Anne of Burgundy

Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford (French: Anne de Bourgogne) (30 September 1404 – 13 November 1432) was a daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1371–1419) and his wife Margaret of Bavaria (1363–1423).

Anne of Burgundy
Duchess of Bedford
Born	30 September 1404
Died	13 November 1432 (aged 28) Hôtel de Bourgogne, Paris
Burial	Church of the Celestines, Paris Chartreuse de Champnol, Dijon
Spouse	John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford m. 1423; wid. 1432
Father	John II the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
Mother	Margaret of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Marriage

In June 1423 at Troyes, Anne married John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, son of Henry IV of England, a marriage agreed by the terms of the 1423 Treaty of Amiens.[1] The marriage was meant to cement relations between England and Anne's brother Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.[2] This alliance was vital for continued English success in France as, in 1422, John had been appointed Regent of France, during the minority of his nephew, Henry VI of England, who was seven months old at the death of his father on 31 August 1422.[3] Burgundy's antagonism towards the House of Valois (which caused the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War) had been one of the leading factors in the losses faced by the French at the hands of the English.

Death and legacy

John and Anne were happily married. Their union remained childless. Anne died on 13 November 1432 in Paris, at the Hôtel de Bourbon, adjoining the Louvre Palace. She was buried at the couvent des Célestins, while her heart was deposited at the couvent des Grands-Augustins.[4] Her tomb was designed by Guillaume Vluten and, according to one historian, "ranks among the most important Parisian effigies of the first half of the fifteenth century".[5] Of the original funerary monument at the couvent des Célestins (which was destroyed in 1849), two pieces have survived: the gisant (recumbent statue), which is at the Louvre museum, and the pleurants (mourning statue), at the Musée de Cluny, the Middle Ages museum in Paris. Bones and other remains, found during archeological exploration of the couvent des Célestins in 1847, were identified as being those of Anne, thanks to a plaque bearing her name. In 1853, these remains were re-buried in the grave of her grandfather, Philip the Bold, in Saint Bégnine cathedral in Dijon.

Anne's death signified the beginning of one of two disastrous trends in Lancastrian history. The next year, John remarried to Jacquetta of Luxembourg. For various political reasons, this alienated Anne's brother, Duke Philip. Relations between John and Philip became cool, leading to the 1435 peace negotiations between Burgundy and Charles VII, the exiled king of France. Later that year, Philip formally broke the alliance with England.[6]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Anne of Burgundy[7]

16. Philip VI of France 8. John II of France 17. Joan of Burgundy 4. Philip II, Duke of Burgundy 18. John I of Bohemia 9. Bonne of Bohemia 19. Elisabeth of Bohemia 2. John II, Duke of Burgundy 20. Louis I of Flanders 10. Louis II of Flanders 21. Margaret I, Countess of Burgundy 5. Margaret III, Countess of Flanders 22. John III, Duke of Brabant 11. Margaret of Brabant 23. Marie d'Évreux 1. Anne of Burgundy 24. Louis II, Duke of Bavaria 12. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor 25. Matilda of Habsburg 6. Albert I, Duke of Bavaria 26. William I, Count of Hainaut 13. Margaret II, Countess of Hainault 27. Joan of Valois 3. Margaret of Bavaria 28. Bolesław III the Generous 14. Ludwik I the Fair 29. Margaret of Bohemia 7. Margaret of Brieg 30. Henry IV the Faithful 15. Agnes of Głogów 31. Matilda of Brandenburg

References

1. Griffiths, p. 26.
2. Neillands, p. 231.
3. Weir, p. 73.
4. Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, 1405–1449, publié d'après les manuscrits de Rome et de Paris, par Alexandre Tuetey, chez Champion, Paris, 1881, pp. 289-290
5. Chipps Smith, p. 39.
6. Weir, Alison, The War of the Roses, Ballantine Books, 2009 Reprint (15 June 1996), p. 84. ISBN 978-0345404336
7. de Sousa, Antonio Caetano (1735). Historia genealogica da casa real portugueza (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Lisboa Occidental. p. 147.

Sources

• Chipps Smith, Jeffrey (1984). "The Tomb of Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford, in the Musée du Louvre". Gesta. 23 (01): 39–50. JSTOR 766962.
• Griffiths, R.A. (2005). The Reign of King Henry VI. The History Press. ISBN 0-7509-3777-7.
• Neillands, Robin (2001). The Hundred Years War. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26131-7.
• Weir, Alison (1996). The Wars of the Roses: Lancaster and York. London: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40433-5.

External links

• Media related to Anne of Burgundy at Wikimedia Commons