James II, Count of La Marche

{{Short description|Consort of Joanna II of Naples from 1415 to 1435}}

{{Infobox royalty|consort=yes

| image = Joan II of Naples jamesII of Bourbon.jpg

| caption = 15th century stained glass depiction of James and his second wife, Queen Joanna II of Naples

| name = James II

| title = King consort of Naples
Count of La Marche

| succession = Consort of the Neapolitan monarch

| reign = 10 August 1415 – 2 February 1435

| spouses = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Beatrice of Navarre|1406|1407|end=d}}
{{marriage|Joanna II of Naples|1415|1435|end=d}}

}}

|issue = {{plainlist|

Eleanor, Countess of La Marche, Castres. Duchesse of Nemours.

}}

| house = Bourbon

| father = John I, Count of La Marche

| mother = Catherine of Vendôme

| birth_date = 1370

| death_date = {{death year and age|1438|1370}}

|}}

James II of Bourbon-La Marche (1370 – 1438 in Besançon) was count of La Marche. He was captured at the battle of Nicopolis in 1396, later being ransomed. In 1403, James led an attack on English soil and burned Plymouth. He married Queen Joanna II of Naples in 1415, and was largely unpopular being imprisoned then forced to leave the kingdom of Naples in 1419. James relinquished his titles and became a monk in 1435. He died in 1438.

Early life

File:Armoiries Jacques II de la Marche.svg

Born in 1370, James was the first son of John I, Count of La Marche{{sfn|Potter|1995|p=376}} and Catherine of Vendôme. He first bore arms in the crusade against the Ottomans which culminated in the Battle of Nicopolis,{{sfn|Setton|1976|p=345}} and was captured and ransomed.{{sfn|Runciman|1999|p=460-461}} After returning to France, he commanded a force which invaded England in support of Owain Glyndŵr. His troops burned Plymouth in 1403,{{sfn|McFarlane|1964|p=365}} but twelve ships of his fleet were lost in a storm while returning to France in 1404.

James was an adherent of John the Fearless and foe of the Armagnac party. However, his affairs in France were interrupted by a sojourn abroad. In 1415, the barons of the Kingdom of Naples arranged his marriage to Joanna II of Naples.{{sfn|Armstrong|1964|p=163}} It was hoped James would break the power of her court favorites, Pandolfo Alopo and Muzio Sforza. He was not given the title King, but was referred to as Vicar General, Duke of Calabria, and Prince of Taranto.{{sfn|Armstrong|1964|p=163}} James had Alopo executed and imprisoned Sforza, but also kept the queen in confinement and aspired to personal rule.{{sfn|Armstrong|1964|p=163}} The indignant barons captured and imprisoned him in 1416; he was compelled to free Sforza and resign the kingship, and was ejected from the kingdom in 1419.{{sfn|Armstrong|1964|p=163}}

Returning to France, James fought against the English for Charles VII of France in 1428 and was made Governor of Languedoc.

In 1435, James resigned his titles and became a Franciscan friar, dying in 1438.

Marriage

In 1406 in Pamplona, James married Beatrice of Navarre, Countess of La Marche, daughter of Charles III of Navarre and Eleanor of Castile.{{sfn|Woodacre|2013|p=86}} The couple had only one child:The marriage lasted from 14 September 1406 to 14 December 1407. Beatrix d'Évreux died from the after-effects of her first birth. She was unable to give birth to any more children. Vid. in {{Cite journal |last=Castro |first=José Ramón |date=1960 |title=El conde de la Marca y la guerra de Granada |url=https://revistas.comillas.edu/index.php/estudioseclesiasticos/article/view/20986 |journal=Estudios Eclesiásticos. Revista de investigación e información teológica y canónica |language=es |volume=35 |issue=Extra |pages=345–360 |issn=2605-5147}}

Eleanor of Bourbon-La Marche (Burlada, Navarre, 1407 – after 21 August 1464), married Bernard d'Armagnac, Count of Pardiac (d. 1462){{sfn|Potter|1995|p=376}}

In 1415, James married Joanna II of Naples.{{sfn|Woodacre|2013|p=91}} They had no children.

References

Sources

{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Medieval History |editor-first1=C.W. |editor-last1=Previte-Orton |editor-first2=Z.N. |editor-last2=Brooke |volume=VIII |publisher=Cambridge at the University Press |year=1964 |chapter=The Papacy and Naples in the Fifteenth Century |first=Edward |last=Armstrong |place=Cambridge}}
{{cite book |chapter=England: The Lancastrian Kings, 1399-1461 |first=K.B. |last=McFarlane |title=The Cambridge Medieval History |volume=VIII |editor-first1=John Bagnell |editor-last1=Bury |editor-first2=C.W. |editor-last2=Previte-Orton |editor-first3=Z.N. |editor-last3=Brooke |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1964 |location=Cambridge}}
{{cite book |title=A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation State |first=David |last=Potter |editor-first=Maurice |editor-last=Keen |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0312124809 |location=New York}}
{{cite book |title=A History of the Crusades |volume=III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |first=Steven |last=Runciman |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-34772-6}}
{{cite book |first=Kenneth M. |last=Setton |title=The Papacy and the Levant, 1204{{endash}}1571: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |volume=I |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1976 |location=Philadelphia |isbn=0-87169-114-0}}
{{cite book |first=Elena |last=Woodacre |title=The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics, and Partnership, 1274-1512 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2013 |isbn=978-1137339140 |location=London }}

{{s-ttl| title = Count of La Marche

| years = 1393–1435 }}

{{s-ttl| title = Count of Castres

| with = Catherine of Vendôme 1393–1412

| years = 1393–1435 }}

{{succession box|title=Prince of Taranto|before=Ladislaus of Naples|after=Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini|years=1414–1420}}

{{s-ttl|title=Consort of the Neapolitan monarch
(King consort 1415–1419) |years= 1415–1435}}

Category:1370 births

Category:1438 deaths

James

Category:Neapolitan kings consort

Bourbon, James II of