Beatrice, Countess of Montfort

Beatrice de Montfort
suo jure Countess of Montfort-l'Amaury Countess of Dreux Countess of Braine
Spouse(s)	Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux, Braine and Montfort-l'Amaury
Issue Marie of Dreux Yolande de Dreux, Queen of Scotland John II of Dreux, Count of Dreux and Braine Jeanne of Dreux, Countess of Braine Beatrice of Dreux, Abbess of Pont-Royal Robert of Dreux, Seigneur of Chateau-du-Loire
Noble family	House of Montfort
Father	Jean I de Montfort, Count of Dreux
Mother	Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun
Born	December 1248/1249 France
Died	9 March 1312

Coat-of-Arms of the Counts of Montfort-l'Amaury

Beatrice de Montfort, Countess of Montfort-l'Amaury (c. December 1248/1249 – 9 March 1312) was the wife of Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux (1241 – 12 November 1282), and the ancestress of the Dukes of Brittany from the House of Montfort-Dreux which derived its name from her title.

Family

Beatrice was born sometime between December 1248 and 1249, the only child of Jean I de Montfort, Count of Dreux and Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun. Her paternal grandparents were Amaury VI, Count of Montfort and Beatrice of Burgundy, and her maternal grandparents were Geoffrey VI, Viscount de Chateaudun and Clémence des Roches. Her great- grandfather Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade.

In 1249, Beatrice's father died in Cyprus, while participating in the Seventh Crusade, leaving her mother a widow. In 1251, Jeanne married her second husband, Jean de Brienne, Grand Butler of France. Jeanne and Jean had a daughter Blanche de Brienne, Baroness Tingry (1252–1302); Blanche married William II de Fiennes, Baron of Tingry.^[1] Jeanne died sometime after 1252, leaving her Beatrice and her half-sister Blanche as her co-heiresses.

Marriage

Beatrice was married to Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux, Braine and Montfort-l'Amaury in 1260, when she was about eleven years old. He was the son of John I of Dreux, Count of Dreux and Braine, and Marie de Bourbon. The marriage produced six children. Robert inherited the titles of Dreux and Braine following the death of his father in 1249, and after his marriage succeeded to the title of de Montfort by right of his wife.

Issue

• Marie of Dreux (1261/62–1276), in 1275 married Mathieu de Montmorency.
• Yolande de Dreux (1263–1323), Countess of Montfort
• John II of Dreux (1265–1309)
• Joan of Dreux, Countess of Braine, married firstly Jean IV de Roucy, and secondly John of Bar.
• Beatrice of Dreux, Abbess of Pont-Royal (1270–1328)
• Robert of Dreux, seigneur of Chateau-du-Loire.

Death

Beatrice died on 9 March 1312 at the age of sixty-three. She was buried in the Abbaye de Haute- Bruyère.^[2] Duke John V of Brittany and French Queen consort Anne of Brittany, French Queen Claude and several other French monarchs were among her notable descendants.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Beatrice, Countess of Montfort

Simon de Montfort               Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester                       Amicia de Beaumont               Amaury VI de Montfort                             Bouchard III de Montmorency               Alix de Montmorency                       Laurence of Hainault               Jean I de Montfort                                   Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy               André Guigues VI, Dauphin of Viennois                       Béatrice of Albon, Countess of Albon and Dauphine of Viennois               Beatrice of Burgundy                             Rainon I de Sabran               Beatrix de Sabran                       Garsende de Forcalquier               Beatrice de Montfort                                         Hughes V, Viscount of Chateaudun               Geoffrey VI, Viscount of Chateaudun                       Jeanne de Preuilly               Geoffrey VI, Viscount de Chateaudun                             Ursion II, Seigneur de Fréteval               Alix de Fréteval                       Gracia, Dame de Faye               Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun                                   Baudoin des Roches               William des Roches, Seneschal of Anjou                       Alix de Châtellerault               Clémence des Roches                             Robert de Sablé               Marguerite de Sablé                       Clémence de Mayenne

Notes

1. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, p.155
2. Charles Cawley "Medieval Lands"

References

• Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham, and David Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Royal Ancestry series, p. 155, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 2004
• Charles Cawley Medieval Lands