Valois, Family

VALOIS, FAMILY. - Its progenitor is CHARLES, younger son of King Philip III of France, who obtained the Duchy of V. from his father.

When the three sons of Philip IV died without male heirs, the son of Charles, who was a brother of Philip IV, ascended the French throne in 1328 under the name PHILIP VI. He was succeeded by his son JOHN II, who in turn left four sons: the heir to the throne CHARLES V, LOUIS duke of Anjou, JOHN duke of BERRY and PHILIP THE BOLD duke of Burgundy. The descendants of CHARLES V reigned in France until 1498 with CHARLES VI, CHARLES VII, LOUIS XI and CHARLES VIII. When the latter died without heirs, he was succeeded by LOUIS XII, a descendant of duke Louis I of Orléans, younger brother of King Charles VI. Louis XII married as his second wife Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VIII, by whom he had only two daughters, Claude and Renée. When Louis XII died in 1515, the crown passed to duke Francis of Angoulême, great-grandson of duke Louis I of Orléans. FRANCIS I, d. in 1547, had as his successors his son HENRY II (from 1547 to 1559), married to Catherine de' Medici, then his grandsons FRANCIS II (1559-60), CHARLES IX (1560-72) and HENRY III (1574-89). After him the crown of France passed, with Henry IV, to the Bourbons.

Silvio Furlani