Marie de Bar

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Marie de Bar (April 1366-1405 was born Marie de Coucy and was the wife of Henri, Duc de Bar. She also owned numerous estates in North-Eastern France.

Contents

[edit] Family

Marie was born, on an unknown date, in April 1366 at Coucy Castle, Picardy France. She was the eldest daughter of a powerful French nobleman, Enguerrand VII de Coucy and Isabella of England, daughter of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. She had a younger sister, Philippa de Coucy born in 1367 who married Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland. When Marie was about a month old, she accompanied her parents to England, where on 11 May 1366 her father received the title of Earl of Bedford and was inducted into the Order of the Garter.[1] In 1376 at the age of ten, Marie joined the household of the French queen, Jeanne de Bourbon and was educated alongside the Dauphin and his siblings.[2]

[edit] Marriage

In November 1384, she married Henri de Bar (died 25 September 1396 Battle of Nicopolis), son of Robert I, Duc de Bar and Marie Valois, sister of King Charles V of France.[3] The marriage produced two sons: Enguerrand (1387-c.1400) and Robert de Bar (1390-25 October 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt). Through Robert, Marie was the direct ancestress of King Henri IV of France.

[edit] Later Years

Marie's mother, Isabella, died in 1379, and her father re-married in February 1386, a girl about thirty years his junior. Her name was Isabelle, and she was the daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. They had one daughter, Isabel. Following Enguerrand's death on18 February 1397[4] in a Turkish prison five months after the ferocious Battle of Nicopolis, which also killed her husband, Marie disputed the de Coucy inheritance with her step-mother. Marie claimed the entire inheritance, Isabelle insisting upon half. In 1404, Marie was coerced by Louis d'Orleans into selling the barony to him. She brought at least eleven lawsuits against Orleans in an attempt to recover her property, but after a wedding feast in 1405, Marie died suddenly. Poison was suspected but could not be proven.[5] Her son continued the litigation,but eventually,the barony of Coucy passed to the French Crown.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barbara Tuchman "A Distant Mirror",pgs 232-3.
  2. ^ Tuchman,p.314
  3. ^ Tuchman,pgs367,423.
  4. ^ Tuchman,p.603
  5. ^ Tuchman,pgs.609-10.

[edit] Sources

  1. Barbara W. Tuchman,"A Distant Mirror published by Alfred A.Knopf 1978
  2. "Medieval Lands" Charles Cawley