Jean I de Croÿ
Jean I de Croÿ, Seigneur de Croÿ et d'Araines, Baron de Renty et de Seneghem (around 1365 – October 25, 1415) was the founder of the House of Croÿ .
Biography
His parents were Guillaume, seigneur de Croÿ (†1384) and Isabeau de Renty.
Jean I de Croÿ was responsible for the ascendancy of his family to a position of supreme power in medieval Burgundy. He served Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless in the capacity of councillor and chamberlain.
In 1384 he married a wealthy heiress, Marie de Craon (ca 1370–1420), successfully suing her first husband's family upon her death. In 1397, Jean acquired the lordship of Chimay, which was to become a core dominion of the Croÿ family. Four years later, he was appointed Governor of Artois and led the ducal armies against the rebellious citizens of Liege. He was recorded as the Grand-Bouteiller of King Charles VI of France in 1412, when he laid siege to Bourges.
The following year, Isabeau of Bavaria had him apprehended and incarcerated in the castle of Montlhéry, whence he escaped. Jean, together with two of his sons, was killed at the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415.
He had seventeen children, including:
- Antoine I de Croy, Comte de Porcéan (1385–1475)
- Archambaud (1386 – 1415 at Agincourt)
- Jean (1387 – 1415 at Agincourt)
- Jean II de Croÿ (1395 – 1473), Prince of Chimay, progenitor of the line of Croÿ-Solre.
- Agnès de Croÿ (1386 ?), mistress of John the Fearless Duke of Burgundy, by whom she had a natural son, John of Burgundy (Jean de Bourgogne), the future Bishop of Cambrai.[1]
- Jeanne (1390–?), married Jean de Lannoy (c. 1370–1415) also killed at Agincourt, mother of Jan van Lannoy, Stadtholder of Holland.
References
- ↑ Richard Vaughan, John the Fearless, (Boydell Press, 2002), 236.