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- BIOGRAPHY
Jacques de Savoie, prince of Achaea, lord of Piedmont, was born on 16 January 1315, the son of Philippe de Savoie, prince of Achaea and Morea, and his second wife Cathérine de La Tour du Pin. He was the lord of Piedmont from 1334 to his death. While his father had abandoned his claim to the principality of Achaea in 1307, Jacques continued to use the princely title and even passed it on to his successors.
On 3 February 1339 Jacques married Béatrice d'Este, daughter of Markgrave Rinaldo II d'Este and his first wife Lucrezia de Barbiano. However she died a week after their wedding. On 9 June that year he married Sibylle de Baux, daughter of Raymond I de Baux, 2.conte d'Avellino, regent of Naples-Sicily, and his second wife Stephanette de Baux. They had a son Philippe and daughter Marie, neither of whom had progeny. Sibylle died in 1361 or the first half of 1362. On 16 July 1362 Jacques married Marguerite de Beaujeu, daughter of Edouard I de Beaujeu, seigneur de Montpensier-en-Auvergne, and Marie de Thil. Both their sons Amadeo and Louis would have progeny.
Jacques opposed Robert of Sicily-Anjou, titular emperor of Constantinople, in Achaea in the 1340s. He began a war with Amadeo VI, count of Savoy, but was captured at Pinerolo and his territories confiscated. However a treaty of 2 July 1362 returned them. The father of Jacques' third wife Marguerite was a second cousin of Amadeo VI, possibly explaining the favourable turn in Jacques's fortunes, which occurred shortly before his wedding to her. Jacques died at Pinerolo on 17 May 1367.
For an unexplained reason Jacques declared Amadeo, his elder son by Marguerite, his heir, and repudiated his eldest son Philippe, declaring him a traitor. Philippe died childless in October 1368.
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