1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Penthièvre, Counts of

PENTHIÈVRE, COUNTS OF. In the 11th and 12th Centuries the countship of Penthièvre in Brittany (dep. of Cotes-du-Nord) belonged to a branch of the sovereign house of Brittany. Henry d’Avaugour, heir of this dynasty, was dispossessed of the countship in 1235 by the duke of Brittany, Pierre Mauclerc, who gave it as dowry to his daughter, Yolande, on her marriage in 1238 to Hugh of Lusignan, count of La Marche. Duke John I. of Brittany, Yolande’s brother, seized the count ship on her death in 1272. In 1337 Joan of Brittany brought Penthièvre to her husband, Charles de Chatillon-Blois. In 1437 Nicole de Blois, a descendant of this family, married Jean de Brosse, and was deprived of Penthièvre by the duke of Brittany, Francis II., in 1465. The countship, which was restored to Sebastian of Luxemburg, heir of the Brosses through his mother, was erected for him into a duchy in the peerage of France (duché-pairie) in 1569, and was afterwards held by the duchess of Mercœur, daughter of the first duke of Penthièvre, and then by her daughter, the duchess of Vendôme. The duchess of Vendôme’s grandson, Louis Joseph, inherited Penthièvre in 1669, but it was taken from him by decree in 1687 and adjudged to Anne Marie de Bourbon, princess of Conti. In 1696 it was sold to the count of Toulouse, whose son bore the title of duke of Penthièvre. This title passed by inheritance to the house of Orleans.