Sire de Bourbon

Who is Sire de Bourbon?

The Sire de Bourbon or Seigneur de Bourbon, meaning Lord of Bourbon, was the title by which the rulers of the Bourbonnais were known, from 913 to 1327, and from which the cognomen of the illustrious royal House of the same name derives. Louis I, count of Clermont, the ultimate holder, was created the first "Duke of Bourbon" and made "count of La Marche" by his cousin, King Charles IV of France, in exchange for Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, thus absorbing the title.

This title dates to at least the early 10th century and Aymar de Bourbon. Aymar lived under the reign of the Carolingian overlord Charles III of France who gave to him, in the year 913, several strongholds on the river Allier, such as the castle in the medieval town of Bourbon-l'Archambault. Of Aymar's ten successors all but three took the name "d'Archambault". His line ended in 1200 with the death of Archambault VII, whose granddaughter, Mathilde of Bourbon, then became the first dame de Bourbon, as she was Archambault's eldest living relative. Mathilde's husband, Guy II of Dampierre, added Montluçon to the possessions of the Lords of Bourbon, which had expanded to the river Cher during the 11th and 12th centuries. Their son, Archambaud VIII "the Great", seigneur de Bourbon from the year 1216 to the year 1242, rose to connétable de France, the commander-in-chief of the French military.