Louis I, Duke of Orléans

Louis I
Louis I of Orléans with Saint Agnes, detail of the Agony in the Garden attributed to Colart de Laon, c. 1405–1408
Tenure4 June 1392 – 23 November 1407
SuccessorCharles
Born(1372-03-13)13 March 1372
Hôtel Saint-Pol, Paris, France
Died23 November 1407(1407-11-23) (aged 35)
Le Marais, Paris, France
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1389)
Issue
House
FatherCharles V of France
MotherJoanna of Bourbon

Louis I (13 March 1372 23 November 1407) was Duke of Orléans from 1392 to his death in 1407. He was also Duke of Touraine (13861392), Count of Valois (1386?1406) Blois (13971407), Angoulême (14041407), Périgord (14001407) and Soissons (1404–07).

Louis was the younger brother of King Charles VI of France, and a powerful and polarizing figure in his day. Owing to the King's highly public struggles with mental illness, Louis worked with Charles's wife Queen Isabeau to try to lead the kingdom during Charles's frequent bouts of insanity. He struggled for control of France with John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. Louis was unpopular with the citizens of Paris due to his reputation for womanizing and his role in the Bal des Ardents tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of four French nobles and the near death of the king himself. He was assassinated in 1407 on orders of John the Fearless; John not only admitted to his role in the murder, but bragged openly about it. What began as a feud between factions of the royal family erupted into open warfare as a result of Louis's death. Louis's grandson would later become king of France as Louis XII.