Joan of France, Duchess of Berry

Saint Joan of Valois
Foundress
Born	23 April 1464
Died	4 February 1505 Bourges, France
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	1617 by Benedict XIV
Canonized	1950 by Pope Pius XII
Feast	4 February

Jeanne de France (23 April 1464 – 4 February 1505) was Duchess of Berry, and 1473–1498 duchess consort of Orléans. She was briefly the Queen consort of France, in between the death of her brother (the previous King), and her own divorce.

She was the second daughter of Louis XI of France and his second wife Charlotte of Savoy. Her siblings were Charles VIII of France and Anne of France. Supposedly deformed, and sickly through her life, Jeanne developed an early devotion to the Virgin Mary. She was married at the age of twelve (8 September, 1476) for political reasons to her father's second cousin Louis duc d'Orléans, later Louis XII.

However, when Jeanne's brother Charles VIII died and Louis came to the throne, he was forced to annul the marriage in order to marry the former king's widow, Anne of Brittany, in order to keep the Duchy of Brittany in the French monarchy. Described as "one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age", Louis did not, as might be expected, argue the marriage to be void due to consanguinity (the general excuse for the dissolution of a marriage at that time): though he could produce witnesses to claim that the two were closely related due to various linking marriages, there was no documentary proof, merely the opinions of courtiers. Likewise, Louis could not argue that he had been below the legal age of consent (fourteen) to marry: nobody was certain when he had been born, with Louis claiming to have been twelve at the time, and others ranging in estimates between eleven and thirteen. Since there was no proof, however, he was forced to make other excuses.

Accordingly, Louis (much to the horror of the Queen) claimed that she was physically malformed, providing a rich variety of detail as to how she was malformed, and that he had therefore been unable to consummate the marriage. Jeanne, unsurprisingly, fought this uncertain charge fiercely, producing witnesses to Louis boasting of having "mounted my wife three or four times during the night." Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft; Jeanne responded by asking how, in that case, he was able to know what it was like to try to make love to her.

Had the Pope been a neutral party, Jeanne would likely have won, for Louis' case was exceedingly weak. Unfortunately for the Queen, Pope Alexander VI was committed for political reasons to grant the divorce, and accordingly he ruled against the Queen, granting the annulment. Outraged, Jeanne reluctantly stepped aside, saying that she would pray for her former husband. She was made Duchess of Berry and died at Bourges, France, in 1505, childless. She was also the foundress of a religious order of nuns, the Franciscan Order of the Annonciades. Following her death, miracles and healings attributed to her were said to have occurred, and pope Benedict XIV declared her "blessed." She was canonized by Pope Pius XII and is known to Roman Catholics as Sainte Jeanne de Valois.

References

• Hale, J. R. Renaissance Europe: Individual and Society, 1480-1520. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
• Jones, Terry. "Patron Saint Index". Catholic Forum website.Retrieved June 27, 2008