Charles IV, Duke of Alençon

17th century portrait of Charles d'Alençon

Coat of arms of the dukes of Alençon of the House of Valois.

Coat of arms of Charles IV, duke of Alençon and count of Armagnac.

Charles IV of Alençon (2 September 1489 in Alençon – 11 April 1525 in Lyon) was the son of René of Alençon and Margaret of Vaudémont.

He succeeded his father in 1492 as Duke of Alençon and Count of Perche, and was also Count of Armagnac, Fézensac, Viscount of Rodez, Count of Fezensaguet, l'Isle-Jourdain, and Perdiac.

In 1509 he married Margaret of Angoulême, sister to Francis, Duke of Valois, who would in 1515 become King Francis I of France. Their marriage was childless: his wife was allowed to retain most of his titles.

As first prince of the blood, Charles was a prominent figure in the early part of his brother-in-law's reign. Made governor of Normandy, Charles fought at Marignano in 1515, and in 1521 defended Champagne against an imperial invasion. He accompanied his brother-in-law, King Francis I of France, on his second expedition to Italy in 1525, and after the disaster at Pavia, took command of the defeated French forces, leading them in retreat back to French territory. He was made a scapegoat for the defeat and accused of abandoning the king, and died soon after. Although Charles had a sister, Françoise, who survived him, his widow took possession of his lands after his death.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon

16. Peter II, Count of Alençon 8. John I, Duke of Alençon 17. Marie Chamaillard 4. John II, Duke of Alençon 18. John IV, Duke of Brittany 9. Marie of Brittany 19. Joan of Navarre 2. René, Duke of Alençon 20. Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac 10. John IV, Count of Armagnac 21. Bonne of Berry 5. Marie of Armagnac 22. Charles III of Navarre 11. Isabella of Navarre 23. Eleanor of Castile 1. Charles IV, Duke of Alençon 24. Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont 12. Antoine, Count of Vaudémont 25. Margaret of Joinville 6. Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont 26. John VII, Count of Harcourt 13. Marie, Countess of Harcourt 27. Marie d'Alençon 3. Margaret of Lorraine 28. Louis II of Anjou 14. René of Anjou 29. Yolande of Aragon 7. Yolande d'Anjou 30. Charles II, Duke of Lorraine 15. Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine 31. Margaret of the Palatinate

Sources

• Cholakian, Patricia Francis; Cholakian, Rouben Charles (2006). Marguerite de Navarre: Mother of the Renaissance. Columbia University Press.107
• Knecht, R.J. (1984). Francis I. Cambridge University Press.
• Potter, David (1995). Keen, Maurice (ed.). A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation State. Macmillan.
• Wellman, Kathleen (2013). Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France. Yale University Press.