Louis I of Thouars


Louis I was Viscount of Thouars from 1333 to 1370 and Count of Dreux jure uxoris from 1345 to 1355. He was also lord of Talmont and Mauléon. Louis was the son of Jean I, Viscount of Thouars, and Blanche of Brabant.

Life

He succeeded his uncle, Hugh II, as viscount of Thouars in 1333. Louis was an ally of Philip VI of France throughout his reign and served in the French army against Edward III of England as a banner-man from 1338 until 1341 in the first stage of the Hundred Years' War. Later, he fought on the side of King John the Good at the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. In the Treaty of Brétigny, Thouars fell under English control and the Englishman John Chandos took possession of the town on 3 November 1361. The viscount's wife, Joan, made an oath of fidelity to the king of England in 1363.
Louis died at Talmond on 7 April 1370. His son, Simon, had succeeded to the County of Dreux upon the death of Joan in 1355, but Simon's death in 1365 meant that his eldest daughter, Péronelle, Countess of Dreux, inherited Thouars after his death.

Marriages and Children

In 1330, Louis married as his first wife Joan, daughter of John II, Count of Dreux, and Péronnelle de Sully. They had two sons and three daughters:
In July 1361, he married Isabeau d'Avaugour, daughter of Henry IV d'Auvaugour and Jeanne d'Harcourt, widow of Geoffroy VIII de Chateaubriand, without further progeny.