John Tristan, Count of Valois

John Tristan of France (8 April 1250 - 3 August 1270) was a French prince of the Capetian dynasty. He was jure uxoris Count of Nevers from 1265 to 1270, Count of Auxerre and Tonnerre (jure uxoris) and also Count of Valois and Crépy (1268–1270).

Birth and childhood

John was born in Damietta, Egypt. He was the sixth child and the fourth son of king Louis IX of France, called St. Louis after canonization, and Margaret of Provence. Moreover he was the first of three children of this royal couple who were born during the Seventh Crusade. He was born at the Egyptian port town of Damietta which had been conquered by the crusaders in 1249. According to chronicler Jean de Joinville, an old knight acted as midwife during John's birth. Two days prior to his birth, the king was captured by the Mamluks which was the reason to name the child Tristan due to the triste occasion. He was baptised in the grand mosque of Damietta that had been re-consecrated into a church. One month later, Damietta had to be abandoned. John subsequently spent his childhood in the Holy Land where his siblings Peter (1251) and Blanche (1253) were born.

Marriage

His father wished that John joined the Dominican Order, but John resisted this wish successfully. In 1266, he was married to Yolande II, Countess of Nevers (1247-1280), making him Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnere. In 1268, John was made Count of Valois and Crépy on his own right by his father the king, a gift he received as paréage.

Crusade

Two years later, John accompanied his father during the Eighth Crusade, which reached Tunis in July after setting out from Cagliari on Sardinia. But at Tunis the army suffered an outbreak of dysentery. John Tristan was one of the victims who died of it, and three weaks later, St. Louis also succumbed to the disease. Both bodies were transported to France and buried in the Basilica of St Denis.

John's marriage remained childless. His widow Yolande married again in 1272 with Robert III of Flanders; the county of Valois, his prerogative, returned to the Crown.

References

• Schwennicke, Detlev (1984) (in German). Europäische Stammtafeln. II. ISBN 978-3877750148. 

External links

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.