Jeanne II, Countess of Burgundy

"See also: Joan of Burgundy"Jeanne, Countess of Burgundy (15 January1292 - 21 January 1330), also known as Jeanne de Bourgogne, Jeanne, Comtesse de Bourgogne and Joan, Countess Palatine of Burgundy, was the eldest daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy and his wife Mahaut, Countess of Artois. She was married to Philippe, Count of Poitiers, the second son of King Philip IV, in 1307. Jeanne bore him at least seven children, of whom only four daughters survived:

# Joan (1308 - 1349). Consort of Eudes IV of Burgundy. Countess of Burgundy and Artois.
# Marguerite (1310 - May 9, 1382). Consort of Louis I of Flanders. Countess of Burgundy and Artois.
# Isabelle (c. 1312 - April, 1348). Consort to Guigues VIII de La Tour du Pin, Dauphin du Viennois.
# Blanche of France, 1313-1358, died unmarried and childless.
# Philip, 1313-1317.
# Louis, who lived 1316-1317
# A daughter, 1322.

In the beginning of 1314, Jeanne's sister Blanche and her sister-in-law Marguerite - were convicted of adultery with two knights, upon the testimony of their sister-in-law, Isabelle. Jeanne was thought to have known of the affairs, and was placed under house arrest at Dourdan as punishment. She continued to protest her innocence, as did her husband, who had refused to repudiate her, and by 1315 - through the influence of her mother and husband - her name had been cleared by the Paris Parlement, and she was allowed to return to court. [Weir, Alison, "Isabella"]

With the death of her husband's nephew, John I of France, Philippe became Philip V of France; Jeanne became Queen Consort. She was crowned with her husband at Reims on 9 January 1317.

Despite the embarrassment caused to the royal family by her involvement in the affairs and imprisonment of the royal Princesses, Jeanne and Philippe produced two more children; neither survived childhood.

Her father, the Count of Burgundy, died in 1302, and his titles were inherited by his only legitimate son, Robert. Upon Robert's death in 1315, the County of Burgundy was inherited by Jeanne. In 1329, she inherited her mother's title of Countess of Artois.

After her husband's death, Jeanne lived in her own domains. She died at Roye-en-Artois, on 21 January 1330, and was buried in Saint-Denis beside her husband. Her titles were inherited by her eldest daughter, also named Jeanne, who had married Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy in 1318. With the elder Jeanne's death, the County and Duchy of Burgundy became united through this marriage.

Jeanne left provision in her will for the founding of a college in Paris; it was named "le collège de Bourgogne", "The Burgundy College."