Anne of Alençon

Infobox Monarch
name =Anne d’Alençon
title =Marquise of Montferrat


caption =Portrait of Anne d'Alençon by Macrino d’Alba
reign =
coronation =
othertitles =regent
full name =
predecessor =William IX
successor =
suc-type =
heir =
consort =William IX of Montferrat, Marquis of Montferrat
issue =
royal house =House of Valois-Alençon
royal anthem =
father =René of Alençon
mother =Margaret of Vaudémont
children =Maria (1509–1530)
Margherita (1510-1566)
Boniface IV of Montferrat (1512-1530)
date of birth =30 October, 1492
place of birth =
date of death =18 October, 1562
place of death =Casale Monferrato, Italy
date of burial =
place of burial =|

Anne d'Alençon (Italian: Anna d'Alençon) (30 October, 1492 - 18 October, 1562) was a Marquise of Montferrat.

Life

Anne was the third child of the Valois René, Duke of Alençon and of his second wife Margaret, daughter of Frederick, Count of Vaudémont. Her father died two days after she was born.

She was betrothed to William IX, Marquis of Montferrat in 1501 and married him on the day after her sixteenth birthday in the church of St. Sauveur in Blois. To William she bore three children: Maria (1509–1530), Margherita, (1510-1566), and finally, in 1512, his heir who was to become Boniface IV of Montferrat.

In 1517 the eldest daughter, Maria, was betrothed to Federico II Gonzaga, son of Isabella d'Este and later to become Marquis (then Duke) of Mantua. The marriage contract was annulled, however, after Federico accused Maria of attempting to poison his mistress Isabella Boschetti, wife of the Count of Calvisano.

On the death of William in 1518, the infant Boniface inherited the Marquisate. Anne, however, acted as regent until his unexpected death in June 1530 and she remained involved in the government of Montferrat when Boniface was succeeded as Marquis by her brother-in-law John George, previously commendatory abbot of Lucedio and (unconsecrated) Bishop of Casale.

Boniface’s death also rekindled Federico II Gonzaga’s interest in marrying Maria. On the latter’s unexpected death in September 1530 his attentions turned to the second daughter, Margherita. Having weighed up the various proposals for Margherita’s hand, Anne opted for the link with the House of Gonzaga and the marriage was concluded in October 1531.

In 1533 the Marquis John George died, leaving one natural son, but no heir. A dispute over the succession to the Marquisate, an imperial fiefdom, ensued, the contenders being the Gonzaga, the Marquis of Saluzzo and the House of Savoy, all of whom were able to make plausible claims. Meanwhile the Montferrat was effectively under Spanish domination. In 1536 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor assigned the fiefdom to Margherita Paleologa and her husband, Federico II, Duke of Mantua. Anne, however, returned as "de facto" ruler. In 1540 Federico II died at Marmirolo and was succeeded by his seven year old son Francesco as Marquis of Montferrat and Duke of Mantua. Margherita Paleologo Gonzaga became regent, together with her brother-in-law Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga.

On retiring from public life Anne d'Alençon entered the convent of Dominican Sisters of Catherine of Siena which adjoined her palazzo in Casale Monferrato. She died on 18 October, 1562, shortly before her seventieth birthday.

The Alençon inheritance

In 1525, following the Battle of Pavia, Anne’s brother Charles IV, Duke of Alençon died leaving his personal property to Anne and to her sister Françoise d'Alençon. (This inheritance was disputed unsuccessfully by Charles’s widow, Marguerite d'Angoulême, sister of Francis I, King of France.) Anne in turn assigned these assets to Isabella Gonzaga, the eldest daughter of Federico and Margherita. Isabella having renounced the inheritance, Margherita succeeded in having them transferred to her third son Ludovico, later Duke of Nevers and founder of the Gonzaga Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga.

References

* This article, as of 2007-03-07, was substantially based on [http://it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anna_d%27Alençon&oldid=7310617 its equivalent] in the Italian Wikipedia.

Further reading

*citation
last=Piano
first=Pierluigi
title=Anne d'Alençon
url=http://www.marchesimonferrato.com/web2007/_pages/gen.php?DR=all&URL=marchesidelmonferrato.com&LNG=IT&L=2&C=65&T=news&D=IT%7BB60A1974-599D-7392-2E2F-5F9E974C842E%7D&A=0
publisher=Circolo culturale “I Marchesi del Monferrato”
accessdate=2008-07-07 it