Blanche of France (1313 – 26 April 1358),

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

at Longchamp Abbey,The Abbey of Longchamp was in the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

within a day's ride west of Paris. was the fourth and youngest daughter of King Philip V of France and Countess Joan II of Burgundy. Blanche was born in 1313, before either of her parents ascended their respective thrones, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Philip IV of France. She was named after her mother's ill-fated sister, Blanche of Burgundy. A year after Blanche's birth, her mother and both paternal aunts, Blanche and Margaret of Burgundy, were implicated in the Tour de Nesle Affair. The marriage of her parents was successful enough for her father to insist on her mother's acquittal, but her aunts were imprisoned. By the time Blanche was seven years old, her parents had become king and queen of France and Navarre and count and countess palatine of Burgundy. Queen Joan decided that her youngest daughter should join the

Order of Saint Francis Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism refers to spirituality in Protestantism inspired by the Catholic friar Saint Francis of Assisi. Emerging since the 19th century, there are several Protestant adherent and groups, sometimes organised as ...

, probably wishing that the girl's cloistered life could compensate for the sins of her imprisoned namesake aunt. Blanche's mother did not make the decision easily, however, and not before procuring several papal dispensations that would serve to alleviate the harshness of monastic life. The Queen secured a special dispensation that allowed her and the King to visit their daughter frequently, but was later cautioned by the pope against visiting Blanche too often. Despite her religious vows, Blanche is more often mentioned as daughter of a French king by

primary sources In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time unde ...

than any of her titled sisters - Countess Joan III of Burgundy, Countess Margaret I of Burgundy and Dauphine Isabella of Viennois. She is presumed to have at some point owned a richly decorated Franciscan breviary, the earliest known work of

Jean Pucelle Jean Pucelle (c. 1300 – 1355; active c. 1320–1350) was a Parisian Gothic-era manuscript illuminator who excelled in the invention of drolleries as well as traditional iconography. He is considered one of the best miniaturists of ...

. Blanche died as a

Poor Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

on 26 April 1358, outliving all her siblings except Margaret.

References

{{Authority control 1313 births 1358 deaths Poor Clares 14th-century French nuns House of Capet French princesses Daughters of kings