Charles, Count of Angoulême

Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême
Posthumous portrait
Born	1459
Died	1 January 1496(1496-01-01) (aged 36–37)
Noble family	Valois
Spouse(s)	Louise of Savoy
Issue	Marguerite, Queen of Navarre Francis I of France
Father	John, Count of Angoulême
Mother	Marguerite de Rohan

Charles of Orléans (1459 – 1 January 1496) (French: Charles d'Orléans) was the Count of Angoulême from 1467 until his death. He succeeded his father, John, and was initially under the regency of his mother, Marguerite de Rohan, assisted by Jean I de La Rochefoucauld, one of his vassals.

Charles commissioned the luxuriously illustrated Heures de Charles d'Angoulême.

Family

Charles was a grandson of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, a younger son of King Charles V of France. He was thus a member of the Orléans cadet branch of the ruling House of Valois. The Orléans came to the throne in 1498 in the person of Charles's cousin Louis XII, who was followed in 1515 by Charles's own son Francis I.

Marriage and issue

Charles married Louise of Savoy, daughter of Philip the Landless and Margaret of Bourbon, on 16 February 1488.

They had:

• Marguerite of Angoulême (11 April 1492 – 21 December 1549)
• François of Angoulême (12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547), who became King of France as Francis I.

Charles also had two illegitimate daughters by his mistress Jeanne (often mistakenly called Antoinette by confusion with a member of a quite distinct family by the same name) de Polignac, Dame de Combronde, who was his wife's lady-in-waiting:

• Jeanne d'Angoulême (c. 1490 – after 1531/1538), married firstly Jean Aubin, Seigneur de Malicorne, and secondly, Jean IV de Longwy, Baron of Pagny, by whom she had three daughters. The youngest, Jacqueline de Longwy (died 28 August 1561), in her own turn married Louis III de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier.
• Madeleine d'Angoulême, Abbess of Fontevrault (died 26 October 1543)

He also had an illegitimate daughter by mistress Jeanne Le Conte:

• Souveraine d'Angoulême (died 23 February 1551), married Michel III de Gaillard, Seigneur de Chilly. In 1534 Married French Ambassador Louis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles, Count of Angoulême

16. John II of France 8. Charles V of France 17. Bonne of Bohemia 4. Louis I, Duke of Orleans 18. Peter I, Duke of Bourbon 9. Joanna of Bourbon 19. Isabella of Valois 2. John, Count of Angoulême 20. Galeazzo II Visconti 10. Gian Galeazzo Visconti 21. Bianca of Savoy 5. Valentina Visconti 22. John II of France (=16.) 11. Isabella of Valois 23. Bonne of Luxembourg (=17.) 1. Charles, Count of Angoulême 24. Jean I, vicomte de Rohan c. 1324-1395 12. Alain VIII, vicomte de Rohan c. 1360-1429 25. Jeanne de Léon c. 1330-1372 6. Alain IX, vicomte de Rohan et de Léon c. 1382-1462 26. Olivier V de Clisson 13. Béatrix de Clisson Comtesse de Porhoet c. 1341/81-1448 27. Béatrix de Montmorency-Laval c. 1335-1360 3. Marguerite De Valois-Orleáns (de Rohan) 1412-1497 28. John of Montfort 14. John IV, Duke of Brittany 29. Joanna of Flanders 7. Marguerite de Montfort, dame de Guillac 1392-1428 30. Charles II of Navarre 15. Joan of Navarre, Queen of England 31. Joan of Valois, Queen of Navarre, daughter of #16 and #17

Sources

• Knecht, R.J. (1982). Francis I. Cambridge University Press.
• Reid, Jonathan A. (2009). Gow, Andrew Colin (ed.). King's Sister - Queen of Dissent: Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549) and her Evangelical Network. Vol. 1. Brill.