John Tristan, Count of Valois

John Tristan
Count of Valois
Born	8 April 1250 Damietta, Egypt[1]
Died	3 August 1270 (aged 20) Tunis, Tunisia
Burial	Basilica of St Denis
Spouse	Yolande II, Countess of Nevers
House	Capet
Father	Louis IX of France
Mother	Margaret of Provence

John Tristan (8 April 1250 - 3 August 1270) was a French prince of the Capetian dynasty. He was jure uxoris Count of Nevers from 1265 to 1270, Count of Auxerre and Tonnerre (jure uxoris) and also Count of Valois and Crépy (1268–1270).

Birth and childhood

John was born in Damietta, Egypt. He was the sixth child and the fourth son of king Louis IX of France, called St. Louis after canonization, and Margaret of Provence. Moreover he was the first of three children of this royal couple who were born during the Seventh Crusade. He was born at the Egyptian port town of Damietta which had been conquered by the crusaders in 1249. According to chronicler Jean de Joinville, an old knight acted as midwife during John's birth. Two days prior to his birth, the king was captured by the Mamluks which was the reason to name the child Tristan due to the triste occasion. He was baptised in the grand mosque of Damietta that had been re-consecrated into a church. One month later, Damietta had to be abandoned. John subsequently spent his childhood in the Holy Land where his siblings Peter (1251) and Blanche (1253) were born.

Marriage

His father wished that John joined the Dominican Order, but John resisted this wish successfully. In 1266, he was married to Yolande II, Countess of Nevers (1247-1280),^[2] making him Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnere. In 1268, John was made Count of Valois and Crépy on his own right by his father the king, a gift he received as paréage.

Crusade

Two years later, John accompanied his father during the Eighth Crusade, which reached Tunis in July after setting out from Cagliari on Sardinia. But at Tunis the army suffered an outbreak of dysentery. John Tristan was one of the victims who died of it,^[3] and three weeks later, St. Louis also succumbed to the disease.^[3] Both bodies were transported to France and buried in the Basilica of St Denis.

John's marriage remained childless. His widow married again in 1272 with Robert III of Flanders; the county of Valois, his prerogative, returned to the Crown.

Ancestry

Ancestors of John Tristan, Count of Valois

16. Louis VII of France               8. Philip II of France                       17. Adèle of Champagne               4. Louis VIII of France                             18. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut               9. Isabelle of Hainaut                       19. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders               2. Louis IX of France                                   20. Sancho III of Castile               10. Alfonso VIII of Castile                       21. Blanca Garcés of Navarre               5. Blanche of Castile                             22. Henry II of England               11. Eleanor of England                       23. Eleanor of Aquitaine               1. John Tristan, Count of Valois                                         24. Alfonso II of Aragon               12. Alfonso II, Count of Provence                       25. Sancha of Castile               6. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence                             26. Renier de Sabran               13. Garsenda of Forcalquier                       27. Garsenda of Forcalquier               3. Margaret of Provence                                   28. Humbert III, Count of Savoy               14. Thomas I, Count of Savoy                       29. Beatrice of Viennois               7. Beatrice of Savoy                             30. William I of Geneva               15. Marguerite of Geneva                       31. Beatrix of Faucigny

Notes

1. Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Vol. III, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 292.
2. Guida Myrl Jackson-Laufer, Women Rulers Throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide, (ABC-CLIO, 1999), 425.
3. Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A History, (Bloomsbury, 2014), 237.

References

• Schwennicke, Detlev (1984). Europäische Stammtafeln (in German) II. table 12. ISBN 978-3-87775-014-8.

External links