Louis of Burgundy

Seal of Louis

Coin of Achaea under Louis

Coat of arms of Louis of Burgundy, prince of Achaea.

Louis of Burgundy (1297 – August 2, 1316), Prince of Achaea and titular King of Thessalonica, was a younger son of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy and Agnes of France.

In 1313, he took part in a complex marriage pact designed to secure control by the Angevins and the Burgundians over Frankish Greece. On July 31, 1313, he married Matilda of Hainaut, heir-general of William II Villehardouin, to whom Philip I of Taranto gave the Principality of Achaea in fief. Louis ceded his claims on the family lands in Burgundy to his elder brother, Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy, who in turn ceded to Louis the title of "King of Thessalonica," which had been sold to their family in 1266. He subsequently did homage to Philip of Taranto, who was suzerain of Achaea and, as titular Latin Emperor jure uxoris, his overlord as King of Thessalonica, and agreed to assist in a campaign to recapture the Latin Empire.

Matilda and Louis arrived separately in Achaea, she sailing directly from Marseille to Navarino with 1,000 troops, while Louis came by way of Venice, where he was soliciting aid from the Republic. Ferdinand of Majorca, who also claimed the principality jure uxoris (his wife Isabelle de Sabran was descended from the younger daughter of William II Villehardouin), had landed there in 1315 and taken to Glarentza. Matilda arrived late in 1315, and several barons, including the count of Cephalonia returned to her allegiance. However, her army was beaten by Ferdinand and his Catalans on February 22, 1316 at Picotin. About this time, Louis arrived, making an unsuccessful attempt to capture the castle of Chalandritsa. Ferdinand sent for aid from the Kingdom of Majorca and the Catalan Company, but neither arrived in time to prevent his death and defeat by Louis at the Battle of Manolada on July 5, 1316. Four weeks later, Louis died. The Chronicle of the Morea attributes his death to a fever, while the Catalan Declaratio summa states that he was poisoned by John, count of Cephalonia. His death left Achaea in an unsettled state, with his brother Eudes, his wife, and the Angevins all attempting to gain it.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Louis of Burgundy

16. Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy 8. Odo III, Duke of Burgundy 17. Alice of Lorraine 4. Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy 18. Hugues, Seigneur de Vergy 9. Alix of Vergy 19. Gillette de Trainel 2. Robert II, Duke of Burgundy 20. Robert II, Count of Dreux 10. Robert III, Count of Dreux 21. Yolanda de Coucy 5. Yolande of Dreux 22. Thomas, Seigneur de Saint-Valéry 11. Aénor, Dame de Saint-Valéry 23. Alix de Ponthieu, Dame de Saint-Aubin 1. Louis of Burgundy 24. Philip II of France 12. Louis VIII of France 25. Isabelle of Hainaut 6. Louis IX of France 26. Alfonso VIII of Castile 13. Blanche of Castile 27. Eleanor of England 3. Agnes of France 28. Alfonso II, Count of Provence 14. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence 29. Garsenda of Forcalquier 7. Margaret of Provence 30. Thomas I, Count of Savoy 15. Beatrice of Savoy 31. Margaret of Geneva

References

• Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe (in French). Paris: De Boccard.
• Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1311–1364". In Hazard, Harry W. (ed.). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 104–140. ISBN 0-299-06670-3.