Family
Charlotte was born in Brittany, France in 1530, the daughter of Guy XVI de Laval, Count of Laval, head of one of Brittany's most powerful noble families, and Antoinette d'Aillon. Her paternal grandparents were Jean de Laval and Jeanne du Perrier, and her maternal grandparents were Jacques d'Aillon and Jeanne Madeleine de Vendôme, Dame d'Illiers. She was a descendant of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria through their daughter Jeanne, Duchess of Brittany. Charlotte's great-aunt was Jeanne de Laval, the second wife of René I of Anjou and stepmother of English Queen consort Margaret of Anjou.
She had a half-sister, Anne de Laval from her father's first marriage to Charlotte of Naples. She had a half-brother Guy XVII de Laval, Count of Laval, from her father's second marriage to Anne de Montmorency. Charlotte's father died on 20 May 1531 when she was about a year old. In addition to his many noble titles, he also held the positions of Lieutenant-General and Governor of Brittany, and Admiral of Brittany. Her mother died on 19 April 1538, leaving Charlotte an orphan at the age of eight.
Read more about this topic: Charlotte De Laval
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-in house, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive.”
—Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978)
“In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“It’s a family joke that when I was a tiny child I turned from the window out of which I was watching a snowstorm, and hopefully asked, ‘Momma, do we believe in winter?’”
—Philip Roth (20th century)