Counts and dukes of Alençon

Alençon was granted as an appanage to Peter, son of Louis IX of France,[1] and then to Charles, count of Valois, brother of Philip IV (1293).

Jean, 1st Duc d'Alençon, was killed at Agincourt, 1415, after having with his own hand slain the Duke of York.

His son, Jean, 2nd Duc d'Alençon (who features in Shakespeare's Henry VI), was dispossessed of his duchy in the Battle of Verneuil on 17 August 1424: the Duke was defeated and taken prisoner by English forces led by John, Duke of Bedford.

[3] In 1524 the dukedom of Alençon reverted to the crown, in consequence of the death of the childless Duke Charles IV, who was married to Marguerite, sister of Francis I; Marguerite appears to have kept the title for life, as her second husband, Henry II of Navarre, used it in 1540.

The title was given as a jointure to Catherine de' Medici in 1559, and as an appanage to her youngest son Francis in 1566.