ST. URBAIN, Ferdinand de: Lorraine, ca. 1720, Bronze, 47 mm
Obv: Bust (r) RENAT. I. D. GR. IER. SICIL. D. AND. CAL. LOT. BAR. PROV. COM
Rev: Bust (l) ELIZABETH. A .LOT. REGINA. IER. SICIL. DVCISSA. CAL. LOT. BAR
Signed: .SV.
Ref: From the Series of the Dukes and Duchesses of Lorraine. Forrer V, p.310 #38; Mirnik #21;  Weiss BW763

René d’Anjou (1409-1480) was born at Angers. His parents were Louis II duke of Anjou and Provence and Yolande of Aragon. In 1419 his granduncle, the Cardinal Louis duke of Bar, adopted him as inheritor of the duchy of Bar. In 1420, when he was thirteen years old, René was married to Isabelle (1400-1454), the ten year old heiress of Lorraine. Isabelle’s parents were duke Charles II of Lorraine and Marguerite of Bavaria. At the time of Renés marriage, Charles the dauphin of France was married to René’s sister Marie and had lived at the Angevin court for five years. By the time René was twenty, in 1429, he and Isabelle had four children: Louis, Yolande, Jean, and Marguerite.