Louis X of France

Louis X & I
King of France, (November 1314 - June 1316) and Navarre, (April 1305 - June 1316) Count of Champagne
Louis X of France, Bibliothèque Nationale de France'
Reign	29 November 1314 – 5 June 1316
Coronation	24 August 1315
Predecessor	Philip IV
Successor	John I
Spouse	Margaret of Burgundy Clémence d'Anjou
Issue
Joan II of Navarre John I of France
Father	Philip IV of France
Mother	Joan I of Navarre
Born	October 4, 1289 Paris, France
Died	5 June 1316 Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, France
Burial	Saint Denis Basilica

French Monarchy
Direct Capetians
Louis X
Joan II of Navarre
John I

Louis X of France, (October 4, 1289 - 5 June 1316), called the Quarreller, the Headstrong, or the Stubborn (French: le Hutin; Spanish: el Obstinado),^[1] was the King of Navarre (as Louis I) from 1305 and King of France from 1314 until his death.

Life

Louis was born in Paris, the eldest son of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre.^[2] He inherited the title of King of Navarre on the death of his mother, on April 2, 1305. On the death of his father in 1314, he became king of France and was officially crowned at Reims in August 1315.

Louis was king of Navarre for eleven years and king of France for less than two years. His reign was unremarkable, and dominated by continual feuding with the noble factions within the kingdom.

On September 21, 1305, at age 16, he married Marguerite de Bourgogne (Burgundy) and they had a daughter, Jeanne.

In 1313 Louis accused his wife of adultery and imprisoned her in Chateau Gaillard. Her alleged lover was tortured and executed. Marguerite herself died under suspicious circumstances, possibly murdered, on 14 August, 1315 at Chateau Gaillard. Louis was remarried a scant five days later, on August 19, to Clémence d'Anjou (1293–1328), daughter of Charles Martel of Naples.

In June 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, following an exhausting game of jeu de paume (real tennis), Louis died of a chill after drinking a large quantity of cooled wine, although there was also suspicion of poisoning.^[3] Because of the accounts of his death, Louis is history's first tennis player known by name.^[3] He and his second wife Clémence are interred in Saint Denis Basilica.

At the time of Louis's death, his wife Clémence was pregnant, making it impossible to know his successor until his child was born. A son would succeed Louis as king in France and Navarre. A daughter would leave the succession in doubt. The two main claimants were Louis's daughter, Joan and his younger brother Philip, Count of Poitiers. However, France recognized Salic Law, thus allowing Joan no favourable precedent. Navarre, by contrast, had a history of inheritance by or through women (for example, Louis' predecessor had been his mother, Joan I), which gave Joan II a strong claim; men were nonetheless preferred, if possible.

Therefore, Philip was appointed regent for the five months remaining until the birth of his brother's child. The baby, who turned out to be male, lived only five days, till 20 November 1316—an extremely short reign for Louis's posthumous son, John I (Jean I). Louis' brother Philip then became king of France and also of Navarre, being known there as Philip II of Navarre.

Notes

References

• The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol.15, Ed. Thomas Spencer Baynes, Henry G. Allen Company, 1890.
• Heiner Gillmeister, Tennis: A Cultural History, London: Leicester University Press, 1998.
• Konta, Annie Lemp, The history of French literature from the Oath of Strasburg to Chanticler, D. Appleton and Company:London, 1914.

Further reading

• Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu - La France au moyen âge : De l'An mil à la Peste noire, 1348 (2002)
• Roselyne Callaux - Robert III d'Artois (2002)

Ancestry

Fiction

• Maurice Druon - Les rois maudits

External links

• French history timeline
• Biography
• Medieval History of Navarre