Marie of Valois, Duchess of Calabria


Marie of Valois, was the eldest daughter of Charles of Valois by his third wife Mahaut of Châtillon. She was a member of the House of Valois. One of her five children was Queen Joanna I of Naples.

Life

Marie was the daughter of Charles of Valois and Mahaut of Chatillon. She married Charles, Duke of Calabria, in 1323, when she was only fourteen years of age. Charles married her after the death of his first wife, Catherine of Austria, who had died without bearing Charles any children. Marie earned the gratitude of the genteel women in Florence when she persuaded her husband to allow them to wear what they could afford.
Charles and Marie had five children:
Her eldest surviving daughter, Joanna, became Queen of Naples. Her youngest daughter, Maria, born six months after Charles' death, became the Countess of Alba.
Marie's husband died in 1328 and she never remarried. She died in 1331 at the age of 22, during a pilgrimage to Bari. Her mother and two sisters outlived her.