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- BIOGRAPHY
Jeanne was born in 1465, the daughter of Jean II de Bourbon, comte de Vendôme, and Isabella de Beauvau, dame de Champigny et de La Roche-sur-Yon.
In June 1487 Jeanne married Jean II, duc de Bourbon, son of Charles I, duc de Bourbon, and Agnès de Bourgogne. The groom was about sixty-one years old and the bride only twenty-two. Jean had survived two previous wives and his only son. He was in need of an heir. In the following year they had a son Louis. He was the needed heir but did not long survive his birth. Jean died the same year.
After Jeanne had become widowed, it is said that Charles VIII of France became so struck by her charms that he wished to marry her. A location for the wedding (Moulins) was even selected. However his mother Charlotte de Savoie had another match in mind for her son: the wealthy heiress Anne, duchesse de Bretagne. Consequently the king's engagement with Jeanne was broken off. It was said that Jeanne would have been queen of France if beauty and love could have worn the crown.
Jeanne remained a widow for seven years. On 2 January 1495 she married her second husband Jean I de La Tour, comte d'Auvergne et de Lauraguais, son of Bertrand (VI-V-II) de La Tour, comte d'Auvergne et Boulogne, and Louise de La Trémouille, dame de Bomiers, de St. Just et Boussac. They had three daughters of whom Anne and Madeleine would have progeny; the latter would become the mother of Catharina de' Medici.
Jean died in 1501, and in 1503 Jeanne married her third and last husband François de la Pause, baron de la Garde. They had no surviving issue. Jeanne died on 22 January 1511.
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