The Valois Children: Anne of Beaujeu
Château Royal d'Amboise. Mark Playle.
Louis XI’s daughter, Anne of France, was born when he was the Dauphin living on charity in the splendid Court of the duke of Burgundy.
Her father gave her the back handed compliment of saying that she was the least foolish woman in France. She was certainly that.
Anne was born in April 1461 in what is now Brussels, part of the Burgundy Court. Her mother, Charlotte of Savoy was nineteen, her father was thirty-eight. They were still grieving the death of their first child, Louis who died age two the previous year, of Joachim who lived a few hours and Louise who was still born.
Now Anne. Would they have more luck with her?
They would. She outlived them both. Anne was sixty-one when she died. Her mother was forty-two, her father was sixty.
She was four months old when news came from her grandmother, Marie of Anjou, in Chateau Amboise, that her grandfather Charles VII had died.
Louis left immediately for Reims, where kings of France were crowned, leaving Charlotte to fend for herself.
Why the rush?
Louis was paranoid his brother Charles would beat him to Reims and take the Crown for himself. Could this have been possible?
Yes. Louis had been exiled for fifteen years. Many at Court thought Charles was the rightful heir. He and his father were very close. Charles nursed him through a long illness, was at his side when he died and when he was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris. Paris was much nearer Reims than Brussels.
Charlotte borrowed transport from her kind hostess the duchess of Burgundy and made her way to the mother in law she had never met.
When she and the baby were settled Marie moved into her own Château in Chinon to enjoy her old age.
Although there was no money for a separate Court for Charlotte, she had her own household. With no more wars there were a few more pennies in the coffers so Anne had nurses, cradle rockers and servants.
She and her mother enjoyed the wonderful library in the Château which had been built up over generations by the previous owners.
Because Louis embarked on an extensive building programme at the Château, Anne saw quite a lot of him during her early years and he visited Charlotte often in the hope that they would produce his longed for Dauphin.
When Anne was twelve she was married off to Peter of Bourbon. The groom, who adored her, was thirty-four. It was a very successful marriage.
By marrying Anne to Peter, Louis forged a powerful alliance with the House of Bourbon, one of the most influential noble families in France.
Although Louis gave Anne lands, what he wanted for her was a title. The Princess Royal was not enough. He persuaded Peter’s brother to hand over the county of Beaujeu to the couple. Hence Anne of Beaujeu. Beaujeu is known for its world famous wine, Beaujolais.
Anne was now part of her father’s Court in Tours. For years she watched him drag France from, literally, the mud into an efficient, high performing, well oiled machine.
When he died, Anne was Regent during the minority of her brother, Charles VIII.
King of France in all but name, building on the firm foundations her father laid, she would have made a far better king than her brother.
Just before he died, Louis wanted Austria as an ally so affianced the Dauphin Charles to Margaret, the three year old daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. However, by the time consummation of the marriage came around, Louis was dead and Anne, as Regent, decided Brittany was of far more importance.
To annexe it to the Crown she married her brother off to Anne, Duchess of Brittany.
Needing England as a long term ally, Anne financed Henry Tudor from the House of Valois to invade England. Because of Anne, he was crowned Henry VII.
Anne, one of the most powerful women in French history, wanted to pass on her political acumen so educated her cousin Louise of Savoy who also became Regent of France, Margaret of Austria, who became Regent of the Netherlands and Diane of Poitiers who governed France with her lover, Henry II.
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art).
Read more about the Valois children
A Royal Childhood In The Loire Valley
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