Marie of Anjou

Marie of Anjou (14 October 1404 – 29 November 1463)^[1] was the Queen consort of King Charles VII of France from 1422 to 1461. Her mother, Yolande of Aragon, played a leading role in the last phase of the Hundred Years' War.

Family

Marie was the eldest daughter of Louis II of Anjou, titular King of Naples, titular King of Sicily, and Yolande of Aragon, titular Queen of Aragon. Her paternal grandparents were Louis I of Anjou, King of Naples and Marie de Blois, Lady of Guise. Her maternal grandparents were John I of Aragon and Yolande de Bar. Marie had five surviving siblings, including Louis III of Anjou and René I of Anjou. One of her nieces was Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of King Henry VI of England who was the de jure King of France from 1422 to 1429.

Marriage

She married her second cousin King Charles VII in April 1422 at Bourges (they were both great-grandchildren of John II of France and his first wife Bonne of Bohemia), and became Queen consort of Charles, although Charles himself was not crowned King until 17 July 1429 at Reims, following the successful endeavors of Joan of Arc in expelling the English from most of France. Her husband's victory in the Hundred Years War owed a great deal to the support he received from Marie's family, notably from her mother Yolande of Aragon. Although Marie and Charles had twelve children, her husband's affection was primarily directed towards his mistress, Agnès Sorel.

In the drawing seen to the left, her Court chaplain, Robert Blondel, presents her with the allegorical Treatise of the "Twelve Perils of Hell," which he composed for her (1455). Facsimile of a miniature from this work. Bibl. de l'Arsenal, Paris.

Marie of Anjou died on 29 November 1463 at the Abbaye de Chateliers-en-Poitou (Poitou-Charentes region). She was 59 years old.

Children

Marie was the mother of fourteen children with her husband Charles:

Ancestry

References