René d'Anjou.

1409 – 1480

Lord then Count of Guise 1417–1425, Duke of Bar 1430–1480, Duke consort of Lorraine 1431–1453, King of Naples 1435–1442, Duke of Anjou 1434–1480, Count of Provence and Forcalquier 1434–1480, Titular King of Jerusalem 1435–1480 and of Aragon 1466–1480.

René I of Naples, or René of Anjou, or again René of Sicily, nicknamed by his Provençal subjects the «Good King René», born in 1409, is the second son of Louis II of Anjou and Yolande of Aragon. On the death of his father (1417), he receives the land of Guise, which is raised to a county by his brother-in-law, the future Charles VII. The House of Anjou supports the dauphin, and the Duke of Bedford, regent in the name of the King of England Henry VI, confiscates their possessions north of the Loire and grants Guise to John of Luxembourg, who takes Guise in 1425. René of Anjou becomes Duke consort of Lorraine in 1431 through his marriage to Isabella, daughter of Charles II of Lorraine. The marriage dates from 1420, and on that occasion Duke Louis of Bar had ceded him his duchy.

The Duchy of Lorraine, inherited from his father-in-law, was contested by Antoine of Vaudémont, supported by the Burgundian party, who defeated him in 1431 (battle of Bulgnéville). René the Good was taken prisoner by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, called Philip the Good, who freed him only in exchange for his sons John and Louis. Supported by the Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg in his claims to the Duchy of Lorraine, he was imprisoned once again by Philip the Good, then released for a ransom. He inherited the Kingdom of Naples in 1435 by the will of Joanna II, Queen of Naples, and fought, from 1438 to 1442, without success, against Alfonso V of Aragon to assert his rights. He returned to France in 1442, keeping of the Kingdom of Naples only the title of King of Jerusalem and of Sicily. In 1453, on the death of Isabella I of Lorraine his wife, René transmitted the Duchy of Lorraine to his son John II, Duke of Calabria, and remarried the following year with Jeanne de Laval.

During the Hundred Years' War, he supports Charles VII against the English. (Charles VII had married his sister Marie.) Faithful among the faithful, he attends the coronation at Reims in 1429.

René I died at Aix-en-Provence on 10 July 1480. The Provençals wished to keep the remains of the Good King René in their Provençal lands, but the Angevins did not see it that way. The latter organised, by night, the flight of the deceased by concealing him in a barrel. Once placed on a boat, it slipped away discreetly down the Rhône. The body of King René reached Anjou and was buried with honour and devotion in the cathedral of Angers.

Anjou thenceforth ceased to be an appanage and entered definitively into the royal domain. The Duchy of Bar passes to his daughter Yolande (already Duchess of Lorraine since 1473), the counties of Provence and Forcalquier pass to his nephew Charles (already Count of Maine since 1473), while the Duchy of Anjou is seized by Louis XI.

The arms of René of Anjou evolved over time according to his fortunes and misfortunes, as well as his claims.

In 1420, he marries Isabella I of Lorraine, heiress of the Duchy of Lorraine, and his uncle the Duke of Bar designates him as his successor: he adopts a quartering of Anjou and the Barrois and places Lorraine in the heart.

Quarterly, in 1 and 4 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a bordure gules, in 2 and 3 azure semé of crosslets or and two barbels or. Overall, or a bend gules charged with three alérions argent.

In 1434, his brother Louis III dies, followed in 1435 by Queen Joanna II of Naples, who had designated him as heir. René then takes up their claims for himself: his shield is divided into 6 parts, each corresponding to Hungary, Sicily, Jerusalem, Anjou, Bar and Lorraine.

Per fess and tierced in pale, in 1 barry gules and argent, in 2 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a label gules, in 3 argent a cross potent or cantoned with four crosslets of the same, in 4 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a bordure gules, in 5 azure semé of crosslets or and two barbels or, and in 6 or a bend gules charged with three alérions argent.

In 1443, his mother Yolande of Aragon dies, bequeathing him her claims to the Kingdom of Aragon. She was the only daughter of King John I of Aragon, but the throne had passed to his younger brother, then to the son of one of John I's sisters. Yolande had then claimed the throne, without success. René then added the arms of Aragon to his blazon.

Per fess and tierced in pale, in 1 barry gules and argent, in 2 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a label gules, in 3 argent a cross potent or cantoned with four crosslets of the same, in 4 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a bordure gules, in 5 azure semé of crosslets or and two barbels or, and in 6 or a bend gules charged with three alérions argent. Overall, or four pallets gules.

In 1453, Isabella of Lorraine dies, and it is their son John II of Lorraine who becomes duke. René then removes Lorraine from his blazon.

Per fess, the chief tierced in pale, in 1 barry gules and argent, in 2 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a label gules, in 3 argent a cross potent or cantoned with four crosslets of the same, and the base party of azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a bordure gules, and azure semé of crosslets or and two barbels or. Overall, or four pallets gules.

Finally, in 1470, he renounces Aragon after the death of his son John II of Lorraine, who was attempting its conquest. Moreover, the lilies of France were simplified in the fifteenth century and reduced to three fleurs-de-lis or, which was applied to Anjou but not to Naples. The shield was reorganised, with a quartering per saltire.

Quarterly per saltire, in 1 azure semé of fleurs-de-lis or and a label gules, in 2 barry gules and argent, in 3 argent a cross potent or cantoned with four crosslets of the same, in 4 azure semé of crosslets or and two barbels or. Overall, azure three fleurs-de-lis or and a bordure gules.