Valois

(proper noun)

A cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet (or "Direct Capetians") as kings of France from 1328 to 1589. A cadet branch of the family reigned as dukes of Burgundy from 1363 to 1482. They were descendants of Charles of Valois, the fourth son of King Philip III. They based their claim on the Salic law, which excluded females (Joan II of Navarre) as well as male descendants through the distaff line (Edward III of England), from the succession to the French throne.

Related Terms

Examples of Valois in the following topics:

  • Chartreuse de Champmol

    • The monastery was founded in 1383, by Duke Philip the Bold, to provide a dynastic burial place for the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, and operated until it was dissolved in 1791, during the French Revolution.
    • The Valois dynasty of Burgundy had less than a century to run when the monastery was founded.
    • The number of Valois tombs never approached that of their Capetian predecessors at Cîteaux, as the choir of the church was not large enough to accommodate them.
    • Discuss how the Carthusian monastery Chartreuse de Champmol became "the grandest project in a reign renowned for extravagance" under the Valois dynasty of Burgundy

  • The End of the Carolingians

    • Capet's descendants—the Capetians, the House of Valois, and the House of Bourbon—progressively unified the country through wars and dynastic inheritance into the Kingdom of France, which was fully declared in 1190 by Philip II Augustus.

  • The Ancien Regime

    • The Ancien Régime (Old Regime or Former Regime) was the social and political system established in the Kingdom of France from approximately the 15th century until the latter part of the 18th century under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties.

  • Philip II and the Spanish Armada

    • Philip's third wife was Elisabeth of Valois, the eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.

  • The Hundred Years' War

    • The Hundred Years' War is the term used to describe a series of conflicts from 1337 to 1453, between the rulers of the Kingdom of England and the House of Valois for control of the French throne.

  • The French Wars of Religion

    • The crown, occupied by the House of Valois, generally supported the Catholic side, but on occasion switched over to the Protestant cause when politically expedient.