House House of Cleves Mother Marie of Burgundy | Name Maria Cleves | |
 | ||
Father Adolph I, Duke of Cleves Died August 23, 1487, Picardy, France Spouse Charles, Duke of Orleans (m. 1440) Children Louis XII of France, Marie of Orleans, Viscountess of Narbonne Parents Adolph I, Duke of Cleves, Marie of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves Grandchildren Germaine of Foix, Claude of France, Renee of France, Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours Similar People Charles - Duke of Orleans, Louis XII of France, Valentina Visconti - Duchess, Louis I - Duke of Orleans, Joan of France - Duchess | ||
Maria of Cleves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487) was the third wife of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and the mother of his only son, King Louis XII of France. She was born a German princess, the last child of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and his second wife, Marie of Burgundy.
Marriage and issue
At age fourteen, Maria married Charles of Valois, Duke of Orléans, a man 32 years her senior, on 27 November 1440 in Saint-Omer. They had three children:
Maria was a patron of letters and commissioned many works; she was also an active poet herself, producing ballads and other verses. After the Duke's death she was secretly remarried in 1480 to one of her gentlemen of the chamber, the Artesian "Sieur de Rabodanges", who was some years her junior. She died in Chaunay.
References
Maria of Cleves Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA