Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marle and Soissons

Jeanne de Bar
suo jure Countess of Marle and Soissons
suo jure Dame d'Oisy
suo jure Viscountess of Meaux
Countess of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano
Spouse(s) Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, of Ligny, and Conversano

Issue

John of Luxembourg, Count of Marle and Soissons
Jacqueline of Luxembourg
Pierre II de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, Marle and Soissons
Helene of Luxembourg
Charles of Luxembourg, Bishop of Laon
Anthony I, Count of Ligny, Brienne and Roussy
Philippe of Luxembourg
Noble family House of Montbéliard
Father Robert of Bar, Count of Marle and Soissons, Sire d'Oisy (1390- 25 October 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt
Mother Jeanne de Béthune, Viscountess of Meaux (died late 1450)
Born 1415
France
Died 14 May 1462
France

Jeanne de Bar, suo jure Countess of Marle and Soissons, Dame d'Oisy, Viscountess of Meaux, and Countess of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano (1415 - 14 May 1462) was a noble French heiress and Sovereign Countess. She was the only child of Robert of Bar, Count of Marle and Soissons, Sire d'Oisy, who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt when she was a baby, leaving her the sole heiress to his titles and estates. In 1430, at the age of fifteen, Jeanne was one of the three women placed in charge of Joan of Arc when the latter was a prisoner in the castle of John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny, Jeanne's stepfather.

She was the first wife of Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano, Constable of France. From their marriage descended Mary, Queen of Scots, King Henry IV of France and the subsequent Bourbon kings of France.

Coat of arms of the Bar family.

Family

Jeanne was born in 1415, the only child of Robert of Bar, Count of Marle and Soissons, Sire d'Oisy [1](1390- 25 October 1415) and Jeanne de Béthune, Viscountess of Meaux (c.1397- late 1450). Her paternal grandparents were Henry of Bar, Marquis Pont-à-Mousson and Marie de Coucy, Countess of Soissons, and her maternal grandparents were Robert VIII de Béthune, Viscount of Meaux,[2] and Isabelle de Ghistelles, daughter of Jean VII de Ghistelles and Marguerite de Reingleset.[3] Through her paternal grandmother, Jeanne was a descendant of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault - their eldest daughter Isabella being the mother of Marie de Coucy.

On 25 October 1415, her father was killed at the Battle of Agincourt, leaving Jeanne, who was a baby, as sole heiress to her father's titles and estates. In 1418, her mother married secondly John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny and de Guise (1392- 5 January 1441), son of John of Luxembourg, Sire de Beauvois and Marguerite of Enghien, Countess of Brienne and of Conversano. The marriage was childless.

It was Jeanne's stepfather John who received Joan of Arc as his prisoner, and kept her at his castle of Beaurevoir. Joan, who was three years Jeanne's senior was placed in the care of Jeanne, her mother and Jeanne of Luxembourg, John's elderly aunt. The three ladies did all they could to comfort Joan in her captivity, and unsuccessfully tried to persuade her to abandon her masculine clothing for feminine attire. They earned Joan's gratitude for their kind and compassionate treatment of her.[4] Despite the pleas of Jeanne and the other two women, John sold Joan of Arc to the English, who were his allies, for 10,000 livres.

Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano, Constable of France, was the husband of Jeanne de Bar

Marriage and issue

On 16 July 1435, at the age of twenty, Jeanne married Louis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano, Constable of France (1418- 19 December 1475). The marriage took place at the Chateau de Bohain. She was Louis' first wife. Louis was the eldest son of Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Brienne, and Conversano, by his wife Margaret de Baux. His elder sister was Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville, by her second marriage to Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers. Louis had been brought up by his paternal uncle, who was Jeanne's stepfather, John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny and Guise; therefore the young couple were well-acquainted with one another. John designated Louis as his heir to the counties of Ligny and Guise, but upon John's death in 1441, King Charles VII of France sequestered the estates and titles. The title of Ligny was eventually restored to Louis. The title and estates of Guise were given to Louis' youngest sister, Isabelle as her dowry, which passed to her husband, Charles, Count of Maine, upon their marriage in 1443.

Jeanne succeeded as Viscountess of Meaux suo jure upon the death of her mother in late 1450.

Jeanne and Louis had seven children:

Jeanne died on 14 May 1462 aged about forty-seven years. Her husband married secondly Marie of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus, (20 March 1448- 1475), by whom he had three more children. Marie was a younger sister of his daughter-in-law Marguerite of Savoy. Louis of Luxembourg was imprisoned in the Bastille and afterward beheaded in Paris on 19 December 1475 for treason against King Louis XI of France.

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror, p.628
  2. ↑ Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, France, Nobility
  3. ↑ Ancestors of Marie de Guise,www.Worldroots.com
  4. ↑ Vita Sackville-West, Saint Joan of Arc, p. 266, Google Books, retrieved on 1 July 2009
  5. ↑ Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, France, Champagne, Nobility


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