Henry of Bar

Henry of Bar (c.1362-1397) was lord of Marle and the Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson. He was the eldest son of Robert I of Bar and Marie Valois.

Life

Very early in his life, he was betrothed to Isabella of Lorraine, daughter of John I, Duke of Lorraine. In 1374 he went to the court of his uncle king Charles V of France and was knighted at the coronation of king Charles VI of France, fighting in the Flanders campaign in 1383 and the Guelders campaign in 1388. He then returned to Bar and governed it on behalf of his father, who was often immobilised by attacks of gout.

His betrothal was broken off and his fiancée instead married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy († 1397). In November 1384 Henry himself married Marie of Coucy (1366 † 1405), daughter of Enguerrand VII by his first wife Isabella of England. In 1397 Marie of Coucy became countess of Soissons. By Marie he had two children, Enguerrand (died c.1400), and Robert of Bar, who became count of Marle and of Soissons.

In 1396, Henry negotiated the neutrality of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan, in dealings with the French protectorate in the republic of Gênes. He then fought on the side of the duke of Nevers in the crusade against the Ottoman Empire, being captured at the end of the Battle of Nicopolis on 25 September 1396. He was taken prisoner and later ransomed, [Barbara Tuchman "A Distant Mirror", pages 592,598] but died at the crusader's camp in Treviso after contracting the plague in Venice on his return trip. [Tuchman,606]