Amadeus' Engagements

Like all rulers, Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy (1334 - 1383), was going to need an heir. He was only nine years old when his father died and passed the title to Amadeus, but arrangements for noble families start young, in many cases long before the potential heir is an adult.

In fact, when Amadeus was only four, an arrangement was made that he should marry the three-year-old daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, Margaret of Bohemia. Margaret was a year or two younger than Amadeus.

Two years later, the contract with Margaret was broken. She went on to marry Louis I of Hungary in 1342 when she was seven years old. She died in 1349, still a teenager. They had no children.

In 1340, he was instead engaged to Joanna of Bourbon, the niece of Philip VI of France. Joanna was four years younger than Amadeus, and at the time of the arrangement was only two years old. The deal was designed to bring Savoy under French influence. She had already been betrothed to Humbert, Dauphin of Viennois; that was nullified in favor of Amadeus. The engagement to Amadeus was called off in 1344, and she ultimately married her first cousin—which required a papal dispensation because of consanguinity—who became Charles V of France (history's first tennis player known by name and the enforcer of synchronized time).

In 1347, another match was proposed. This time he became engaged to three-year-old Joan, daughter of Philip of Burgundy, which would have made him heir to Burgundy. Joan (1344 - 1360) was even brought to Savoy to be raised there and learn the customs of the people. In 1355, however, she was released from the engagement. She went into a convent at Poissy where she died at the age of 16.

Amadeus had another idea for a bride and decided to ally himself with what seemed a greater power: England. He sent a message to King Edward III, requesting the hand of his daughter Isabella. In an unusual move (for him), Isabella was two years older than Amadeus. Nothing came of this; she married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy.

Finally, in September 1355, he married Bonne of Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Bourbon, Peter I. She was only 14 to his 21. The marriage was successful and enduring. Tomorrow I'll tell you about "the one that didn't get away."