Royal: Blanche of England, 1392-1409

A stunning gold crown encrusted with gems resides in the treasury of the Residenz Palace in Munich, still connected with the former ruling family of Bavaria, the Wittelsbachs.  Once upon a time, an English princess carried this crown from her homeland in England to marry a distant Wittelsbach ancestor.  She bore a son, and died tragically young while carrying another child, who died in utero with her. 

Blanche, 1392-1409, was the daughter of Henry of Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, and the granddaughter of John of Gaunt and his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster.  She was named for her grandmother.  At the time of her birth, Blanche was only one of many Plantagenet cousins.  Her mother, Mary de Bohun, Henry's first wife, died in childbirth to Blanche's baby sister Philippa, who would also survive and later find a brilliant marriage as Queen of Norway, but that was a long way off.  In 1399, her father deposed his cousin, Richard II, and became Henry IV of England.  His children were now princes and princesses and valuable dynastic alliances.  One of those alliances was with King Rupert of Germany, whose son Louis, a Wittelsbach, would one day become Elector Palatine of the Rhine, an hereditary office in the Witteslbach family. 

The formal betrothal contract was signed in 1401 and Blanche was soon on her way to her new home, her resplendent crown packed in her trousseau.  On July 6, 1402, she was married at Cologne Cathedral, all of ten years old.  By 1406, she and Louis were living together as husband and wife and Blanche bore a son, Rupert, named for his German grandfather.  Her father celebrated in 1408 by making her a Lady of Garter.  In 1409, Blanche was carrying another child when she caught a fever.  Both she and the baby died in Alsace.  She was buried at the Church of St. Mary in Neustadt, where her tombstone survives today.  Louis went on to become Elector Palatine and marry again, having other children by his second wife Matilda.  Blanche's son Rupert died while still a teenager, not yet old enough for children of his own.

Princess Blanche's Crown

Jewels and art objects from the era of the Plantagenets (1154-1485) are rare.  Jewels were too valuable to take up space in a collection and museums wouldn't become popular until centuries later.  More often, jewelry was broken up and either sold to fund wars, given as surety, or broken up and remade into different ornaments as styles and needs changed.  One of the more glorious pieces that has survived is Princess Blanche's Crown, currently in the possession of the Wittelsbach family, former Kings of Bavaria.

The crown is a medieval circlet composed of 12 stylized fleur-de-lys, set with enamel, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds and pearls.  The lilies are detachable, and their settings numbered so that the corresponding pieces matched correctly.  The jeweler might have been a Parisian, but whoever he was, he'd put some forethought into the design of the piece, making it both functional and convertible.  The first mention of this crown was in 1399, in a listing of jewels that had belonged to King Richard II of England.  Richard had been married to Anne of Bohemia, and it's possible that the crown had come with her from what is now Prague, Czech Republic.  Skilled craftsmen traveled throughout Europe, and it's entirely possible that a Parisian would've found employment under Anne's father, then Holy Roman Emperor. 

Henry IV had deposed Richard II and would've inherited any jewels or art objects left over from Anne's time as Queen Consort of England.  King Rupert of Germany, a member of the Wittelsbach family, was eager for a match with the ruling family of England and requested the hand of Blanche, Henry's daughter, for his son Louis.  She would've needed a suitable trousseau of jewelry and this crown, with its roots in Europe, would've been an appropriate and grand choice.  Blanche and Louis were married in 1402 in Cologne, Germany, when Blanche was 11.  She would die young, as would her son, but the crown remained in the Wittelsbach family, passing through the generations.  It is now on display in the treasury of the Residenz Palace in Munich, along with the other treasures of Bavaria's former ruling family.