Charles of Orléans (1459 – 1 January 1496) was the Count of Angoulême from 1467 until his death. He succeeded his father, John, and was initially under the regency of his mother, Margaret of Rohan, assisted by Jean I de La Rochefoucauld, one of his vassals. Charles commissioned the luxuriously illustrated Heures de Charles d'Angoulême.

Family

Charles was a grandson of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, a younger son of King Charles V of France. He was thus a member of the Orléans cadet branch of the ruling House of Valois. The Orléans came to the throne in 1498 in the person of Charles's cousin Louis XII, who was followed in 1515 by Charles's own son Francis I.

Marriage and issue

Charles married Louise of Savoy, daughter of Philip the Landless and Margaret of Bourbon, on 16 February 1488. They had: Charles also had two illegitimate daughters by his mistress Antoinette de Polignac, Dame de Combronde (1470-1537), who was his wife's lady-in-waiting. She is often mistakenly called Antoinette by confusion with a member of a quite distinct family by the same name. They had two daughters: He also had an illegitimate daughter by mistress Jeanne Le Conte:

Ancestry

Sources