Isabella, Countess of Vertus
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Isabella
| title = Countess of Vertus
| image = Isabella of Valois (1348–1372).png
| image_size = 190px
| caption =
| spouse = Gian Galeazzo Visconti
| issue = Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Azzone Visconti
Valentina, Duchess of Orléans
Carlo Visconti
| full name =
| house = Valois
| father = John II of France
| mother = Bonne of Bohemia
| birth_date = 1 October 1348
| birth_place = Château de Bois de Vincennes, France
| death_date = 11 September 1372 (aged 23)
| death_place = Pavia
}}
Isabella of France (1 October 1348 – 11 September 1372) was a French princess and member of the House of Valois, as well as the wife of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who after her death became Duke of Milan.
Life
Born in Bois de Vincennes, Isabella was the youngest daughter of King John II of France{{sfn|Ward|Prothero|Leathes|1934|p=table 22}} by his first wife, Bonne of Bohemia.{{sfn|Adams|2010|p=255}}
Count Amadeus VI of Savoy arranged her marriage with his nephew Gian Galeazzo Visconti. As her dowry, Isabella received the county of Sommières, exchanged later for the county of Vertus.{{sfn|Hay|1977|p=107}} On 8 October 1360, Isabella and Gian Galeazzo were married in Milan, and six months later, in April 1361, she was declared sovereign Countess of Vertus.{{sfn|D'Ancona|1990|p=112}} Following her marriage, Isabella brought her collection of French books to Milan.{{sfn|Bell|1988|p=176}} When her daughter, Valentina, traveled to France for her marriage, she brought twelve books of Italian origin.{{sfn|Bell|1988|p=176}} The couple had four children:
- Gian Galeazzo, born 1366{{r|trecc}}
- Azzone, 1368–1380{{r|trecc}}
- Valentina (b. Pavia, 1371 – d. Château de Blois, Loir-et-Cher, 14 December 1408), married on 17 August 1389 to Louis I, Duke of Orléans{{sfn|D'Ancona|1990|p=112}}
- Carlo, born 1372.{{r|trecc}}
Only Valentina lived to adulthood;{{r|trecc}} Isabella died giving birth to Carlo in Pavia in 1372{{sfn|Adams|2010|p=255}}{{sfn|D'Ancona|1990|p=112}} and was buried in the church of San Francesco.{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/36402408|title=Non iam capitanei, sed reges nominarentur: progetti regi e rivendicazioni politiche nei rituali funerari dei Visconti (XIV secolo)|work= Courts and Courtly Cultures in Early Modern Italy and Europe Models and Languages|date=January 2015 | access-date=2 August 2022 |last1=Majocchi |first1=Piero }}
References
Sources
- {{cite book |title=The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria |first=Tracy |last=Adams |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2010 }}
- {{cite book |chapter=Medieval Women Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture |first=Susan Groag |last=Bell |title= Women and Power in the Middle Ages |editor-first1= Mary |editor-last1= Erler |editor-first2=Maryanne |editor-last2=Kowaleski |publisher=The University of Georgia Press |year=1988 |pages=149–187 }}
- {{cite journal |title=La Vergine Maria nell'Offiziolo Visconteo: Parte I: Il Ms. BR 397 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze |first=Mirella Levi |last=D'Ancona |journal=La Bibliofilía |volume=92| issue = 2 (maggio-agosto) |publisher=Casa Editrice Leo S. Olschki s.r.l. |language=Italian |year=1990 |pages=109–143 }}
- {{cite book |title=The Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background |first=Denys |last=Hay |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1977 |edition=2nd}}
- {{cite book |title=The Cambridge Modern History |volume=XIII |editor-first1=A.W. |editor-last1=Ward |editor-first2=G.W. |editor-last2=Prothero |editor-first3=Stanley |editor-last3=Leathes |publisher=Cambridge at the University Press |year=1934 }}
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{{s-ttl|title=Countess of Vertus|years=April 1361 – 11 September 1372|regent1=Gian Galeazzo}}
{{s-aft|after=Valentina}}
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Category:14th-century French nobility