Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAlix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy
Noblewoman
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Château de Suscinio, Brittany, France
About Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy
- Alix of Brittany, Dame de Pontarcy, Countess of Blois (6 June 1243 – 2 August 1288), was a Breton noblewoman and a member of the House of Dreux as the eldest daughter of John I, Duke of Brittany.
- She married John I, Count of Blois.
- Alix was known for founding religious houses including the Monastery of La Guiche, where she was later buried. Alix, named after her paternal grandmother, Alix of Thouars, was born on 6 June 1243 at the Château de Suscinio in Sarzeau, Morbihan, Brittany.
- She was the eldest daughter of John I, Duke of Brittany and Blanche of Navarre, daughter of Theobald I of Navarre and Agnes of Beaujeu.
- Alix held the title Dame de Pontarcy in her own right. Sometime after a contract was signed on 11 December 1254, she married John I, Count of Blois of the House of Châtillon.
- Thereafter she was styled Countess of Blois.
- She brought as her dowry her titles of Pontarcy and de Brie-Comte-Robert, which had been named after her ancestor Robert I of Dreux.
- The marriage produced one child, a daughter Jeanne, who was heiress to her father's title and estates.
- In 1270, her husband was appointed Lieutenant General of France. Through Alix's marriage to John, the Château de Brie-Comte-Robert passed to the Châtillon family. Alix and John founded several religious houses including the Monastery of La Guiche near Blois in 1277.
- She became a widow on 28 June 1279.
- In 1287, the year before her own death, Alix travelled to Palestine.
- From there she journeyed on to Syria, where she commissioned the erection of two barbican towers at Ptolemais.
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