The Royal Family: A Genealogy

Under construction.

The main purpose of this genealogy of the French Royal family is to display the coats of arms used by various members and branches. It is not intended as a genealogical reference. The listing of descendants of Hughes Capet is not exhaustive: I have left a few branches incomplete for the the time being (the first house of Bourgogne and the Portuguese branch, the Vermandois line, the Courtenay lines). There may well be errors as well as inconsistencies in spelling of names. Once again, the purpose is heraldic, not genealogical.

Kings of France are highlighted in red. Marriages are indicated with the symbol ~, followed by the date in small font. I have not traced the issue of females, with a few exceptions. Some information on bastard and illegitimate lines is provided because it is of interest from a heraldic point of view, but most illegitimate children have been ignored.

The main emphasis of this genealogy is to highlight titles and coats of arms in the French royal family, with an eye to marks of difference (see also the page on titles and apanages). Other information is kept to a minimum. References are explained at the end.

All illustrations from Jean-Marc Frénéa's Heratlas, with permission.

The Capetians

Second House of Anjou

Charles (1226-85), comte d'Anjou et du Maine 1246: France on a bordure gules castles or (1247), France a label gules (1259), king of Naples and Jerusalem (1265)
~ Béatrice de Provence (1234-67)


~1268 Marguerite de Tonnerre (1250-1308)

House of Valois

House of (Valois) Orléans

House of (Valois-Orléans) Angoulême

Third House of Anjou

Louis of France (1339-83), duc d'Anjou: France ancient a bordure gules, adopted 1380 by Queen Giovanna I of Naples, King of Naples, Sicily & Jerusalem 1382: per pale Jerusalem and per pale Naples (France a label gules) and Anjou (France a bordure gules) (N)
~1430 Marie, comtesse de Blois et de Guise (1343-1404)

Second House of Bourgogne

Philippe II of France (1342-1404), duc de Bourgogne
~1369 Marguerite (1350-1405), comtesse de Flandres et d'Artois, duchesse de Brabant et Limburg, marquise d'Anvers, dame de Malines, comtesse de Nevers et de Rethel

House of Bourbon (1)

Louis I (1279-1341), 1st duc de Bourbon 1327: France a bend gulesBourbon ancien
~Marie de Hainaut

House of Bourbon (2)

House of (Bourbon) Orléans

House of Orléans-Bragança

This branch of the Orléans family became heir to the claims on the throne of Brazil. They are not French citizens and have no claims to the throne of France (see the relevant documents).

Gaston (1842-1922), comte d'Eu ~ Isabella de Bragança (1846-1921)

House of Orléans-Galliera

This branch of the Orléans family became Spanish nationals. They are not French citizens and have no claim to the throne of France.

Antoine (1824-90), duc de Montpensier
Infante of Spain 1859 ~ 1846 Luisa, infanta of Spain (1832-97)

House of Bourbon-Condé and Bourbon-Conti

The title of the head of the house of Condé was "prince de Condé", from the seigneurie of Condé. After the accession of Henri IV, the prince de Condé was "Premier Prince du Sang", and remained so until the death of Henri III Jules in 1709. The usual manner of referring to him was "Monsieur le Prince" under Louis XIV. After 1709, the duc d'Orléans took the title of Premier Prince du Sang, and the prince de Condé, to whom the title of duc de Bourbon had been given in 1661 by Louis XIV, took it as main title, and was called "Monsieur le Duc". The last two of the line were known as princes de Condé again.

The eldest son of the prince de Condé took the title of duc d'Enghien. The eldest son of the prince de Conti took the title of comte de La Marche. The son of the last Condé, the duc d'Enghien, was kidnapped at night in German territory by a French platoon, summarily judged in Paris and executed the same night at Vincennes, all on orders of Napoléon Bonaparte.

Bastard and Illegitimate Lines

Summary information is provided here. The heraldry of illegitimacy is quite interesting, as marks of illegitimacy have been quite varied and imaginative over time (see Woodward's excellent chapter in his Treatise on Heraldry).

Kings and princes are known to have had illegitimate offspring since the 11th century, and they even started legitimating their natural children in the 15th c. The first known example is Marguerite, daughter of Charles VI, legitimated 1428; the issuing line of Belleville became extinct in 1587.

Charles VII had three children by Agnès Sorel, the first famous royal mistress: Charlotte (†1477) (killed by her husband Jacques de Brézé when he found her in adultery), Marguerite (†1473) married to Olivier de Coétivy, and Jeanne married to Antoine de Bueil, comte de Sancerre.

Louis XI had natural children, of which Jeanne (†1519), dame de Mirebeau, was legitimated in 1465 and married to Louis, bâtard de Bourbon; Marie, married to Aymar de Poitiers and from whom Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II, is descended. Henri II had Diane de France (1538-1619), legitimated in 1548, duchesse de Châtellerault 1563-82, duchesse d'Étampes 1576, duchesse d'Angoulême 1582, s.p. He also had Henri de Saint-Rémy, bâtard de Valois (1557-1621), baron de Fontette: Argent on a fess azure three fleurs-de-lys or (PA), whose posterity included Jeanne de La Motte-Valois involved in the Necklace Affair in the late 18th c.

Charles IX had by Marie Touchet:

Henri IV:

Louis XIV had 13 known illegitimate children. Most of those were by either Louise-Françoise de Le Baume Le Blanc, Mademoiselle de La Vallière, or Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemar, marquise de Montespan, and those who survived infancy were legitimated.

Louis XV had many mistresses, and at least 15 illegitimate children are known. Only one was legitimated: Louis-Aimé de Bourbon (1762-87), called l'abbé de Bourbon, son of Anne Couffier de Romans (1737-1808). His arms, granted in 1783, were: France differenced by an orle and a riband in bend sinister gules. (Michel Antoine, Le Dur Métier de Roi, 1986, p.299).

Charles-Ferdinand d'Artois, duc de Berry and younger son of the future Charles X, had a long relationship in London with Amy Brown, during the Bourbons' exile. Two daughters came of it; when the duc was assassinated in February 1820 in Paris, he asked on his deathbed to see his former mistress and his children and entrusted them to the royal family, which treated them well. The elder, Charlotte-Marie-Augustine (1808-86), was made comtesse d'Issoudun and married to the prince de Faucigny-Lucinge. The younger, Louise-Marie-Charlotte (1809-91), was made comtesse de Vierzon and married to the Athanase-Charles, baron de Charette (the present (1996) French foreign minister Hervé de Charette is her great-great-grandson). In the legitimization letters, Louis XVIII granted to the two young women the following arms: the comtesse d'Issoudun, Azure a pairle couped between three fleurs-de-lys or, on a chief ingrailed of the second three fleurs-de-lys of the first, the comtesse de Vierzon: Azure a tower inclined argent, on a chief ingrailed or three fleurs-de-lys azure. The ingrailed chief recalls the traditional ingrailed border of Berry (although the duke's arms were different), and the charges both recall the arms of the cities. Note that Issoudun and Vierzon are both cities in the province of Berry.

Gaston d'Orléans had an illegitimate son, Louis bâtard d'Orléans (1628-92), comte de Charny. Philippe II d'Orléans had by Mademoiselle Florence, dancer at the Opera: Charles de Saint-Albin, abbé d'Orléans (1698-1764), legitimized 1708, archbishop of Cambrai. By the comtesse d'Argentan: Jean-Philippe d'Orléans (1702-48), le chevalier d'Orléans, grand-prieur de France, leg. 1706: Orléans an orle and a baton couped in bend sinister argent. Louis-Philippe Id'Orléans had by Mme de Villemomble: Louis-Etienne, comte de Saint-Phar (1759-1825) and Louis-Philippe, comte de Saint-Albin (1761-1829), both legitimized 1815.

There are numerous bastard sons in the Bourbon family. Every duc de Bourbon from Louis I to Jean II included has illegitimate sons. Some names of note are: Hector and Perceval, sons of Louis II (Perceval bore on a bend a semy-de-lys, over all three bends sinister PA). Jean I had Jean, abbot of Cluny (†1485, bore France a bend sinister), and Alexandre among others.

One interesting line is that of the comtes de Roussillon, Charles I, duc de Bourbon had by Jeanne de Bournan Louis bâtard de Bourbon (†1486), legitimated 1463, comte de Roussillon: France a bend sinister raguly gules, his crest was a fish roasting over flames! (PA). he married Jeanne, bâtarde de France, natural daughter of Louis XI: France a bend sinister argent, and had only Charles (†1507 s.p.). But Louis also had a natural son Renaud bâtard de Bourbon (†1483), archbishop of Narbonne: Argent on a bend azure a semy-de-lys or and a fillet in bend gules. He in turn had two natural children, Charles bâtard de Bourbon (†1504), bishop of Clermont and Suzanne, both bearing: Argent on a bend sinister azure a semy-de-lys or and a fillet in bend sinister gules, all within a bordure ingrailed of the last (Suzanne obtained permission to bear the same arms from the duc de Bourbon). Another natural child of Louis was Jeanne, legitimated 1492, whose arms granted in 1490 were: Quarterly argent on a bend sinister azure a bendlet sinister gules between six fleurs-de-lys or, and chequy or and sable.

Jean II, duc de Bourbon had Mathieu bâtard de Bourbon (†1505), seigneur de Botheon, known as "le grand bâtard de Bourbon", who bore Bourbon a bendlet sinister. From him also came the line of Bourbon-Malause bore Argent on a bend azure a semy-de-lys or and a riband in bend gules. The line of Bourbon-Busset bears France a baton couped in bend gules, on a chief argent a cross potent between four crosslets or. Originally the Bourbon-Busset arms were Argent on a pale azure a semy-de-lys or and a bend gules, on a chief Jerusalem.

Jean II de Bourbon, comte de Vendôme, had Louis (†1510), bishop of Avranches: Bourbon-Vendôme a bend sinister raguly.

Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons (†1641) had a son Louis-Henri de Bourbon-Soissons, comte de Dunois: France a baton couped in bend sinister and a bordure gules (D'Hozier) whose only daughter by his wife Angélique-Cunégonde de Montmorency-Luxembourg was Louise-Léontine-Jacqueline, married to Charles-Philippe d'Albert, duc de Luynes.

Henri III Jules de Bourbon, prince de Condé, had a daughter Julie de Bourbon (1668-1710), Mademoiselle de Châteaubriant, legitimated, bearing France a baton couped in bend sinister gules; married to Armand de Lesparre de Madaillan (D'Hozier).

The line of Dunois-Longueville comes from Jean (1403-68), comte de Dunois, companion in arms of Jeanne d'Arc, who bore Orléans a bend sinister argent . His son had already changed the arms to Orléans a bend couped argent . It ended with Charles-Paris d'Orléans, duc de Longueville et d'Estouteville (1649-72). An illegitimate line from Longueville is Rothelin, which bore in the 18th c. quarterly or a bend gules (Baden) and or on a pale gules three chevrons of the field (Neuchâtel), overall France a bend sinister couped and a label argent (Orléans-Longueville), although the author of the line, François bâtard de Longueville (†1600) bore Orléans a bend sinister couped argent. Charles d'Angoulême, father of François I, had Jeanne, legitimated in 1501, married to Jean de Longuevic and mother of Jacqueline married to the duc de Montpensier; Madeleine, and Souveraine legitimated in 1521.

References

The bulk of the genealogical material comes from Père Anselme, with complements from La Chesnaye-Desbois and the Quid, 1996 edition (see the French bibliography for more details).

The coats of arms come from Père Anselme (PA), D'Hozier's Armorial de la Généralité de Paris (DH), Otto Neubecker's Heraldry (N), Pierre Pradel: Catalogue des Jetons des Princes et Princesses de la Maison de France Paris 1936 (CJ); Inventaire des Sceaux (IS); Corpus des Sceaux (CS). For arms of bastards I used Père Anselme and B. Vrignault: Les Légitimés de France de la maison de Bourbon de 1594 à 1820, Paris, 1965. An 18th century source is Dubuisson's 1757 Armorial. Also, Olivier, Hermal and de Roton, Armorial du Bibliophile (OHR) is a good source on actual practice, since it records arms as they appear on book-bindings. A snapshot of the French court in the early years of the 15th century is provided by Bozzolo: La Cour Amoureuse, Léopard d'Or, 1992 (CA).