Marie of Savoy, Countess of Saint-Pol

Marie of Savoy, Countess of Saint-Pol, de Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano (20 March 1448 – 1475) was the second wife of Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Constable of France. She was a younger daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus, one of nineteen children.

Family and marriage

Marie was born on 20 March 1448, one of the 19 children of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus.

In 1454 at the age of six, she was betrothed to Filippo Maria Sforza (1448–1492), the son of Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bianca Maria Visconti. The contract was dated 13 December 1454.^[1] For reasons unknown, the betrothal was annulled, and he married instead his cousin, Costanza Sforza.

In 1466, she married Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, de Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano, Constable of France (1418–19 December 1475). The marriage contract was dated 1 August 1466. She was his second wife, his first wife, Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marle and Soissons having died in 1462. Together Louis and Marie had three children:

• Louis of Luxembourg, Duke of Andria, and of Venosa, Prince of Altamura (died 31 December 1503), married Eleanor of Guevara and Beaux, Princess of Altamura. He was Governor of Picardy and a Lieutenant General in the French Army.
• Jeanne of Luxembourg, a nun in Ghent
• Marguerite of Luxembourg (died 1494), Abbess of Soissons

Louis had seven children by his first wife, Jeanne, including Pierre II of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, who was married to Marie's elder sister, Margaret. He also had one illegitimate son, Gilles, by his mistress Catherine de Faveine, as well as six others by unknown mistresses.^[2]

Marie died in 1475, the same year her husband was beheaded for treason against Louis XI of France.

References