Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy

Alix
'suo jure Dame de Pontarcy Countess of Blois
Medallion of Alix
Born	6 June 1243 Château de Suscinio, Sarzeau, Morbihan, Brittany
Died	2 August 1288 (aged 45)
Burial	Monastery of La Guiche, Chouzy-sur-Cisse, France
Spouse	John I, Count of Blois
Issue	Jeanne, Countess of Blois
Father	John I, Duke of Brittany
Mother	Blanche of Navarre

Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy, Countess of Blois (6 June 1243 – 2 August 1288), was a Breton noblewoman and a member of the House of Dreux as the eldest daughter of John I, Duke of Brittany. She married John I, Count of Blois. Alix was known for founding religious houses including the Monastery of La Guiche, where she was later buried.

Château de Suscinio, in, Sarzeau, Morbihan, birthplace of Alix of Brittany

Alix, named after her paternal grandmother, Alix of Thouars, was born on 6 June 1243 at the Château de Suscinio in Sarzeau, Morbihan, Brittany.^[1] She was the eldest daughter of John I, Duke of Brittany and Blanche of Navarre, daughter of Theobald I of Navarre and Agnes of Beaujeu. Alix held the title Dame de Pontarcy in her own right.

Château de Brie-Comte-Robert

Sometime after a contract was signed on 11 December 1254, she married John I, Count of Blois of the House of Châtillon. Thereafter she was styled Countess of Blois. She brought as her dowry her titles of Pontarcy and de Brie-Comte-Robert, which had been named after her ancestor Robert I of Dreux.^[1] The marriage produced one child, a daughter Jeanne, who was heiress to her father's title and estates. In 1270, her husband was appointed Lieutenant General of France.

Through Alix's marriage to John, the Château de Brie-Comte-Robert passed to the Châtillon family.

Alix and John founded several religious houses including the Monastery of La Guiche near Blois in 1277. She became a widow on 28 June 1279. In 1287, the year before her own death, Alix travelled to Palestine. From there she journed on to Syria, where she commissioned the erection of two barbican towers at Ptolemais.^[2]

Death

Alix died on 2 August 1288 and was buried in the Monastery of La Guiche which she had founded.^[1] Her father, Duke John had died just two years earlier. Her daughter, Jeanne, who was the suo jure Countess of Blois had married Peter, Count of Perche and Alençon, a son of King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. However, as her two sons by that marriage both died in early infancy, Alix's line became extinct upon her death.

References

1 2 3 Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Brittany
↑ (French) Histoire du diocèse et de la ville de Chartres By Jean Baptiste Souchet, vol. 3, 1869 - Société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir - p. 74

Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy House of Dreux cadet branch of Capetian Dynasty
Preceded by House of Dreux	Dame de Pont-Arcy	Succeeded by Jeanne de Blois

Rulers of Brittany

Early monarchs

c. 578–907	Waroch Saint Judicaël Alain II Hir Morman Wihomarc Nominoe Erispoe Salomon Pascweten Gurvand Judicael Alan I Gourmaëlon

Viking Occupation

c. 907–938	Hroflr Rognvaldr Incon

House of Nantes

938–958	Alan II (938–952) Drogo (952–958) Hoël I (960–981) Guerech (981–988) Alan (III) (988–990)

House of Rennes

958–1072	Conan I (990–992)) Geoffrey I (992–1008) Alan III (1008–1040) Odo I (1008–1034) Conan II (1040–1066) Hawise (1066–1072) with Hoel II (1066–1072)

House of Cornouaille

1072–1156	Alan IV (1072–1112) Conan III (1112–1148) Bertha (1148–1156) with Odo II (1148–1156)

House of Penthièvre

1156–1196	Conan IV (1156–1166) Constance (1166–1201) with Geoffrey II (1181–1186), later Guy of Thouars (1199–1201)

House of Plantagenet

1196–1203	Arthur I (1196–1203)

House of Thouars

1203–1221	Alix (1203–1221) with Peter I (1213–1221)

House of Dreux

1221–1341	John I (1221–1286) John II (1286–1305) Arthur II (1305–1312) John III (1312–1341)

War of the Breton Succession

1341–1365	Joan (1341–1364) with Charles I (1341–1364) disputed by John of Montfort (1341–1345) and John IV (1345–1365)

Montfort of Brittany

1365–1514	John IV (1365–1399) John V (1399–1442) Francis I (1442–1450) Peter II (1450–1457) Arthur III (1457–1458) Francis II (1458–1488) Anne (1488–1514)

House of Valois

1514–1547	Claude (1514–1524) Francis III (1524–1536) Henry (1536–1547)

Courtesy title

1547–present	Louis de France (1704–1705) Louis de France (1707–1712) Francis de Bourbon (1973–1984)

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