Title: Countess and Marquise of Provence and Countess of Forcalquier and Gap

Alternate names/spellings:

Dates: 1207 - 1265 (Dates are approximate. ) 

Daughter of Count Thomas of Savoy, Marquis in Italy, and Margaret of Geneva, Beatrice of Savoy became one of the most well-connected and powerful women of her day. She came from a large and extraordinarily influential family which had connections and authority in areas ranging from Flanders to Valence, from Canterbury to Piedmont. Beatrice had four daughters with Raymond Berengar V, Count of Provence, whom she married in 1219. All of these women became queens: Marguerite married Louis IX of France; Eleanor married Henry III of England; Sanchia married Richard of Cornwall, who became King of the Romans in 1256; and, Beatrice married Charles of Anjou who became King of Sicily and Naples in 1266. After her husband’s death in 1245, Beatrice of Savoy based her court in Forcalquier and Gap, where she was active in anti-Angevin politics. During her rule, she astutely utilized control over trade routes and roads to further her political goals. After Beatrice’s daughter’s marriage to Charles of Anjou, Beatrice maintained strained and often contentious relations with him. These were only resolved in 1257 through the mediation of King Louis IX of France. In addition to her political activity, Beatrice commissioned a text on pediatrics as well as lyric poetry.

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