Jeanne de Laval
Medallion of Jeanne de Laval made by Luciano Laurano. It is displayed in the Bibliotèque Nationale
Queen consort of Naples and Sicily
Tenure	10 September 1454- 10 July 1480
Spouse	René of Anjou
House	Laval House of Valois-Anjou
Father	Guy XIV de Laval, Count of Laval
Mother	Isabella of Brittany
Born	10 November 1433 Auray, Brittany, France
Died	19 December 1498 Chateau de Beaufort-en-Vallée, Maine-et-Loire

Coat of arms of Jeanne de Laval and her husband René of Naples and Jerusalem. Marble with traces of polychromy, date unknown. From the base of the Bearing of the Cross altarpiece in Saint-Didier at Avignon.

Jeanne de Laval (10 November 1433 - 19 December 1498), was the second wife and Queen consort of René I of Anjou (16 January 1409 - 10 July 1480), King of Naples, Sicily, titular King of Jerusalem, Aragon, Majorca, Duke of Anjou, Bar, Lorraine, Count of Provence and Piedmont.

She was the stepmother of Margaret of Anjou (23 March 1430- 25 August 1482), Queen consort of King Henry VI of England.

[edit] Family

Jeanne was born on 10 November 1433 at Auray, Brittany, the daughter of Guy XIV de Laval, Count of Laval and Isabella of Brittany. Her paternal grandparents were Jean de Montfort and Anne de Laval. Her maternal grandparents were John VI, Duke of Brittany and Jeanne of France, daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. Her father Guy was a companion of Joan of Arc. His eldest son Francis de Laval, who was Grand Master of France would succeed him as Guy XV, Count of Laval. He had another two sons by his first wife Isabelle, Pierre de Laval and Jean de Laval. He had, including Jeanne, a total of seven daughters, several of whom died in early infancy. By his second wife, Françoise de Dinan, he had three sons.

Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of King Henry VI of England, was the stepdaughter of Jeanne de Laval

Detail of the Burning Bush triptych, which shows Jeanne de Laval and René I of Anjou

[edit] Marriage

A marriage contract was drawn up on 3 September 1454 between Jeanne's father and King René of Naples and Sicily, Duke of Anjou. The wedding was celebrated on 10 September 1454, at the Abbey of St.Nicholas in Angers. Jeanne married René, whose first wife, Isabella of Lorraine had died the previous year. She was twenty-one years old. Her husband was more than twenty years her senior. The marriage, however, was happy. Jeanne, who was sweet and affectionate, seems to have been very loved by her husband. She became stepmother to René's children, who included, John II, Duke of Lorraine, Queen consort Margaret of Anjou, and Yolande of Bar. Jeanne's marriage to René was childless. After living three years in the surrounding mansions of Angers and Saumur, the king and queen lived in Provence in 1457 to 1462, in Anjou from 1462 to 1469. In Aix-en-Provence, Angers, she participated with her husband in literary and scholarly pursuits in his court. René composed a 10,000 verse ode to Jeanne entitled, The Idyl of Regnault and Jeanneton. The poem was a debate on love between a shepherd and shepherdess with a pilgrim as arbiter. However, it is sometimes seems that it contained a good dose of conventional fiction. During his stay at Tarascon in Provence, René granted Jeanne the barony of Les Baux, which belonged to the Counts of Provence. She exchanged it on 18 February 1475 at Aix for Berre.^[1] In the 15th century, René d'Anjou and Jeanne de Laval were painted by Nicolas Froment in the famous Burning Bush triptych, which the Queen used to richly illuminate a Psalter (the ms. 41 of the Public Library of Poitiers). She continued to live in Provence from 1469 till 1480.

[edit] Later life

René died on 10 July 1480. In his will, he bequeathed to his wife, a very large income in Anjou, Provence, and the Barrois. She also retained the County of Beaufort, and the lordship of Mirebeau (exchanged with the baronies of Aubagne and Provence). After her husband's death, she sometimes lived in Beaufort and sometimes in Saumur. She was popular for her kindness and generosity. The people of Beaufort were grateful to her, when she regulated the use of common pastures. Jeanne died on 19 December 1498 at the Chateau de Beaufort-en-Vallée, Maine-et-Loire. She was sixty-five years of age. A street still bears her name, "Queen of Sicily." By her will, she wished to be buried simply, without any monument, in the cathedral of Angers. Her heart was placed in the Cordeliers d 'Angers, alongside that of her husband.

[edit] Jeanne and the Arts

Jeanne appears in the triptych of the Burning Bush of the cathedral of Aix-en-Provence, and a painting in the museum of Cluny, where she is represented with King René, listening to the preaching of Sainte-Madeleine. The Cabinet of medals of the National Library of France has two medals, the 'King René and Queen Jeanne dating from 1462. It consists of a miniature of Jeanne, surrounded by her ladies, in the manuscript of the French version of the Pilgrimage of Life (Library of the Arsenal). Monuments have been reared in Beaufort (1842), to Rose (1875), and Tarascon. A statue of Jeanne is installed in the "Public Garden" in the Noisay village in Indre-et-Loire.

[edit] Ancestry

Jeanne de Laval's ancestors in three generations

[edit] Sources

• Accounts of John Legay, fundraiser for the Queen of Sicily, the manuscript of the library of Angers, published in the History Anjou in 1900.

• King Lecoy by René de la Marche.

• Conduct of King René J. Levron.

• Histoire de Charles VII by Vallet of Viriville.

• Queen Jeanne. Jeanne de Laval. Second wife of King René.Pierre Le Roy. Regional editions of the West.

[edit] References