Robert le Maçon (c. 1365 – 28 January 1443) was chancellor of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, advisor to Charles VII and supporter of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

Life

Le Maçon was born at

Château-du-Loir Château-du-Loir (; literally 'Château of the Loir') is a former Communes of France, commune in the Sarthe Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. On 1 October 2016, it was m ...

, Sarthe. He was ennobled in March 1401, and became six years later a councillor of Louis II, duke of Anjou and

king of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occ ...

. A partisan of the house of Orléans, he was appointed chancellor to Isabeau of Bavaria on 29 January 1414, on 20 July 1414 commissary of the mint, and in June 1416 chancellor to the count of Ponthieu, afterwards

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious (french: le Victorieux) or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII inherited the throne of F ...

. On 16 August 1416 he bought the barony of Trèves in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duke ...

, and henceforward bore the title of seigneur of Trèves. When

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was surprised by the

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s on the night of 29 May 1418 he assisted

Tanguy du Chastel Tanguy is the French spelling of Breton given name Tangi from ''tan'', "fire", and ''ki'', "dog". It may refer to: People Given name *Saint Tanguy, sixth-century Breton monk and abbey founder *Tanguy Malmanche (1875–1953), Breton writer *Tan ...

in saving the Dauphin Charles. His devotion to the cause of the latter having brought down on him the wrath of John the Fearless, he was excluded from the political amnesty known as the peace of Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, though he retained his seat on the king's council. He was by the dauphin's side when John the Fearless was murdered at the bridge of Montereau on 10 September 1419. He resigned the seals at the beginning of 1422; but he continued to exercise great influence, and in 1426 he effected a reconciliation between the king and

John VI, Duke of Brittany John V, sometimes numbered as VI, (24 December 1389 – 29 August 1442) bynamed John the Wise ( br, Yann ar Fur; french: Jean le Sage), was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1399 to his death. His rule coincided with the height of th ...

. Having been captured by

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, seneschal of

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, in August 1426, he was shut up for three months in the château of Usson. When set at liberty he returned to court, where he staunchly supported

against all the cabals that menaced her. It was he who signed the patent of nobility for the Arc family in December 1429. In 1430 he was once more entrusted with an embassy to Brittany. Having retired from political life in 1436, he died on 28 January 1443, and was interred at Trèves, where his epitaph may still be seen.

Notes

References

* *C. Bourcier, ''Robert le Masson'', in the ''Revue historique de l'Anjou'', 1873. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macon, Robert Le 1365 births 1443 deaths 15th-century French people