Robert, Duke of Bar

Robert I of Bar (8 November 1344 – 12 April 1411) was Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson and Count and then Duke of Bar. He succeeded his elder brother Edward II of Bar as count in 1352. His parents were Henry IV of Bar and Yolande, granddaughter of Robert III, Count of Flanders.

When Robert was less than a year old, his father died and his elder brother, Edward II of Bar, became Count of Bar under their mother's regency. As neither Robert nor Edward had a strong constitution, Yolande obtained a papal dispensation from Clement VI to allow them to eat meat during periods of abstinence. When his brother Edward died, Robert was still only seven years old and political problems associated with his mother's continued position as regent had arisen.

Yolande was on the point of remarrying to Philip of Navarre, count of Longueville, a member of the Navarre family which was attempting to claim the French crown from John the Good. Jeanne of Bar (1295-†1361), countess of Warren and daughter of Henry III of Bar, made known to the king that she was ready to replace Yolande and assume the regency. The Parliament of Paris, by decree of 5 June 1352, declared that the county was under the king's control. John the Good then entrusted the regency to Jeanne on 27 July of that year. Yolande initially renounced the regency, but then went back on her decision, levying troops to fight Jeanne. John the Good intervened to force Yolande to renounce the regency again on 2 July 1353.

In 1354 the County of Bar was raised to the status of duchy, by John II, King of France. That same year another possession, Pont-à-Mousson, was raised to a marquisate by Emperor Charles IV. Subsequent emperors recognised Robert's ducal title and his state's right to a vote in the Imperial Diet. It is unclear if Robert was regarded as a Peer of France after becoming duke.

The defeat of Poitiers and the capture of John the Good in 1356 deprived Jeanne of John's support and Yolande retook the regency. Robert was knighted in December 1356 and declared of age on 8 November 1359. He assisted at the coronation of Charles V of France at Reims on 9 May 1364, then at that of Charles VI of France on 4 November 1380. During Charles V's reign he fought in several engagements in 1374 during the campaign to eject the English from Normandy. In 1401, Robert ceded his duchy to his son Edward, but reserved the usufruct on it, bypassing his grandson Robert (son of Henry of Bar). The younger Robert unsuccessfully opposed this in the parliament of Paris that ran from 1406 to 1409. Charles VI's madness put him under the control of the Duke of Orleans and Duke of Burgundy. The elder Robert supported the duke of Orleans, and after that duke's assassination was more and more inclined to remain within his duchy. In his later years he suffered from attacks of gout that prevented him from walking.