CHARLES OF BLOIS, BL.

Claimant of the Duchy of Brittany, Franciscan tertiary; b. c. 1319; d. Auray, Sept. 29, 1364. He was the son of Guy of Châtillon, Count of Blois, and Margaret of Valois, Philip VI's sister. Charles married Joan of Penthièvre (Brittany), and they had five children. Supported by France, he was engaged from 1341 in constant war for his wife's and his own succession to Brittany against the de Montforts aided by Edward III of England. From 1347 to 1356 he was an English captive; when he was killed in 1364, his wife surrendered her claim to John IV de Montfort in 1365. Charles supported vigorously the cause of St. ivo of Brittany, canonized 1347. His contemporaries respected him as a saint and wonder-worker. After his death an extraordinary cult developed, propagated by the Franciscan Order; but in 1368, at Duke John de Montfort's urging, it was condemned by urban v as premature and uncanonical. Investigations of his cause were interrupted by the Great Schism; the cult was authorized only in 1904. Charles is buried at Graces near Guicamp.

Feast: Sept. 29; June 20 (Blois); Oct. 14 (Vannes).

Bibliography: j.-c. cassard, Charles de Blois (Brest 1994). l. maÍtre, "Répertorium analytique des actes du règne de Charles de Blois" in Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Nantes (1904). f. plaine, ed., Monuments du procès de canonisation du bienheureux Charles de Blois (Saint-Brieuc 1921). b. a. pocquet du haut-jussÉ, "La Sainteté de Charles de Blois," Revue des questions historiques 105 (1926) 108–114. e. dÉprez, La "Querelle de Bretagne" de la captivité de Charles de Blois à la majorité de Jean IV de Montfort, 1347–1362 (Rennes 1926). f. baix, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart (Paris 1912–) 9:223–228.

[v. i. j. flint]