Charles | |
---|---|
Count of Valois | |
Reign | 1284–1325 |
Successor | Philip |
Born | 12 March 1270 |
Died | 16 December 1325 Nogent-le-Roi |
(aged 55)
Burial | St. Denis |
Spouse |
Margaret, Countess of Anjou Catherine of Courtenay Mahaut of Châtillon |
Issue Among others... |
Isabelle, Princess of Brittany Philip VI of France Joan, Countess of Hainaut Margaret, Countess of Blois Charles II, Count of Alençon Catherine, Latin Empress Joanna, Countess of Artois Isabelle, Abbess of Fontevrault Louis, Count of Chartres Maria, Duchess of Calabria Isabella, Duchess of Bourbon Blanche, Queen of Germany |
House |
Capet Valois (founder) |
Father | Philip III of France |
Mother | Isabella of Aragon |
Charles of Valois (12 March 1270 – 16 December 1325) was the third son of Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon. He was a member of the House of Capet and founded the House of Valois. In 1284, he was created Count of Valois (as Charles I) by his father and, in 1290, received the title of Count of Anjou from his marriage to Margaret of Anjou. Through his marriage to Catherine I, titular empress of the Latin Empire, he was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1301–1307, although he ruled from exile and only had authority over Crusader States in Greece.
Moderately intelligent, disproportionately ambitious and quite greedy, Charles of Valois collected principalities. He had as appanage the counties of Valois, Alençon and Perche (1285). He became in 1290 count of Anjou and of Maine by his marriage with Margaret, eldest daughter of Charles II, titular king of Sicily; by a second marriage, contracted with the heiress of Baldwin II de Courtenay, last Latin emperor of Constantinople, he also had pretensions on this throne. But he was son, brother, brother-in-law, son-in-law, and uncle of kings or of queens (of France, of Navarre, of England, and of Naples), becoming, moreover, after his death, father of a king (Philip VI).