Neutral Duchess(Marshall Brittany)

[kasumigenx]

On 1205, John I of England would decide to marry his niece, Eleanor, Duchess of Brittany to a fellow captive, the younger William Marshall as a condition for their release and the younger William Marshall would be forced to pledge loyalty to John of England and not assert Eleanor’s claims to the lands of John I.

At the birth of Henry III, Constance of Brittany, the first child of Eleanor of Brittany and William Marshall is betrothed to Henry III to guarantee the loyalty of her husband William Marshall and her dowry would include Eleanor of Brittany’s claims England and her claims to the Angevin Inheritance, this betrothal was made as an agreement between William Marshall the younger and John of England which would result in the marriage between Henry III and Matilda of Brittany in 1221, another betrothal that would guarantee the loyalty of William Marshall are the betrothal of Alix of Brittany, Eleanor’s sister to Richard, Count of Poitou and Duke of Gascony, Alix of Brittany would die in 1240 while married to Richard, Count of Poitou, Cornwall, and Duke of Aquitaine and the marriage of William Marshal, Third Earl of Leicester with Eleanor of England.

After the death of John I of England on 1216, Eleanor would arrange the betrothal and later marriage of her son, Geoffrey to Blanche of France, the eldest child of Blanche of Castile and Louis VIII which would happen in 1221 with the dowry of the counties of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, Eleanor of Brittany would die on 1240 with her son Geoffrey III of Brittany succeeding in Brittany.



Children of Eleanor, Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond and William Marshall, 2nd Duke of Pembroke

Constance of Brittany (c. 1206) married to Henry III of England b. 1207

Geoffrey III, Duke of Brittany (c. 1209) married Blanche of France (c. 1205)

William Marshall, third earl of Leicester (c. 1211) married to Eleanor of England(1215)

Eleanor of Brittany b. 1215 married to Theobald I of Navarre (c. 1201)

Yolande of Brittany b. 1218 married to Hugh XI of Lusignan (1220)

 

[kasumigenx]

On 1216, when King John I had died, Eleanor, Duchess of Brittany and her husband, William Marshall would hesitate to bring her sister Alix as the bride of the brother of the King of England, her daughter, Constance had been in England since 1210 as her betrothal with Henry III had been strict but the power of England declined after England was defeated in battle of Bouvines.

Alix is 16 and her future groom is just seven, which meant that Alix would need to wait for a decade to marry her groom, Alix would go to England in 1218 where she would meet the young Constance of Brittany who is about to marry Henry III of England in a few years.

Alix would marry her husband, Richard on 1222 after four years of waiting and her husband, Richard would be invested with the Duchy of Aquitaine and the County of Poitiers and Constance of Brittany would marry Henry III a few months prior to the marriage of Alix and Richard.

However, Alix of Brittany would die in 1224 after giving birth to a son named William in the end of 1224.