Joan II, Countess of Auvergne

Joan II, Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne (French: "Jeanne d'Auvergne"), also known as Jeanne de Boulogne, and Joan, Duchess of Berry, (1378 – c. 1424), was the daughter of John II of Auvergne (d. 1394), and second wife of John, Duke of Berry. She is arguably most famous for saving the life of her nephew, King Charles VI of France, during the disastrous "Bal des Ardents" (Ball of the Burning Men).

Lineage

Joan was the daughter and heiress of John II, Count of Auvergne and Boulogne. Her grandfather, John I, had been an uncle of Queen Joanna of France, a previous heiress to Auvergne and Boulogne; John inherited the counties when his great-nephew, Philip of Burgundy, died without issue.

In 1389, Joan was married to John, Duke of Berry (a son of John II of France), whose wife had died in the previous year. They had no children.

"Bal des Ardents"

At the age of fourteen, Joan was present at the infamous "Bal des Ardents" given by Queen Isabeau, wife of the Duke of Berry's nephew King Charles, on 28 January 1393. During this, the King and five nobles dressed up as wildmen, clad "in costumes of linen cloth sewn onto their bodies and soaked in resinous wax or pitch to hold a covering of frazzled hemp," and proceeded to dance about chained together. At length, the King became separated from the others, and made his way to the Duchess, who jokingly refused to let him wander off again until he told her his name. When Charles' brother, Louis of Orleans, accidentally set the other dancers on fire, Joan swathed the King in her skirts, protecting him from the flames and saving his life.

Later life

Upon her father's death in 1394, Joan became Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne.

Joan was widowed upon the death of the Duke of Berry in 1416. She married Georges de la Trémoille soon after; however, they produced no children, and the counties passed to her cousin, Marie I of Auvergne, upon her death in 1424.