Jeanne de Bourbon-Vendome

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Jeanne de Bourbon (1465 – 22 January 1511) was the maternal grandmother of the famous French queen, Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589).

[edit] Family

She was a daughter of Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme and Isabelle de Beauvau. Her maternal grandparents were Louis de Beauvau, Seneschal of Anjou and Marguerite de Chambley.

Her paternal grandparents were Louis, Count of Vendôme and Jeanne of Laval. Louis had served as both Grand Chamberman of France and Grand Master of France. He was a prominent member of the Armagnac party.

Louis was the second son of John I, Count of La Marche and Catherine of Vendôme. John was a prominent soldier in the Hundred Years' War.

John was in turn the second son of James I, Count of La Marche and Jeanne of Chatillon. James was a Constable of France but was killed in the Battle of Brignais.

James was the second surviving son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon and Mary of Avesnes. Louis served as a Grand Chamberman of France but gained a reputation for his supposed mental instability.

Louis was the eldest son of Robert, Count of Clermont and Beatrix of Bourbon. Beatrix was the heiress of the Bourbon family and the matriarch of the new Bourbon line of the Capetian dynasty.

Robert was the youngest son of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence.

[edit] Marriages

She married first John II, Duke of Bourbon in 1487. The groom was about sixty-one years old and the bride only twenty-two. John had survived two previous wives and his only son. He was in a need of an heir. They had only one son:

Louis, Count of Clermont (1488). He was the needed heir but did not long survive his birth.

John II died the same year as his second and last known son. Jeanne remained a widow for seven years. On 11 January 1495, Jeanne married her second husband John III, Count of Auvergne. They had two daughters:

Anne, married John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany.
Madeleine, married Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino. She was the mother of Catherine de' Medici.

John III died on 28 March 1501. She remained widowed for two years. In 1503, Jeanne married her third and last husband, Francis de la Pause, Baron de la Garde.