Alix of France, Countess of Blois
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Alix of France (summer 1151 – 1197/1198) was the second daughter born to Louis VII of France by his first wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was named after her aunt Petronilla of Aquitaine, who was also called "Alix". The birth of a second daughter to Eleanor and Louis instead of a badly needed son was one of the final nails in the coffin of their marriage. Her parents were soon divorced, although the princesses were declared legitimate, and the custody of young Alix and her sister Marie was awarded to their father. Their mother Eleanor left the French court and was remarried to King Henry II of England. King Louis also remarried twice.
Alix was an older paternal half-sister to Marguerite of France, Alys, Countess of the Vexin, Philip II of France and Agnes of France. She was also an older maternal half-sister to William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine , Joan Plantagenet and John of England.
She married Theobald V of Blois in 1164. Her sister Marie married Theobald's brother Henry. Alix served as regent when her husband left for the East, and since their son was underage, she continued as regent for several years after Theobald's death in 1191. Alix and Theobald had seven children:
- Theobald (d. 1182)
- Louis I of Blois, who died in Constantinople in 1205
- Henri (d. 1182)
- Philippe (d. 1202)
- Marguerite of Blois (d. aft. 1230), who married (1) Otto I, Count of Burgundy; (2) Gauthier II, Seigneur of Avesnes. (see Margaret of Blois)
- Isabelle of Chartres (1180–1247/1248), married (1) Sulpice of Amboise; (2) Jean de Montmirail
- Alix of Blois, abbess of Fontevrault
[edit] Sources
- Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1991
- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002
