Loading article…
Alix of Thouars[1] (1200 – 21 October 1221), whose name may also be spelled Alis or Alice, was the Duchess of Brittany from 1203 until her death. She was also Countess of Richmond in the peerage of England.[a]
Alix was born in 1200. She was the daughter of Constance, Duchess of Brittany, and her co-ruler and third husband, Guy of Thouars.[2] According to several French historians, Constance died after giving birth to Alix's sisters Catherine and Margaret.[b] Alix's older half-brother was Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, and her half-sisters were Eleanor and Matilda of Brittany, the children of Constance by Geoffrey of England. Upon the death of Richard I of England, a power struggle commenced between her half-brother Arthur and John, King of England. At the Battle of Mirebeau in 1202, Arthur and Eleanor were captured. Arthur was imprisoned at the Château de Falaise and in 1203 disappeared. Eleanor was imprisoned at Corfe Castle.
The Breton barons recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany after the presumed death of Arthur, instead of Eleanor. This was due to fears that John might claim to rule Brittany as regent for the imprisoned Eleanor. Alix's father became regent for Alix until 1206, when Philip II of France made himself the regent of the duchy in Alix's name. Philip II broke off the betrothal of Alix and the Breton prince Henry of Penthièvre,[c] and turned to his French cousin Peter of Dreux, as Alix's husband.[3] In 1208, John permitted Eleanor to style herself Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond, but gave her no lands of Richmond Earldom. Peter married Alix on 27 January 1213, and paid homage to the French king for Brittany. In 1214 John recognized Alix as Duchess of Brittany, renouncing the claim of Eleanor.
In 1218 Peter and Alix were recognised by the English regent William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, as Earl and Countess of Richmond in place of Eleanor, who would never be released from imprisonment.
アリックスは1221年10月21日に亡くなったが、自身の相続財産をほとんど管理していなかった。[4 ]公爵位は息子のジャン1世が継承したが、ピエールは1237年までジャン1世の摂政としてブルターニュの事実上の支配者であり続けた。
アリックスとピーターには次のようなものがあった。
トゥアールのアリックスは、ガブリエル・デタンプの小説Le Poids d'une couronne (légende bretonne) (1867–1868)のヒロインであり、レア・シャイユの小説Dans l'Ombre du Passé (2020)にも言及されており、そこでヒロインの名前が彼女にちなんで名付けられていることが明らかにされています。