Jean d'Orléans, comte de Dunois

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Dunois

John of Orléans, Count of Dunois (French Jean d'Orléans, comte de Dunois, also known as John of Orléans and Bastard of Orléans) (23 November 1402 – 24 November 1468) was the illegitimate son of Louis d'Orléans (Duc d'Orléans 1372-1407) by Mariette d'Enghien.

The term "Bastard of Orléans" (bâtard d'Orléans) was the usual name for most of his career. In his era this was a term of respect since it acknowledged him as a first cousin to the king and acting head of a cadet branch of the royal family during his half-brother's captivity.

His father died in 1407. His legitimate half-brother became an English prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt and remained so for several decades. This left him the only adult male of the house of Orléans.

He joined the civil war in France in the time of Charles VI on the side of the Armagnacs, and was captured by the Burgundians in 1418. Released in 1420, he entered the service of the Dauphin Charles, fighting in the Hundred Years' War against English forces.

The future count Dunois led the French defenses at the siege of Orléans. Together with Joan of Arc he relieved the siege. He joined her on the campaigns of 1429 and remained active after her death.

He took part in the coronation of Charles VII and in 1436 he aided in the capture of Paris. He received the county of Dunois from his half brother Charles, duc d'Orleans in 1439. Charles VII later made him count of Longueville.

Dunois was prominent in the conquest of Guienne and Normandy in the final years of the Hundred Years War. He participated in the Praguerie against Charles VII and was a leader of the League of the Public Weal against King Louis XI in 1465, but each time he regained favor at court.

A character in Shakespeare's Henry VI Part I is called "The Bastard of Orléans", and is based on Jean Dunois.

Titles

Lord of Valbonais (1421–1468)

Count of Mortain (1424–1425)

Viscount of Saint-Sauveur

Count of Périgord (1430–1439)

Count of Dunois (1439–1468)

Count of Longueville (1443–1468)

Marriages and progeny

He married Marie Louvet (d. 1426) in April 1422 at Bourges, by whom he had no children.

He married a second time to Marie of Harcourt (d. 1464), Lady of Parthenay 26 October 1439 and had two children:

François d'Orléans-Longueville (1447–1491), Count of Dunois, Tancarville, Longueville, and Montgomery, Baron of Varenguebec, Viscount of Melun, Chamberlain of France, Governor of Normandy and the Dauphiné, Constable and Chamberlain of Normandy, married 2 July 1466 to Agnès de Savoie (1445–1508)

Catherine d'Orléans (1449–1501), married 14 May 1468 to John VII of Saarbrucken (1430–1492), Count of Roucy