Charles, Duke of Orléans

**Charles, Duke of Orléans** (French: _Charles, duc d’Orléans_; 24 November 1394 — 5 November 1465) was Duke of Orléans, Count of Blois and of Beaumont-sur-Ouse, and Lord of Coucy from 1407 after his father got murdered and Duke of Valois from 1406 until his death in 1465. He inherited Asti after his mother Valentina Visconti.

He is now remembered as an accomplished medieval poet, owing to the more than five hundred poems he produced, written in both French and English, during his 25 years spent as a prisoner of war (POW) and after his return to France.

### Accession

Charles was born in Paris in 1394 to Louis I, Duke of Orléans (son of Charles V of France) and Valentina Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. He became the Duke at the age of thirteen after his father had been assassinated on the orders of Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy. Charles was expected to carry on his father's leadership against the Burgundians, a French faction which supported the Duke of Burgundy. The latter was never punished for his role in Louis' assassination, and Charles had to watch as his grief-stricken mother Valentina Visconti could fight to the illness for long afterwards. At her mother's deathbed, Charles and the other boys of the family were made to swear the traditional oath of vengeance (revenge) for their father's murder.

During the early years of his reign as duke, the orphaned Charles was heavily influenced by the guidance of his father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, for which reason Charles' faction came to be known as the Armagnacs.

Even before his father's death, he received a  pension of 12,000 livres from King Charles VI, his uncle, in 1403. In addition, his first marriage, to Isabella of Valois, widow of Richard II of England, may have brought him a dowry of 500,000 francs.

## Issue

|width = "15%"|Mother|width = "22%"|Name|width = "10%"|Birth|width = "29%"|Death|Spouse|width= "10%"|More||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|Isabella of Valois|align="center"|• Joan Duchess of Alençon|align="center"|13 September 1409|align="center"|19 May 1432 (aged 22)|align="center"|John II, Duke of Alençon|align="center"||
|align="center"rowspan="3"|Marie of Cleves|align="center"|• Marie Viscountess of Narbonne|align="center"|19 December/September 1457|align="center"|1493|align="center"|John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne|align="center"||
|align="center"|• Louis XII King of France|align="center"|27 June 1462|align="center"|1 January 1515|align="center"|• Saint Joan of Valois (1476–1498) • Anne, Duchess of Brittany (1499–1514) • Mary Tudor (from 1514)|align="center"||||
|align="center"|Anne Abbess of Fontevraud|align="center"|1464|align="center"|1491|align="center"colspan="2"|None|||||

|colspan="5" width="“1000%”"|Notes|
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|align="center"colspan="5"||

## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Charles, Duke of Orléans
- **image**:
- **caption**: Cropped version of him as a
List of knights of the Golden Fleece, Knight of the Golden Fleece
Miniature from the southern Netherlands,
1473
- **succession**: Duke of Orléans, Counts of Blois, Count of Blois, and Beaumont-sur-Oise
- **reign-type**: Tenure
- **reign**: 23 November 1407 — 5 January 1465
- **predecessor**: Louis I, Duke of Orléans, Louis I
- **successor**: Louis XII, Louis II
- **succession1**: Counts and dukes of Valois, Duke of Valois
- **reign1**: 1406 — 1465
- **predecessor1**: Louis I (as Count of Valois)
- **successor1**: Louis XII, Louis
- **birth date**: 24 November 1394
- **birth place**: Paris, France
- **death date**: 5 January 1465 (aged 70)
- **death place**: Amboise, France
- **burial place**: Basilica of Saint-Denis, Saint Denis Basilica, France
- **spouse**:

- **issue**: Joan of Valois, Duchess of Alençon, Joan, Duchess of Alençon
Marie of Orléans, Viscountess of Narbonne, Marie, Viscountess of Narbonne
Louis XII of France
Anne of Orléans, Abbess of Fontevraud, Anne, Abbess of Fontevraud
- **house**: House of Valois, Valois-Orléans
- **father**: Louis I, Duke of Orléans
- **mother**: Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans, Valentina Visconti


## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Portrait
- **image**:
- **caption**: Full version