Jean II, Duke of Alençon

Who was Jean II, Duke of Alençon?

John II of Alençon was the son of John I of Alençon and his wife Marie of Brittany, Lady of La Guerche, daughter of John V, Duke of Brittany and Joan of Navarre. He succeeded his father as Duke of Alençon and Count of Perche as a minor in 1415, after the latter's death at the Battle of Agincourt. He is best known as a general in the Last Phase of the Hundred Years' War and for his role as a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc, who called him "le beau duc".

He saw action at the age of fifteen at the Battle of Verneuil on 17 August 1424, and was captured by the English. He was held prisoner until 1429 at Le Crotoy, paying 200,000 saluts d'or for his ransom. He sold all he possessed to the English, and his fief of Fougères to the Duke of Brittany. After Alençon's capture, the Duke of Bedford, regent of Henry VI, took control of his duchy. He would not regain Alençon until 1449, but remained the titular duke in the eyes of the French crown. When he left prison, Jean d'Alençon was called "the poorest man in France".

Before his capture at Verneuil, he had married in 1424, at the Chateau de Blois, Jeanne of Valois, daughter of Charles, duc d'Orléans and Isabella of Valois, but she died in Angers in 1432, having given him no children.