Louis IX, Peter's brother

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

became king of France. One of Philip III's first acts was to name Peter as regent in the event of his death. Around that time, the chaplain Andrew of Hungary became attached to Peter's court. He wrote a history of the Charles of Anjou's conquest of Sicily and dedicated it to Peter. In December 1282, during the

Sicilian Vespers The Sicilian Vespers ( it, Vespri siciliani; scn, Vespiri siciliani) was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out at Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I of Anjou, who had ruled the Kingdom of S ...

, Peter marched his army to Naples to assist his uncle

Charles I of Sicily Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) i ...

, stopping at

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...

. By January 1283, he was at

Catona Catona (in the local dialect ''A Catùna'') is an urban district (independent municipality until 1927) of Reggio Calabria, Italy, as part of the 8th district with neighborhoods Salice, Villa San Giuseppe and Rosalì. With about 15,000 inhabita ...

, a suburb of Reggio, when he was attacked by Aragonese mercenaries and killed. His body was taken to Paris, where he was buried, with his heart interred at the now-demolished church of the Couvent des Jacobins. After his death without surviving son, his portion of Alençon returned to the Crown. His widow did not remarry and sold Chartres in 1286 to King

Philip IV the Fair Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (french: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre as Philip I from 1 ...

. On her death Guise and Blois passed to her cousin

Hugh Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

of the House of Châtillon.

Marriage

Peter married in 1272 to Joan of Châtillon, which brought him the lands Blois, Chartres and Guise. They had two sons, namely: * Louis (1276–1277) * Philip (1278–1279)

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 01, Count of Alencon 1251 births 1284 deaths 13th-century French people People from Haifa District Sons of kings Counts of Alençon Counts of Perche Counts of Blois Counts of Chartres Children of Louis IX of France French military personnel killed in action Christians of the Eighth Crusade