
Charlotte of Savoy, Queen Consort of France
'Charlotte de Savoie' (
1441-
December 1,
1483), was the second wife and only
Queen consort of
Louis XI of France.
Family
She was a daughter of
Louis, Duke of Savoy and
Anne of Chypre-Lusignan.
Her maternal grandparents were
Janus of Cyprus and Charlotte of Bourbon-La Marche.
Her maternal grandmother was a daughter of
John I, Count of La Marche and Catherine of Vendôme.
Marriage
On
February 14,
1451, Charlotte married
Dauphin Louis de France (future Louis XI), eldest son of
Charles VII of France and
Marie of Anjou. The bride was only eight years old and the groom twenty-eight. Louis had survived his first wife
Margaret of Scotland.
In spite of her virtues, Louis neglected her. For example, upon his succession to the throne of France, he immediately abandoned her in Burgundy - where the two had been in exile - to secure his inheritance, leaving the young Queen dependent upon the aid of
Isabella of Bourbon, wife of
Charles, Heir of Burgundy.
Charlotte gave her husband eight children; however, of these, only the future
Charles VIII, and princesses
Anne of France - future
Anne de Beaujeu and regent of the kingdom - and
Jeanne of France - future wife of
Louis XII of France survived infancy :
★ Louis (
1458-
1460)
★ Joachim (
1459-
1459)
★ Louise (
1460-
1460)
★
Anne (
1461-
1522)
★
Jeanne (
1464-
1505)
★ François (
1466-
1466)
★
Charles VIII (
1470-
1498)
★ François (
1472-
1473)
After a solitary life, Charlotte died on December 1, 1483 in
Amboise, just a few months after her husband's death.
She is buried with him in the
Notre-Dame de Cléry Basilica [1] in
Cléry-Sant-André in the
Arrondissement of Orléans.