Louis I (Earl of Nevers)

The exact year of birth of Louis is unknown, he was born between 1272 and 1279 . After the death of his mother in 1280, he inherited the county of Nevers , but until his coming of age, his father, Robert Bethune, was the regent in him. In December 1290, thanks to a marriage with Zhanna Retelskaya, Louis became, by his wife's right, also Count of Rethel .

At the end of the XIII - beginning of the XIV century, a war was going on between the Count of Flanders and the king of France. King Philip IV's goal was to join the wealthy county of Flanders to the royal domain. In 1305, the war ended with the signing of the Atis peace , the conditions of which turned out to be very humiliating and difficult for Flanders, but it retained formal independence. However, King Philip sought to finally subjugate Flanders.

In 1310, Philip IV sent his chancellor, Angerran de Marigny, to negotiate on Flanders. In 1311, Angerran proposed to Louis Neversky to give up his rights to Flanders in favor of the king. In exchange, Louis was offered three options: to obtain extensive peer possessions in the barges of Bourges and Sansa, located next to the Nevers and Retels counties; appoint his daughter Jeanne to be the heiress of Flanders and marry her for the French prince Philippe d'Evreux , nephew of the king; to marry his son Louis to the sister of Philippe d'Evreux, passing him Flanders. Louis rejected all these proposals. Louis also participated in the negotiations of Robert Bethune and Angerran in Tournai in September 1311, but they did not give any result. This was largely due to the position of Louis, who accused Marigny of acting in the interests of Count Enot. In December of that year, Louis was called to Paris and detained, but on January 6, 1312 he was able to escape. In his absence, a trial took place in early February, which declared Louis a traitor and announced the confiscation of his possessions - Nevers and Retels. His father, summoned to the court of peers, July 11, 1312 he was forced to cede to Philip IV Walloon Flanders, including Lille , Douai and Bethune .

After the father concluded a new contract with France, Louis did not calm down. He went to imperial Flanders, where he tried to foment a rebellion against King Philip, and the transfer of land to France was delayed. Only the agreement in Marquette (near Lille) in 1314 between the agreement on the transfer of Walloon Flanders was ratified. In this case, confiscated Nevers and Rethel returned to Louis. In turn, Louis promised to give his daughter Jeanne to Philippe d'Evreux, and marry his heir Louis to one of Philippe's sisters. The heir himself had to live at the French court, being under the tutelage of Louis d'Evreux , brother of the king, his future father-in-law.

But much has changed the death of King Philip IV in November 1314, as well as the aftermath, after Philip V became king of France in 1316 , unrest in France. Robert, the father of Louis, tried to take advantage of the difficulties of the French crown, but the outbreak of the war did not give any result, as the Flanders cities refused to support the count. Moreover, in 1319, Louis Neversky, along with his brother Robert , opposed his father on the side of the cities. In order to avoid a civil war, Robert was forced to make peace with France, which was signed on May 5, 1320 . According to the agreement, Robert did not proclaim his heir to Louis of Nevers, but to the son of Louis, who married the daughter of Philip V., who lived in the French court.

But in the end, Louis died before his father - July 24, 1322 in Paris. His possessions were inherited by his only son, Louis, who became, after the death of Robert Bethune, on September 17 of the same year, the count of Flanders.

Wife: from December 1290 Jeanne Retelskaya (d. C. 1328), Countess Rethel, daughter of Hugo IV , Count Rethel, and Isabella de Grandpre. Children:

• Jeanne (c. 1295 - September 1374); husband: Jean (IV) (1293 - September 26, 1345), Count de Montfort-l'Amory , Duke of Brittany from 1341
• Louis I of Nevers (c. 1304 - August 25, 1346) - Count of Flanders from 1322, Count of Nevers (Louis II) from 1322, Count of Retel from 1328

• Pirenne A. Medieval cities of Belgium. - SPb. : Publishing group "Eurasia", 2001. - 512 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-8071-0093-X .
• Favier Jean. Angerran de Marigny. Advisor to Philip IV the Beautiful / Per. with french Lentovskoy A.V. - SPb. : Publishing group "Eurasia", 2003. - 336 p. - 1,500 copies. - ISBN 5-8071-0127-8 .

• COUNTS of FLANDERS 1244-1405 (DAMPIERRE ) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy . Date of treatment December 24, 2009. Archived March 21, 2012.