Louis X of France

Infobox French Royalty|monarch
name=Louis X the Headstrong
title=King of France and Navarre
Count of Champagne


caption=Louis X, "Bibliothèque Nationale de France"
reign=29 November 1314 – 5 June 1316
coronation=24 August 1315
predecessor=Philip IV
successor=John I
spouse=Margaret of Burgundy
Clémence d'Anjou
issue=Joan II of Navarre
John I
royal house=House of Capet
royal anthem =
father=Philip IV
mother=Joan I of Navarre
date of birth=October 1289
place of birth=Paris, France
date of death=5 June 1316
place of death=Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, France
place of burial=Saint Denis Basilica|

Louis X (October 1289 – 5 June 1316), called the Quarreller, the Headstrong, or the Stubborn ( _fr. le Hutin; _es. el Obstinado), was the King of Navarre (as Louis I) from 1305 and King of France from 1314 until his death.

He was born in Paris, France, son of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. He inherited the title king of Navarre on the death of his mother, on April 2, 1305. On the death of his father in 1314, he became king of France and was officially crowned at Reims in August 1315.

The reign of Louis X was short and unremarkable, dominated by continued feuding with the noble factions within the kingdom.

On September 21, 1305 he married Marguerite de Bourgogne (Burgundy) and they had a daughter, Jeanne (January 28, 1312 – October 6, 1349). In 1313 Louis accused his wife of adultery and imprisoned her in Chateau Gaillard. Her alleged lover was tortured and executed. Marguerite herself died in suspicious circumstances, possibly murdered, on 14 August 1315 at Chateau Gaillard; Louis remarried a scant five days later, on August 19, 1315, to Clémence d'Anjou (1293–1328), daughter of Charles Martel of Naples and sister of Charles I of Hungary.

Louis died (possibly from dehydration, though there was also suspicion of poisoning [http://www.france-pittoresque.com/rois-france/louis-Xb.htm] ) in 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, following a game of Jeu de Paume. He and his second wife Clémence are interred in Saint Denis Basilica.

At the time of Louis's death, his wife Clémence was pregnant, making it impossible to know Louis's successor until his child was born. A son would succeed Louis as king in France and Navarre. A daughter would leave the succession in doubt. The two main claimants were Louis's daughter, Joan and his brother Philip, Count of Poitiers; however, France had no history of inheritance by females, thus allowing Joan no favourable precedent. Navarre, by contrast, had a history of inheritance by or through women (for example, Louis' predecessor had been his mother, Joan I), which gave Joan II a strong claim; men were nonetheless preferred.

Philip was appointed regent for the five months remaining until the birth of his brother's child. The baby, who turned out to be male, lived only five days -- an extremely short reign for Louis's posthumous son, John I (Jean I). Louis X's brother Philip then became king.

Ancestors

References

Bibliography

*Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu - "La France au moyen âge : De l'An mil à la Peste noire, 1348" (2002)
*Roselyne Callaux - "Robert III d'Artois" (2002)

Fiction

*Maurice Druon - "Les rois maudits"

External links

* [http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/fr-tl.htm French history timeline]
* [http://www.france-pittoresque.com/rois-france/louis-Xb.htm Biography]