nanshe-of-nina: WOMEN’S HISTORY † ELISABETH VON BAYERN-INGLOSTADT (c. 1370 – 24 S

nanshe-of-nina:WOMEN’S HISTORY † ELISABETH VON BAYERN-INGLOSTADT (c. 1370 – 24 September 1435)Elisabeth von Bayern was the daughter of Stephan III., Herzog von Bayern and Taddea Visconti. Her father was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, who boasted descendant from Charlemagne; her paternal grandmother, Isabel de Aragón, was a daughter of Federico II de Sicilia (a member of the House of Aragón) and Éléonore d'Anjou (of the House of Anjou-Naples). In 1385, Elisabeth’s cousins, Margarete and Wilhelm, both married Jehan sans Peur and Marguerite de Bourgogne, who were themselves cousins of the king of France, Charles VI. Talks about the idea of Elisabeth marrying Charles VI had been raised before, but they were solidified that year and Elisabeth was sent to France in July of that year. According to most accounts, Charles was enthralled by her beauty and lavished attention and gifts on her. In 1389, Elisabeth was crowned as Queen of France. That same year, her husband’s brother, Louis d'Orléans, married her second cousin, Valentina Visconti. In 1392, however, things went dreadfully wrong. In August of that year, Charles went mad in the forest outside Le Mans and attacked his own knights, killing four of them. Things only got worse from there. Charles’ uncle, Philippe le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne, stepped in to act as regent. At this time, Elisabeth was mostly a close ally of Philippe, which is not surprising as he enthusiastically supported her marriage to Charles. Even so, Elisabeth was highly distressed by her husband’s bouts of madness, especially because there were periods where he didn’t recognize her and would order his servants to get rid of her. In 1404, Philippe le Hardi died and his son, Jehan sans Peur, became the new duc de Bourgogne and quickly developed an intense dislike for Louis d'Orléans. There were numerous that Louis had his eye on seducing Jehan’s wife, Margarete von Bayern, and at some point, he and Elisabeth were also accused of having an affair. Elisabeth was also accused of having numerous other lovers and of neglecting her children to spend her time attending parties, but there is little truth to these accusations; examination of her account books shows that she spent lavish amounts of money on her children and they were not neglected. In 1407, Louis was assassinated by men loyal to Jehan sans Peur, who justified the murder by saying that Louis was, in essence, a tyrant who deserved to die. In the meantime, Louis’ four young sons inherited everlasting hatred for their father’s killer and swore revenge. In 1409, Elisabeth attempted to make peace by arranging for the marriage of two of her children, Louis and Michelle, to Marguerite and Philippe le Bon, two of the children of Jehan sans Peur, but it didn’t work: in 1410, Charles d'Orléans married Bonne d'Armagnac and with the support of his brothers and new father-in-law, started a new wave of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Henry V of England invaded in 1415, eager to take advantage of the chaos in France. In December of 1415, Elisabeth’s son, Louis de Guyenne, died childless at the age of 18. Her younger son, Jehan de Touraine, became the new Dauphin and was considered pro-Burgundian, as he was married to Jehan sans Peur’s niece, Jacoba van Beieren. This ended up mattering little because Jehan also died childless two years later. Now, Elisabeth only had one son left, Charles. In 1419, however, he arranged a meeting with the duc de Bourgogne and Jehan “sans Peur” was assassinated by Charles’ companions before anyone had time to react. Though Charles claimed that he had not known of his companions’ plot, Elisabeth was horrified and seems to have realized that the Burgundian vengeance would be swift. And indeed, it was: after his father’s assassination, Philippe le Bon allied himself with the English. In 1420, then, Elisabeth and her husband, Charles, had little choice but to sign the Treaty of Troyes which disinherited their youngest son; married Henry V of England to their daughter, Catherine, and recognized that the new heirs of France would be whatever children Henry and Catherine managed to have. Though it wasn’t accurate, Elisabeth received all the blame for the Treaty of Troyes and was accused of all matter of crimes. One particularly bizarre rumor was that Jehanne d'Arc, the famous partisan of Elisabeth’s son, Charles, was in fact her illegitimate daughter with Louis d'Orléans – though this seems unlikely, as Louis had probably been dead for about five years by the time of Jehanne’s birth. Elisabeth died in 1435, little mourned and even less loved. Despite the Treaty of Troyes, Charles did succeed in claiming the French throne. -- source link

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