Marie of Cleves, Duchess of Orléans

Marie of Cleves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487) was the third wife of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and the mother of his only son, King Louis XII of France. She was born a German princess, the last child of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and his second wife, Marie of Burgundy.

Marie of Cleves
Duchess of Orléans
Marie of Cleves (or Anne of Cyprus)
Born	19 September 1426
Died	23 August 1487 (aged 60) Chaunay
Burial	Couvent des Célestins
Spouse	Charles, Duke of Orléans
Issue	Marie, Countess of Étampes Louis XII of France Anne of Orléans, Abbess of Fontevraud
House	La Marck
Father	Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
Mother	Marie of Burgundy

Marie was a patron of letters and commissioned many works; she was also an active poet herself, producing ballads and other verses.[1] After the Duke's death she was secretly remarried in 1480 to one of her gentlemen of the chamber, the Artesian "Sieur de Rabodanges", who was some years her junior.[1][2] She died in Chaunay.

Marriage and issue

At age fourteen, Marie married Charles of Valois, Duke of Orléans, a man 32 years her senior,[1] on 27 November 1440 in Saint-Omer.[3] They had three children:

• Marie of Orléans (19 December 1457 – 1493); married John of Foix, Count of Étampes in 1476
• Louis XII of France (1462–1515)
• Anne of Orléans (1464–1491); became the Abbess of Fontevrault and Poitiers.

In literature

Marie is a character in Hella Haasse's historical novel about Charles, Duke of Orléans In a Dark Wood Wandering (original Dutch title Het Woud der Verwachting).

Ancestors of Marie of Cleves, Duchess of Orléans

16. Engelbert II, Count of Mark 8. Adolph II, Count of Mark 17. Matilda of Arenberg 4. Adolph III, Count of Mark 18. Dietrich VIII, Count of Cleves 9. Margaret of Cleves 19. Margaret of Guelders 2. Adolph I, Duke of Cleves 20. William V, Duke of Jülich 10. Gerhard VI of Jülich 21. Joanna of Hainault 5. Margaret of Jülich 22. Otto IV, Count of Ravensberg 11. Margaret of Ravensberg 23. Margaret of Berg 1. Mary of Cleves 24. John II of France 12. Philip II, Duke of Burgundy 25. Bonne of Bohemia 6. John II, Duke of Burgundy 26. Louis II, Count of Flanders 13. Margaret III, Countess of Flanders 27. Margaret of Brabant 3. Mary of Burgundy 28. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor 14. Albert I, Duke of Bavaria 29. Margaret II, Countess of Hainault 7. Margaret of Bavaria 30. Louis I, Duke of Liegnitz-Brieg 15. Margaret of Brieg 31. Agnes of Głogów-Żagań

Notes

1. Wilson p. 258
2. Holt, p. 231
3. Arn p. 41

References

• Arn, Mary-Jo. Charles d'Orléans in England, 1415-1440. Cambridge; Rochester, NY, USA : D.S. Brewer, 2000. googlebooks Retrieved August 17, 2009
• Wilson, Katharina M. An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. Vol. 2 New York: Garland Pub, 1991. googlebooks
• Holt, Emily Sarah. Memoirs of Royal Ladies. London : Hurst and Blackett, 1861. googlebooks