ALENÇON, COUNTS AND DUKES OF. The first line of the counts
of Alençon was founded by Yves, lord of Bellesme, who in the
middle of the 10th century possessed and fortified the town of
Alençon. His successors, involved in all the wars of the
kings of England in Normandy, were alternately deprived and
repossessed of their domains, according to the fluctuations
of fortune between the rival parties. Mabille, countess
of Alençon and heiress of this family (d. 1082 ), married
Roger of Montgomery, and from them descended a second house
of Alençon which became extinct in the person of Robert
IV.; the county of Alençon was then joined to the royal
domain. It was successively granted as an appanage to
Peter, son of St Louis (1268), and to Charles, count of
Valois, brother of Philip the Fair (1293). The third house
of Alençon sprang from Charles, second son of the count of
Valois, who was killed at the battle of Crecy in 1346. The
countship of Alençon was raised to a peerage in 1367 and into
a dukedom in 1414. John, 1st duke of Alençon, was killed
at Agincourt on the 25th of October 1415, after having with
his own hand slain the duke of York. His son, also named
John, was dispossessed of his duchy by the king of England,
but reconquered it in 1449. In 1524 the dukedom of Alençon
reverted to the crown, in consequence of the death of the
duke Charles IV. without issue of his marriage with Margaret,
sister of Francis I. It was given as a jointure to Catherine
de'Medici in 1559, and as an appanage to her son Francis in
1566. It was pawned by Henry IV. to the duke of Wurttemberg,
and subsequently it passed to Gaston, duke of Orleans, by
grant of Louis XIII., then to Elizabeth of Orleans, duchess of
Guise, to Charles, duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV.
(1710), and to Monsieur (Louis XVIII.), brother of Louis XVI.
The title of duc d'Alençon was given to Ferdinand of Orleans, son
of the duc de Nemours, and grandson of Louis-Philippe. (M. P.*)
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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