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Birth:          12 Mar 1270 Vincennes, Ile de France, France
Death:          16 Dec 1325 Nogent-le-Roi, France
Burial:         St. Jacques, Paris, France

Notes
Stuart has birth as 12 Mar 1270/71 but latter date is inconsistent with date of mother's 
death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_Count_of_Valois
Charles of Valois (12 March 1270 – 16 December 1325)[1] was the third son of Philip 
III of France and Isabella of Aragon.[2] He was a member of the House of Capet and 
founded the House of Valois. In 1284, he was created Count of Valois (as Charles I) 
by his father and, in 1290, received the title of Count of Anjou from his marriage to 
Margaret of Anjou.[3] Through his marriage to Catherine I, titular empress of the Latin 
Empire, he was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1301–1307, although he 
ruled from exile and only had authority over Crusader States in Greece.
Life[edit]

Moderately intelligent, disproportionately ambitious and quite greedy, Charles of Valois 
collected principalities. He had as appanage the counties of Valois, Alençon and 
Perche (1285). He became in 1290 count of Anjou and of Maine by his marriage with 
Margaret, eldest daughter of Charles II, titular king of Sicily; by a second marriage, 
contracted with the heiress of Baldwin II de Courtenay, last Latin emperor of 
Constantinople, he also had pretensions on this throne. But he was son, brother, 
brother-in-law, son-in-law, and uncle of kings or of queens (of France, of Navarre, of 
England, and of Naples), becoming, moreover, after his death, father of a king (Philip 
VI).

Charles thus dreamed of more and sought all his life for a crown he never obtained. In 
1285, the pope recognized him as King of Aragon (under the vassalage of the Holy 
See), as son of his mother, in opposition to King Peter III, who after the conquest of 
the island of Sicily was an enemy of the papacy. Charles then married Marguerite of 
Sicily, daughter of the Neapolitan king, in order to re-enforce his position in Sicily, 
supported by the Pope. Thanks to this Aragonese Crusade undertaken by his father 
Philip III against the advice of his brother, the future Philip the Fair, he believed he 
would win a kingdom and won nothing but the ridicule of having been crowned with a 
cardinal's hat in 1285, which gave him the sobriquet of the "King of the Cap." He 
would never dare to use the royal seal which was made on this occasion and would 
have to renounce the title.

His principal quality was to be a good military leader. He commanded effectively in 
Flanders in 1297. The king quickly deduced that his brother could conduct an 
expedition in Italy against Frederick II of Sicily. The affair was ended by the peace of 
Caltabellotta.

Charles dreamed at the same time of the imperial crown and married in 1301 Catherine 
de Courtenay, who was a titular empress. But it needed the connivance of the Pope, 
which he obtained by his expedition to Italy, where he supported Charles II of Anjou 
against Frederick II of Sicily, his cousin. Named papal vicar, he lost himself in the 
imbroglio of Italian politics, was compromised in a massacre at Florence and in sordid 
financial exigencies, reached Sicily where he consolidated his reputation as a looter 
and finally returned to France discredited in 1301-1302.

Charles was back in shape to seek a new crown when the German king Albert of 
Habsburg was murdered in 1308. Charles's brother, who did not wish to take the risk 
himself of a check and probably thought that a French puppet on the imperial throne 
would be a good thing for France, encouraged him. The candidacy was defeated with 
the election of Henry VII as German king. Charles continued to dream of the eastern 
crown of the Courtenays.

He did benefit from the affection which Philip the Fair, who had suffered from the 
remarriage of their father, brought to his only full brother, and he found himself given 
responsibilities which largely exceeded his talent. Thus it was he who directed in 1311 
the royal embassy to the conferences of Tournai with the Flemish; he quarreled there 
with his brother's chamberlain Enguerrand de Marigny, who openly flouted him. Charles 
did not pardon the affront and would continue the vendetta against Marigny after the 
king's death.

He was doggedly opposed to the torture of Jacques de Molay, grand master of the 
Templars, in 1314.

The premature death of Louis X in 1316 gave Charles hopes for a political role, but he 
could not prevent his nephew Philip, from taking the regency while awaiting the birth 
of Louis X's posthumous son. When that son (John I of France) died after a few days, 
Philip took the throne as Philip V.

In 1324, he commanded with success the army of his nephew Charles IV (who 
succeeded Philip V in 1322) to take Guyenne and Flanders from King Edward II of 
England.[4] He contributed, by the capture of several cities, to accelerate the peace, 
which was concluded between the king of France and his niece, Isabella, queen-
consort of England.[4]

The Count of Valois died 16 December 1325 at Nogent-le-Roi, leaving a son who 
would take the throne of France under the name of Philip VI and commence the 
branch of the Valois: a posthumous revenge for the man of whom it was said, "Son of 
a king, brother of a king, uncle of three kings, father of a king, but never king 
himself." Charles was buried in the now-demolished church of the Couvent des 
Jacobins in Paris - his effigy is now in the Basilica of St Denis.

Marriages and children[edit]

Charles was married three times.

His first marriage, in 1290, was to Margaret, Countess of Anjou, (1274–1299), daughter 
of King Charles II of Naples.[3] They had the following children:
Isabelle of Valois (1292 – 1309). Married John, Prince of Brittany (later Duke John III).
Philip VI (1293 – 22 August 1350), first King of the Valois Dynasty.
Joan of Valois (1294 – 7 March 1342). Married William I, Count of Hainaut, and had 
issue.
Margaret of Valois (1295 – July 1342). Married Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, Count of Blois, 
and had issue.
Charles II of Valois (1297 – 26 August 1346 at the Battle of Crécy), Count of Alençon. 
Married first Jeanne de Joigny and second Marie de la Cerda and had issue from the 
second marriage.
Catherine of Valois (1299 – died young).

In 1302 he remarried to Catherine I of Courtenay (1274–1307), titular Empress of 
Constantinople.[5] They had four children:
John of Valois (1302 – 1308), Count of Chartres.
Catherine II of Valois (1303 – October 1346), titular Empress of Constantinople and 
Princess of Achaea.[6] She married Philip I d'Anjou, Prince of Taranto, and had issue.
Joan of Valois (1304 – 9 July 1363). Married Count Robert III of Artois and had issue.
Isabelle of Valois (1305 – 11 November 1349), Abbess of Fontevrault.[7]

Finally, in 1308, he married Mahaut of Châtillon (1293–1358),[1] daughter of Guy III of 
Châtillon, Count of Saint Pol. They had also four children:
Marie of Valois (1309 – 28 October 1332). Married Charles, Duke of Calabria, and had 
issue.
Isabella of Valois (1313 – 26 July 1383).[8] She married Peter I, Duke of Bourbon.
Blanche of Valois (1317 – 1348). She married Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. 
Sometimes called "Marguerite".
Louis of Valois (1318 – 2 November 1328), Count of Chartres and Lord of 
Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais.

Charles de Valois was also known to have one natural child by an unknown mother.[9] 
This child was placed in a nunnery, and yet was also treated as a legitimate heir to 
estates, being granted title to lands in Avignon upon her majority:
Theresa of Avignon, Countess of Avignon (1335–1387)[9]

In fiction[edit]

Charles is a major character in Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings), a series of 
French historical novels by Maurice Druon. He was portrayed by Jean Deschamps (fr) 
in the 1972 French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Jacques Spiesser in the 
2005 adaptation.[10][11]

Parents
____ Philippe III "le Hardi" ("the Bold") (1 May 1245 - 5 Oct 1285)
OF ARAGON Isabel (1248 - 28 Jan 1271)

Siblings
CAPET Philippe IV "le Bel" (1268 - 29 Nov 1314)
OF VALOIS Charles I (12 Mar 1270 - 16 Dec 1325)

Marriage To ____ Margaret (Marguerite) (ABT 1273 - 31 Dec 1299)
    m. 16 Aug 1290 Corbeil, France

Notes

Parents
____ Charles II "le Boiteux" ("the lame") (1248 - 5 May 1309)
OF HUNGARY Maria (ABT 1257 - 25 Mar 1323)

Children by ____ Margaret (Marguerite) ABT 1273 - 31 Dec 1299
DE VALOIS Joan (Jeanne) (1294 - 7 Mar 1342)

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