Anne of Burgundy

Anne of Burgundy
Duchess of Bedford
Spouse	John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford m. 1423; wid. 1432
Father	John II the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
Mother	Margaret of Bavaria
Born	1404
Died	14 November 1432(1432-11-14) (aged 27–28) Hôtel de Bourgogne, Paris
Burial	Church of the Celestines, Paris Chartreuse de Champnol, Dijon

Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford (French: Anne de Bourgogne) (1404 – 14 November 1432) was a daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1404–1419) and his wife Margaret of Bavaria.

Marriage

In June 1423 at Troyes, she married John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, son of Henry IV of England by the 1423 Treaty of Amiens. The marriage was meant to cement relations between John and Anne's brother Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. This alliance was vital for continued English success in French lands, as John had been appointed the Regent of France in place of his nephew, the young Henry VI of England since 1422. Burgundy's antagonism with the Valois royal house (which had effectively caused a civil war) had been one of the leading factors in the losses faced by the French at the hands of the English.

They had no surviving children.

Death and implications

Anne died of the plague at Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris and was buried there at the Church of the Celestines. Her tomb was designed by Guillaume Vluten and, according to one historian, "ranks among the most important Parisian effigies of the first half of the fifteenth century". Today, only the statue has survived, and can be found at the Musée de Cluny.

Anne's death in 1432 signified the beginning of one of two disastrous trends in Lancastrian history. The following year, John remarried to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, but faced opposition for various political reasons in this decision from Anne's brother the Duke of Burgundy. From this time on, relations between the two became cool, culminating in the 1435 peace negotiations between Burgundy and Charles VII, the exiled king of France. Later that year, a letter was dispatched to Henry VI, formally breaking their alliance.

Sources

• Chipps Smith, Jeffrey (1984). "The Tomb of Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford, in the Musée du Louvre". Gesta 23 (01): 39–50. JSTOR 766962. 
• Griffiths, R.A. (2005). The Reign of King Henry VI. The History Press. ISBN 0750937777. 
• Neillands, Robin (2001). The Hundred Years War. Routledge. ISBN 0415261317. 
• Weir, Alison (1996). The Wars of the Roses: Lancaster and York. London: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345404335.