Marie of Cleves, Duchess of Orléans

Marie of Cleves
Duchess of Orléans
Marie of Cleves (or Anne of Cyprus)
Born19 September 1426
Died23 August 1487(1487-08-23) (aged 60)
Chaunay
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1440; died 1465)
IssueMarie, Viscountess of Narbonne
Louis XII of France
Anne, Abbess of Fontevraud
HouseLa Marck
FatherAdolph I, Duke of Cleves
MotherMary of Burgundy

Marie of Cleves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487) was the third wife of Charles, Duke of Orléans. She was born a German princess, the last child of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and his second wife, Mary 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

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At the age of fourteen, Marie was married to 46-year-old Charles of Valois, Duke of Orléans, a man 32 years her senior,[1] on 27 November 1440, in Saint-Omer.[3] She became his third and last wife. Their eldest child was born fully 17 years after the wedding. They had three children together, being:

In literature

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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).

Ancestry

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Wilson p. 258
  2. ^ Holt, p. 231
  3. ^ Arn p. 41

References

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  • 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