If you were a princess in 15th-century France, your life was basically a high-stakes chess game where you were the pawn. Most of these women are remembered for their beautiful portraits or their tragic ends. But Joan of France—often called Saint Joan of Valois—is different. Honestly, her story is one of the most brutal, yet weirdly empowering, examples of making the best of a terrible hand.
She wasn't the "pretty princess" of the fairy tales. In fact, history has been pretty unkind to her. She was born in 1464 to King Louis XI, a man so obsessed with power they called him "The Universal Spider." When Joan arrived, he wasn't happy. She was sickly, had a curved spine, and walked with a noticeable limp.
To her father, she wasn't a daughter; she was a political problem to be solved.
The Marriage Nobody Wanted
Imagine being twelve years old and forced to marry a man who literally hates the sight of you. That was Joan’s reality in 1476. Her father forced his second cousin, Louis, Duke of Orléans, to marry her. Why? Because the King suspected Joan was sterile due to her physical deformities. By marrying her to his rival, he hoped the Orléans line would simply die out.
It was a cold, calculated move. Louis of Orléans was fourteen and absolutely miserable about it. He reportedly sobbed during the wedding festivities.
For the next twenty-two years, Joan lived in a sort of limbo. She wasn't really a wife, but she wasn't free either. Louis treated her with a mix of coldness and public humiliation. He spent his time hunting, womanizing, and plotting against her family. Yet, here's the wild part: Joan was fiercely loyal to him. When he got himself locked up after a failed rebellion, she was the one who lobbied for his release. She actually visited him in prison when no one else would.
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You'd think that kind of loyalty would earn her some respect. Nope.
The Divorce Trial of the Century
In 1498, the game changed. Joan’s brother, King Charles VIII, died after accidentally hitting his head on a doorframe. Since he had no heirs, the crown went to Joan’s husband. Suddenly, she was the Queen of France.
But Louis XII didn't want a queen he found "unattractive." He wanted Anne of Brittany, the rich widow of the previous king. He needed her duchy to keep France whole. To get her, he had to get rid of Joan.
The annulment trial that followed was basically the 15th-century version of a tabloid scandal. Louis claimed the marriage was never consummated. He even stooped so low as to claim he had been "bewitched" or that her physical "defects" made it impossible to be with her.
Joan didn't just roll over. She fought back in court. She brought witnesses. She told the tribunal that they had lived as husband and wife. She even referenced times he had boasted about their physical relationship to his friends. It was a rare moment where a medieval woman stood up to a king and said, "You're lying."
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Ultimately, it didn't matter. The Pope, Alexander VI (the infamous Borgia Pope), had political reasons to stay on the King's good side. He granted the annulment in December 1498.
Turning Rejection into a Duchy
Most women would have been crushed. Joan was definitely hurt—she reportedly spent months in seclusion at the Château d'Amboise—but she was also smart. She didn't leave empty-handed. As part of the settlement, she was given the title of Duchess of Berry.
She moved to Bourges and basically became a powerhouse administrator. She wasn't just "retired." She governed the region with a focus on justice and the poor. She used her royal pension not for gowns or jewels, but to help the people her husband had ignored.
This is where the "Saint" part starts to come in. Since she was a kid, Joan had wanted to join a religious order. Now that she was "free" from her marriage, she finally could. But she didn't just join one; she founded her own.
The Order of the Annunciation
In 1501, she established the Order of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This wasn't some vanity project. She wrote the "Rule of Life" herself, focusing on the "Ten Virtues of Mary." It was a contemplative order, but it was born out of her own experiences of being sidelined and judged.
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She famously said, "I am ugly in body, but I want a beautiful soul."
She spent her final years as the Duchess-nun, balancing the management of her lands with the spiritual life of her convent. She died in 1505 at only 40 years old. Even in death, she couldn't catch a break; during the French Wars of Religion in 1562, Huguenots broke into her tomb and burned her remains.
Why Joan Matters in 2026
We talk a lot about "resilience" today, but Joan of France lived it in a way that’s hard to wrap our heads around. She was rejected by her father, humiliated by her husband, and mocked by the court for things she couldn't change.
The real lesson from her life isn't just that she was "pious." It’s that she refused to let other people’s definitions of her value stick. When she was Queen for a few months, she did her duty. When she was cast aside, she built a legacy that outlasted the king who rejected her.
What you can take away from her story:
- Reclamation of Narrative: You can’t control what people say about you, but you can control what you do with the resources you have. Joan took her "divorce settlement" and turned it into a sanctuary.
- Loyalty has limits: Joan was loyal to Louis when he was in trouble, but she didn't let that loyalty turn into self-destruction during the trial. She spoke her truth.
- Long-term legacy over short-term ego: Louis XII is remembered as a king who did some okay things but had a messy personal life. Joan is a canonized saint whose order still exists today.
If you ever feel like you're being "judged by the cover," remember the Duchess of Berry. She was the woman who was told she was "too ugly" to be Queen and decided to become a Saint instead.
Next Steps:
If you're ever in Bourges, visit the remains of the Annonciade monastery. It’s a quiet reminder that the most "discarded" people in history often leave the deepest marks. You might also want to look into the letters of her contemporary, Anne of France, to see how different sisters navigated the same treacherous court.