Jeanne des Roches, Dame de Sablé, de La Suze, de Briollay, de Mayet, de Loupeland, de Chateauneuf-sur-Sarte, de Genneteil, de Precigné, de Agon, and de Craon (c. 1195 – 28 September 1238) was a wealthy French noblewoman and heiress. She was also the suo jure seneschal

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

 of Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...

, which she had inherited from her father, Guillaume des Roches upon his death. The seneschalship passed to her husband, Amaury I, Sire de Craon, as well as the vast Sablè barony, to which she had succeeded in 1222.

Family

Jeanne was born in about 1195, the eldest daughter of Guillaume des Roches, Seneschal of Anjou and one of the greatest barons in Anjou and Maine. Her mother was Marguerite de Sablé

Marguerite de Sablé

Marguerite de Sablé, Dame de Sablé , was a French noblewoman and one of the wealthiest heiresses in the counties of Anjou and Maine...

, Dame de Sablé who had brought the rich Sablé barony to her husband. Jeanne had a brother Robert, who died in 1204, and a younger sister Clémence, Viscountess de Chateaudun (died after September 1259). Her paternal grandparents were Baudoin des Roches and Alix de Châtellerault, and her maternal grandparents were Robert de Sablé

Robert de Sablé

Robert de Sablé was the Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1191 to 1193 and Lord of Cyprus from 1191 to 1192.- Personal life :No exact record of his birth date exists, but it is believed he was relatively old at the time of his death. He was born to a respected military family in Anjou and...

 and Clémence de Mayenne, daughter of Geoffroy, Sire de Mayenne and Isabelle de Meulan

Isabelle de Meulan

Isabelle de Meulan, Dame de Mayenne, Dame de Craon was a French noblewoman, being the daughter of Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, Count of Meulan. Isabelle married twice; firstly to Geoffroy, Seigneur de Mayenne, and secondly to Maurice II, Sire de Craon...

.

Jeanne's father was a knight who had fought in the Third Crusade

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...

 in the service of the Angevin

House of Plantagenet

The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...

 kings of England and King Philip II of France

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

. Upon his death on 15 July 1222, Jeanne being the eldest surviving child, succeeded to the seneschalship of Anjou, as well as his vast lordships which included Sablé, La Suze, Briollay, Mayet, Loupeland, Chateauneuf-sur-Sarte, Genneteil, Precigné, and the Norman manor of Agon. Jeanne did homage to King Louis IX of France

Louis IX of France

Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...

 for Senescaltia Andegavie, Cenomannie et Turonie.. bone memorie Guillmus de Ruppiebus, genitor noster...tenuit in a charter dated 27 January 1226. The seneschalship and barony passed to her husband Amaury.

Marriage and issue

On an unknown date, Jeanne married Amaury I, Sire de Craon. He was the son of Maurice II, Sire de Craon and Isabelle de Meulan. Jeanne's mother-in-law, Isabelle de Meulan was also her maternal great-grandmother, as Isabelle had married twice; Geoffroy de Mayenne was her first husband, and Maurice de Craon her second.

Together Amaury and Jeanne had three children:

• Maurice IV de Craon, Sire de Craon (1213–1250), married Isabelle de Lusignan, half-sister of King Henry III of England
  Henry III of England
  Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
  
  , by whom he had three children.
• Jeanne de Craon, bethrothed in 1223 to Arthur of Brittany (1220–1223)
• Isabelle de Craon
  Isabelle de Craon
  Isabelle de Craon, Dame de Fougères , was a French noblewoman, being the daughter of Amaury I, Sire de Craon, a wealthy baron who was the possessor of many lordships in Anjou and Maine...
  
   (born 1212), married Raoul III, Sire de Fougères, by whom she had two children, Jean de Fougères, and Jeanne de Fougères
  Jeanne de Fougères
  Jeanne de Fougères, suo jure Lady of Fougères, Countess of La Marche and Angoulême , was a Breton noblewoman and heiress. She was the wife of Hugh XII of Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Count of Angoulême...
  
  , Dame de Fougères.

Jeanne died on 28 September 1238. Her husband had died in 1226.