Marie of Blois (1345–1404) was a daughter of Joan of Penthièvre, Duchess of Brittany and Charles of Blois, Duke of Brittany. Through her marriage to

Louis I, Duke of Anjou Louis I, Duke of Anjou (23 July 1339 – 20 September 1384) was a French prince, the second son of John II of France and Bonne of Bohemia. His career was markedly unsuccessful. Born at the Château de Vincennes, Louis was the first of the A ...

, she became Duchess of Anjou, Countess of Maine, Duchess of Touraine, titular

Queen of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first Sicilian Vespers, separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501) House of Anjou ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and

Countess of Provence The County of Provence was a largely autonomous medieval state that eventually became incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1481. For four centuries Provence was ruled by List of rulers of Provence, a series of counts that were vassals of the ...

Biography

Marie married Louis I, son of

John II of France John II (; 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good (French: ''Jean le Bon''), was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364. When he came to power, France faced several disasters: the Black Death, which killed between a thir ...

, in 1360. Throughout their marriage his official titles increased, though he would never actually rule the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

. After his death in 1384, most of the towns in Provence revolted against her son, Louis II. Marie pawned her valuables and raised an army. She, her young son and the army went from town to town to gain support. In 1387 Louis II was formally recognized as Count in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

. She then appealed to

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...

to support her son in obtaining Naples. In 1390, Louis, supported by the pope and the French, set sail for Naples. Marie negotiated for a marriage between Louis and

Yolande of Aragon Yolande of Aragon (11 August 1381 – 14 November 1442) was Duchess of Anjou and Countess of Provence by marriage, who acted as regent of Provence during the minority of her son. She was also known as Yolanda de Aragón and Violant d'Ara ...

, to prevent the Aragonese from obstructing him there. They finally wed in 1400. Marie was an able administrator and on her deathbed revealed to Louis that she had saved the amount of 200,000 écus. This was to make sure that she could pay his ransom in case he was captured.

Issue

With Louis I she had the following children: * Marie (1370 – after 1383) *

Louis II of Anjou Louis II (5 October 1377 – 29 April 1417) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1384 to 1417; he claimed the Kingdom of Naples, but only ruled parts of the kingdom from 1390 to 1399. His father, Louis I of Anjouthe founder of the House o ...

(1377 – 1417) *Charles (1380 – 1404,

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

Prince of Taranto The Principality of Taranto () was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy o ...

, Count of

Roucy Roucy () is a small commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Notable features of this town include the wide central plaza on which village fetes occur every summer. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne ...

Étampes Étampes () is a Communes of France, commune in the functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a Subprefectures in ...

, and Gien

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anjou, Marie of Blois, Duchess of 1345 births 1404 deaths 14th-century French women 15th-century French women 14th-century French nobility 15th-century French nobility Duchesses of Anjou Countesses of Maine Countesses of Provence Mothers of Neapolitan monarchs