Charlotte of Savoy

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Representation of Charlotte of Savoy from around 1472

Charlotte of Savoy ( French Charlotte de Savoie , Italian Charlotte di Savoia , born November 11, 1441 , † December 1, 1483 at Amboise Castle ) was married to Louis XI. Queen of France from 1461 until his death in 1483 . Until the death of her father-in-law Charles VII , she shared her husband's exile in Brabant before she could return to France with him. From the end of the 1460s, she lived quite modestly and withdrawn in Amboise Castle.

family

Charlotte was the sixth of a total of 18 children of Duke Ludwig of Savoy and his wife Anne de Lusignan from the Cypriot Ramnulfiden family . Through her parents she had family connections to the royal house of Cyprus and the ruling house of Burgundy .

Charlotte married the French Crown Prince Ludwig on March 9, 1451 , who was named Louis XI in 1461. Became king of France . She had seven or eight children with him, but only three of them reached adulthood:

  • Joachim (July 15, 1459 - November 29, 1459)
  • one child (* July 1460; † 1460)
  • Anne (April 1461 - November 14, 1522), ⚭ 1474 Pierre de Beaujeu
  • Jeanne (22 or 23 April 1464 - 4 February 1505), ⚭ 1476 Louis dʼOrléans , King of France
  • François (* / † December 4, 1466)
  • Charles VIII (June 30, 1470 - April 7, 1498), King of France
  • François (September 3, 1472 - July 1473)

In the Nouvelle histoire généalogique , the royal couple is also assigned a first son named Ludwig, who is said to have been born in Genappe in October 1458 . However, since no archival material is known to confirm the existence of this child, recent research assumes an error by the authors.

Life

Charlotte of Savoy spent her early childhood between 1444 and 1447 together with her older sister Margarete and five brothers, mostly in Gaillard near Geneva . She hardly saw her parents at that time. In May 1447 the company moved to Thonon-les-Bains . At the age of one year, Charlotte was betrothed to Friedrich, the eldest son of the Saxon Elector Friedrich II . The corresponding marriage contract is dated March 11, 1443. This contract was terminated, however, because on February 14, 1451 the agents of the French Dauphin Louis and representatives of the Savoyard dynasty in Geneva signed another marriage contract that agreed the marriage of Charlotte with the heir to the throne of France . Actually Ludwig should have married a sister of his first wife Margaret of Scotland , but political and financial reasons made him forget this agreement from his first marriage contract. Charlotte was with a dowry in the amount of 200.00  ECUs equipped. In return, her fiancé guaranteed her a pension of 5000 écus until the marriage was consummated and provided her with a Wittum of 10,000 écus. Ludwig's father, the French King Charles VII, was strictly against this connection, because he considered the only nine-year-old bride to be too young and saw no political necessity for this marriage for the French royal family , because Ludwig's sister Jolande was already with Amadeus , the eldest Son of the Duke of Savoy, was engaged.

Representation of Charlotte (right) on a miniature from the 15th century

However, Ludwig did not let himself be dissuaded from his marriage plans. On March 9, 1451, Charlotte married the much older French heir to the throne in the chapel of Chambéry Castle and became his second wife. The bride was only nine, the groom 27. Considering that Charlotte was still a child, the marriage was waived until 1457. Charles VII still tried to prevent the marriage by sending an envoy to Chambéry , but this was unable to achieve anything. The newly wed couple left Savoy immediately after the wedding and took up residence in Ludwig's home country, the Dauphiné . There Charlotte already had a small farm of her own, which consisted of at least 16 people, but grew considerably in later times. Since her husband continued to oppose his father, the latter advanced with troops on the Dauphiné in the summer of 1456, and Ludwig fled into exile in Brabant at the court of Philip the Good . He initially left his teenage wife in France, but let her follow him a few weeks later. In July 1457 Charlotte met her husband again in Namur . From there, the couple went to Genappe near Brussels and moved into the castle there . The two stayed there until the death of Charlotte's father-in-law and passed the time with hunts and receptions in order to establish friendly contacts with local nobles.

When Ludwig's father died in August 1461, Charlotte and her husband went to Reims to attend Ludwig's coronation on August 15th. However, she herself was not crowned that day. It is not even known whether Charlotte was anointed queen at all . In the first years after his accession to the throne, she often accompanied Ludwig on his travels. When she wasn't out, she usually stayed at Amboise Castle, her husband's preferred residence, before he discovered the Plessis-lès-Tours Castle . From 1469 on, Charlotte stayed almost exclusively in Amboise to take care of the upbringing of her daughters and other female family members, because many relatives left their daughters in the care of Charlotte. For example, her younger sisters Maria and Bona grew up at the court of Charlotte, and their nieces Anna and Luise also received an education in Amboise. Initially, she also looked after the heir to the throne Karl, but when he was eight years old, he was withdrawn from his mother's influence. Although he stayed in the well-guarded Amboise, Karl grew up under the supervision of male tutors. Charlotte and her children saw the king only on his rare visits to Amboise.

Burial place of Charlotte and her husband Ludwig XI.

The Queen's influence on political and social events in France was only minor, because Louis XI. Throughout his life he was careful not to share his power with anyone. Charlotte did not play a major role in politics, but was present on official occasions as the representative of France and the royal family. She also acted regularly as a negotiator for relatives and a mediator between her husband and his numerous adversaries. When Ludwig died in August 1483, Charlotte, with the support of her brother-in-law François I. d'Orléans-Longueville , the husband of her sister Agnes , claimed the guardianship of her underage son Karl and thus competed with her own daughter Anne, who also had the Wanted to exercise regency for her underage brother. Before the conflict between the two women could be settled, Charlotte of Savoy died after only three months of widowhood on December 1, 1483 in Amboise of an illness of which little is known. Because the chroniclers reported that she had suffered from a bad cough since September, it is believed that it may have been a lung disease. She was given an elaborate and expensive burial, during which her body was first laid out in public in Amboise Castle for three days, and then again in a closed coffin in the Saint-Florentin church. For this purpose, the church was largely hung with precious black fabrics and lit by hundreds of candles. On December 10th - accompanied by eight monks, 100 paid complainants, their entire court and female relatives - their funeral procession to Cléry (now Cléry-Saint-André ) began, where Charlotte of Savoy on December 14, 1483 next to her husband in the Church of Notre-Dame de Cléry was buried. Her heart and entrails were buried in the Saint-Florentin church in Amboise.

The image of Charlotte in research and literature

Contemporaries described Charlotte of Savoy as small and brunette as well as patient, reserved, modest and very pious. According to the moral ideas of her time, she spent her life in an exemplary manner: virtuous, loyal to her husband and charitable. The queen was very interested in painting, music and literature. Her fondness for books was reflected in a personal library comprising over 100 works, the majority of which can now be found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in the Musée Condé in Chantilly Castle .

In historiographical works until the 19th century, Charlotte was mostly portrayed as impoverished and as a woman isolated from the public by her control-obsessed husband. This image was disseminated in Europe through Brantôme's work Vies des dames galantes et des dames illustres . The representations are now considered to be greatly exaggerated. The fact is that the queen - just like Louis XI. himself too - led a very humble life. Although her court in 1483 comprised more than 137 people, this was a rather small household compared to other French queens. However, claims that she suffered from chronic financial difficulties and lived a life of poverty were not true. Received statements of income show that she had an annual pension of more than 32,000  livres . After the death of her husband, Charlotte had even more income at her disposal thanks to her great Wittum. Even so, by the time she died, the queen owned few valuable jewelry and left debts of at least 7,278 livres.

literature

  • François Avril: Un portrait inédit de la reine Charlotte de Savoie. In: Études sur la Bibliothèque nationale et témoignages réunis en hommage à Thérèse Kleindienst, secrétaire général honoraire de la Bibliothèque nationale. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris 1985, pp. 255-262.
  • Nathalie Blancardi: Les petits princes. Enfance noble à la cour de Savoie (XVe siècle) (= Cahiers lausannois dʼhistoire médiévale. Volume 28). University of Lausanne, Lausanne 2001, ISBN 2-940110-41-7 , pp. 7, 64–65, 86, 103, 113, 269–270.
  • Christian Bouyer: Dictionnaire des Reines de France. Perrin, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-262-00789-6 , p. 228ff.
  • Gilbert Coutaz: Ch. V. Savoy. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 2. dtv , Munich 2002, ISBN 3-423-59057-2 , Sp. 1370-1371.
  • Murielle Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". La mort et les funérailles de Charlotte de Savoie (December 1st-14th 1483). In: Revue historique. No. 652, 2009, ISSN  2104-3825 , pp. 779-804 ( online ).
  • Christine Juliane Henzler: The wives of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. Role and position of queens and mistresses at the French court (1422–1483). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-412-20879-0 , pp. 25–26, 34–35, 53–56, 69–76, 89–94, 110–116, 168–183, 192–195, 206–209, 217–219, 246–251 ( digitized from De Gruyter (subject to a charge)) .
  • Anne-Marie Legaré: Charlotte de Savoie (v. 1442-1483). Aimoit fort la lecture et les livres… In: Christian Liberang, Jean-Claude Schmitt (Ed.): Court culture in France and Europe in the late Middle Ages. La culture de cour en France et en Europe à la fin du Moyen Age. Akademie, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-05-004105-6 , pp. 101–121 ( excerpts from Google Books ).
  • Gerd Hit: The French queens. From Betrada to Marie Antoinette (8th-18th centuries). VMA, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-928127-80-2 , pp. 212-215.
  • Alexandre Tuetey: Inventaire des biens de Charlotte de Savoie. In: Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes. Vol. 26, series 6, volume 1. L. Herold & F. Amyot, Paris 1865, pp. 338-366, 423-442 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Charlotte of Savoy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b C. J. Henzler: The wives of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 34.
  2. ↑ The following information, unless otherwise stated, based on CJ Henzler: Die Frauen Karls VII. Und Ludwigs XI. 2012, pp. 69-73.
  3. ↑ a b Information on the children of Louis XI. on the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy website , accessed January 27, 2016.
  4. ↑ Charlotte had a daughter named Louise, who died shortly after the birth. It is unclear whether she is the child born in July 1460 or whether Louise was an eighth child of the couple. Cf. CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, pp. 70-71.
  5. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 70, note 163.
  6. ↑ a b CJ Henzler: The wives of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 246, note 52.
  7. ↑ a b Information on Charlotte of Savoy on the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy website , accessed January 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b C. J. Henzler: The wives of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 168.
  9. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 110.
  10. ↑ A.-M. Legaré: Charlotte de Savoie (v. 1442-1483). 2005, p. 101.
  11. ↑ See CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 192, note 44. Older publications often claim that Charlotte stayed in Savoy for the time being.
  12. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 89.
  13. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 193.
  14. ↑ Sylvia Jurewitz-Freischmidt: The mistresses of the Loire castles. Queens and Maitresses around the lily throne. 3. Edition. Piper, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-492-23805-X , p. 76.
  15. ↑ According to M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 779. In contrast, Gilbert Coutaz states in his article on Charlotte of Savoy in the Lexicon of the Middle Ages that she was on the same day as Louis XI. been crowned. See G. Coutaz: Ch. V. Savoy. 2002, col. 1371.
  16. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 779.
  17. ↑ a b C. J. Henzler: The wives of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 90.
  18. ↑ Sylvia Jurewitz-Freischmidt: The mistresses of the Loire castles. Queens and Maitresses around the lily throne. 3. Edition. Piper, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-492-23805-X , p. 101.
  19. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 78.
  20. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 179.
  21. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 783.
  22. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 35.
  23. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 791.
  24. ↑ a b M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 792.
  25. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 793.
  26. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 789.
  27. ^ G. Coutaz: Ch. V. Savoyen. 2002, col. 1371.
  28. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 25.
  29. ↑ M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 780.
  30. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, p. 206.
  31. ↑ a b A.-M. Legaré: Charlotte de Savoie (v. 1442-1483). 2005, p. 104.
  32. ↑ a b c M. Gaude-Ferragu: "L'honneur de la pure". 2009, p. 781.
  33. ^ CJ Henzler: The women of Charles VII and Ludwig XI. 2012, pp. 114–115.


predecessor Office Successor
Marie d'Anjou Queen of France 1461–1483
COA french queen Charlotte de Savoie.svg
Anne de Bretagne
personal data
SURNAME Charlotte of Savoy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Charlotte de Savoie; Charlotte di Savoia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Queen of France
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1441
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1483
Place of death Amboise