Anne of Armagnac - Family

Family

Anne was born in 1402 in Gages, near Rodez, France, the daughter of Bernard VII of Armagnac, Count of Charolais, Count of Armagnac, and Bonne de Berry, who was the widow of Amadeus VII of Savoy. Anne had six siblings, these included John IV of Armagnac, Bernard of Armagnac, and Bonne of Armagnac, wife of Charles, Duke of Orléans. She had three half-siblings from her mother's marriage to Count Amadeus, including Amadeus VIII of Savoy.

Her paternal gandparents were John II of Armagnac and Jeanne de Périgord, and her maternal grandparents were John, Duke of Berry and Jeanne of Armagnac.

Anne's father was head of the powerful, pro-French, pro-Orléans Armagnac party which played a prominent role in French politics in the early 15th century, and whose bitter opponents during the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War were the pro-English Burgundians, headed by John II, Duke of Burgundy. On 30 December 1415, her father was appointed Constable of France. He controlled the government of the Dauphin Charles (the future King Charles VII of France). On 12 June 1418, he was assassinated in Paris by the Burgundians.

Anne died on an unknown date sometime before March 1473. Her husband Charles died in 1471. The lordship of Albret passed to Alain, the grandson of Charles and Anne; the county of Dreux went to Arnaud Amanieu, but was later seized by Alain. Through Alain, who married Françoise of Châtillon-Limoges (died 1481), Anne was an ancestress of Queen Jeanne III of Navarre, mother of Henry IV. Other notable descendants of Anne of Armagnac included Charlotte of Albret, wife of Cesare Borgia, Marie of Albret, Countess of Rethel, King Charles II of England, King James II of England, and Diana, Princess of Wales.