Alix, Duchess of Brittany

Alix
Duchess of Brittany
Reign	April 1203 – 21 October 1221
Predecessor	Arthur I
Successor	John I
Co-ruler	Peter I (as Duke jure uxoris)
Born	5 September 1201 Brittany
Died	21 October 1221 (aged 20)
Burial	24 November 1225 Villeneuve Abbey, Nantes
Spouse	Peter I
Issue	John I, Duke of Brittany Yolande, Countess of Penthièvre
House	House of Thouars
Father	Guy of Thouars
Mother	Constance, Duchess of Brittany
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Alix of Thouars^{[lower-alpha 1]} (5 September 1201 – 21 October 1221) (in Breton Alis) was hereditary Duchess of Brittany and 5th Countess of Richmond^{[lower-alpha 2]} from 1203 to her death.^[1][2]

Life

Alix was born on or shortly before 5 September 1201. She was the daughter of Constance, Duchess of Brittany and Guy of Thouars.^[3] Constance died after giving birth to Alix and her sister Catherine. Alix's older half-brother was Arthur I, Duke of Brittany and her half-sister was Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany, the children of Constance and Geoffrey Plantagenet. Upon the death of Richard I of England, a power struggle commenced between her half-brother Arthur and John, King of England. At the Battle of Mirebeau in 1202, Arthur and Eleanor were captured. Arthur was imprisoned at the Château de Falaise and in 1203 disappeared. Eleanor was imprisoned at Corfe Castle.

The Breton barons recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany after the death of Arthur, instead of Eleanor. This was due to fears that John might claim to rule Brittany as regent for the imprisoned Eleanor. Alix's father Guy became regent for Alix until 1206, when Philip II of France made himself the regent of the duchy in Alix’s name. King Philip II broke off the betrothal of Alix and the Breton prince Henry of Penthièvre ^{[lower-alpha 3]}, and turned to his French cousin Peter of Dreux, as Alix's husband. ^{[4] [5]} Pierre married Alix on 27 January 1213, and paid homage to the French king for Brittany.

Alix died in childbirth, without having exercised much control over her own inheritance. She was succeeded in the duchy by her son John I, but Peter remained the de facto ruler of Brittany as John I's regent until 1237.

Children

1. John I, Duke of Brittany (ca. 1217-1286)^[6]
2. Yolande of Brittany, (1218 - 1272), married Hugh XI of Lusignan, Count of Angoulême and Count of Marche
3. Arthur of Brittany (1220–1224), betrothed to Jeanne de Craon, daughter of Amaury I de Craon and Jeanne des Roches

Ancestry

Ancestors of Alix, Duchess of Brittany

16. Geoffroy III, Viscount of Thouars (brother of 21)               8. Aimery V, Viscount of Thouars                       17. Ameline               4. Geoffroy IV, Viscount of Thouars                             18. William IX, Duke of Aquitaine               9. Agnes of Aquitaine                       19. Philippa, Countess of Toulouse               2. Guy of Thouars                                   20. Hugh VI of Lusignan               10. Hugh VII of Lusignan                       21. Ildégarde de Thouars (sister of 16)               5. Aénor de Lusignan                             11. Saracena de Lezay                       1. Alix of Thouars                                         24. Stephen, Count of Tréguier               12. Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond                       25. Hawise de Guingamp               6. Conan IV, Duke of Brittany                             26. Conan III, Duke of Brittany               13. Bertha, Duchess of Brittany                       27. Maud FitzRoy               3. Constance, Duchess of Brittany                                   28. David I of Scotland               14. Henry, Earl of Northumbria                       29. Maud, Countess of Huntingdon               7. Margaret of Huntingdon                             30. William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey               15. Ada de Warenne                       31. Elizabeth of Vermandois

Sources

References

1. Chronicon Britannicum
2. Judith Everard and Michael Jones, The Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family (1171-1221)
3. John W. Baldwin, The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages, (University of California Press, 1986), 239.
4. Chronique de Guillaume de Nangis
5. Brittany, Julia M.H. Smith, Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, Ed. William W. Kibler, (Garland Publishing Inc., 1995 ), 148.
6. Chronicon Ruyensis Cœnobii

Notes

1. Her name is sometimes spelled Alice (See Everard and Jones, The Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family (1171-1221))
2. Although Eleanor of Brittany was styled Countess of Richmond as well as titular Duchess of Brittany from 1203 to 1219 by her uncle John, this was only a titular title, as Alix herself was styled Countess of Richmond and even made charters about this estate (See Everard and Jones, The Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family (1171-1221), p 169).
3. Henry and his family would later become dispossessed of the Countship of Penthièvre by Pierre Mauclerc, who would then bestow the title on Alix's daughter Yolande of Brittany

See also

• Dukes of Brittany family tree