Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac

Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac (1360 – 12 June 1418) was the Count of Charolais, Count of Armagnac, and Constable of France. He was the son of John II and Jeanne de Périgord. He succeeded in Armagnac at the death of his brother, John III, in 1391. After prolonged fighting, he also became Count of Comminges in 1412.

When his brother, who claimed the Kingdom of Majorca, invaded northern Catalonia late in 1389 in an attempt to seize the kingdom's continental possessions (the County of Roussillon), Bernard commanded part of his forces.

Bernard's first wife was Bonne de Berry, the daughter of Duke Jean de Berry and widow of Count Amédée VII of Savoy. He first gained influence at the French court when Louis, Duke of Orléans married Valentina Visconti, the daughter of Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. Béatrice d'Armagnac, Bernard's sister married Carlo Visconti, Valentina's brother.

After Louis's assassination in 1407, Armagnac remained attached to the cause of Orléans. He married his daughter Bonne d'Armagnac to the young Charles, Duke of Orléans in 1410. Bernard d'Armagnac became the nominal head of the faction which opposed John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and the faction came to be called the "Armagnacs" as a consequence. (See: Armagnac (party) )

He became constable of France in 1415 and was the head of the Dauphin's government until the Burgundians triumphed in 1418. He died in the insurrection which delivered Paris to the Burgundians on June 12, 1418.

External links

* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/CharlesII/9-12/25/404.htm Ancestors of Bernard VII] -Family tree from the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
* [http://www.ims-paris.org/05Abstracts/PollackLagushenko.html The Households of the Counts of Armagnac in the Late Middle Ages] - abstract of a paper analyzing the household expenses of Count Bernard VII, from the Société Internationale des Médiévistes.