Beatrice, Countess of Montfort

Beatrice de Montfort, Countess of Montfort-l'Amaury (c. December 1248/1249 – 9 March 1312) was sovereign countess of Montfort, as well as the countess of Drux by marriage to Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux. She was the ancestor of the Dukes of Brittany from the House of Montfort-Dreux which derived its name from her title.

Family

Beatrice was born sometime between December 1248 and 1249, the only child of Jean I de Montfort, Count of Dreux and Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun. Her paternal grandparents were Amaury VI, Count of Montfort and Beatrice of Burgundy, and her maternal grandparents were Geoffrey VI, Viscount de Chateaudun and Clémence des Roches. Her great- grandfather Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade.

In 1249, Beatrice's father died in Cyprus, while participating in the Seventh Crusade, leaving her mother a widow. In 1251, Jeanne married her second husband, Jean de Brienne, Grand Butler of France. Jeanne and Jean had a daughter Blanche de Brienne, Baroness Tingry (1252–1302); Blanche married William II de Fiennes, Baron of Tingry. Jeanne died sometime after 1252, leaving her Beatrice and her half-sister Blanche as her co-heiresses.

Marriage

Beatrice was married to Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux, Braine and Montfort-l'Amaury in 1260, when she was about eleven years old. He was the son of John I of Dreux, Count of Dreux and Braine, and Marie de Bourbon. The marriage produced six children. Robert inherited the titles of Dreux and Braine following the death of his father in 1249, and after his marriage succeeded to the title of de Montfort by right of his wife.

Issue

• Marie of Dreux (1261/62–1276), in 1275 married Mathieu de Montmorency.
• Yolande de Dreux (1263–1323), Countess of Montfort
• John II of Dreux (1265–1309)
• Joan of Dreux, Countess of Braine, married firstly Jean IV de Roucy, and secondly John of Bar.
• Beatrice of Dreux, Abbess of Pont-Royal (1270–1328)
• Robert of Dreux, seigneur of Chateau-du-Loire.

Death

Beatrice died on 9 March 1312 at the age of sixty-three. She was buried in the Abbaye de Haute- Bruyère. Duke John V of Brittany and French Queen consort Anne of Brittany, French Queen Claude and several other French monarchs were among her notable descendants.

Ancestry