Alain I of Albret

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), called "The Great", was a powerful French aristocrat. He was 16th Lord of Albret, Viscount of Tartas, the 2nd Count of Graves, and the Count of Castres. He was the son of Catherine de Rohan and Jean I of Albret. He was the grandson and heir of Charles II of Albret, and became head of the House of Albret in 1471.

He was skillful, but also very fickle, greedy, and unscrupulous. During his half century of rule, he took a political course which was more agitated than effective, following his father's example, making him one of the most visible actors on the stage of Europe.

Alain I initially benefited from his fidelity to King Louis XI of France, and thereby enlarged his principality. He married Françoise de Châtillon, and this marriage brought him the inheritance of the county of Périgord as well as the viscountcy of Limoges.

He then seized Armagnac, and married his son John to Catherine of Navarre, heiress of the counties of Foix and Bigorre and of the Kingdom of Navarre.

The "Mad War"

At this time, Alain I hoped to consolidate his power by taking control of the Duchy of Brittany by marriage to Anne of Brittany, the daughter and heir of Duke Francis II. He entered into rebellion against the royal authority in support of the Duchy, during the so-called Mad War. His intrigues were unsuccessful, and he was defeated, having been unable to provide support to the Duke in 1487. The following year, he brought reinforcements by sea, but was defeated by Louis II de la Trémoille at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier. He continued, however, to claim the legacy of Francis II, occupying Nantes with his Gascon troops. He still hoped to marry Anne and inherit the Duchy but found it expedient to deliver Nantes to the royal army in exchange for an agreement that the French would support his claim to Anne's hand. Anne had no intention of marrying Alain, who she considered crude and brutal. [De La Warr, Constance, "A Twice Crowned Queen: Anne of Brittany", pp12-14] Instead she married the French king, putting an end of Alain's dynastic ambition in Brittany. However, Alain established other dynastic links through his daughter, Charlotte of Albret, who married Caesar Borgia in 1500. His great-granddaughter, who married Antoine de Bourbon, was the mother of King Henri IV of France.

Alain d'Albret died in 1522.

References

*"This article was initially translated from the Wikipedia article [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_d%27Albret Alain d'Albret] , mostly from [http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alain_d%27Albret&oldid=27302062 this version] , but with the final paragraph from [http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alain_d%27Albret&oldid=25270116 this version] ."