The first counts of Rethel ruled independently, before the county passed first to the counts of Nevers, then to the counts of Flanders, and finally to the dukes of Burgundy. In 1405 the county became part of the peerage of France, and in 1581 it was elevated to a duchy. In 1663 it became the Duchy of Mazarin.
The county was active in the crusades. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem was the brother of Count Gervais and Countess Matilda of Rethel, while Beatrice of Rethel married Leo I, Prince of Armenia.
Nowadays, the title is still claimed by her descendants, the Sovereign Princes of Monaco.
The Capetian house of Valois was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet to the French throne, and were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589. Junior members of the family founded cadet branches in Orléans, Anjou, Burgundy, and Alençon.
Philip II the Bold was Duke of Burgundy and jure uxoris Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg.
Engelbert of Cleves, Count of Nevers was the younger son of John I, Duke of Cleves and Elizabeth of Nevers, only surviving child of John II, Count of Nevers.
Anthony, Duke of Brabant, also known as Antoine de Brabant, Antoine de Bourgogne and Anthony of Burgundy, was Count of Rethel (1402–1406), Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg (1406–1415), and Co-Duke of Luxemburg (1411-1415). He was killed at the battle of Agincourt.
Margaret III was a ruling Countess of Flanders, Countess of Artois, and Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne between 1384 and 1405. She was the last Countess of Flanders of the House of Dampierre.
The counts of Nevers were the rulers of the County of Nevers, in France, The territory became a duchy in the peerage of France in 1539 under the dukes of Nevers.
The County of Artois was a historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659.
In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands or the Burgundian Age is the period between 1384 and 1482, during which a growing part of the Low Countries was ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy. Within their Burgundian State, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly to the Kingdom of France, the dukes united these lowlands into a political union that went beyond a personal union as it gained central institutions for the first time.
Louis II, also known as Louis of Male, a member of the House of Dampierre, was Count of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel from 1346 as well as Count of Artois and Burgundy from 1382 until his death.
Phillip II, Count of Nevers was the youngest son of Philip the Bold and Margaret III of Flanders.
Margaret I was a Capetian princess who ruled as Countess of Burgundy and Artois from 1361 until her death. She was also countess of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel by marriage to Louis I of Flanders, and regent of Flanders during the minority of her son, Louis II, in 1346.
John II, Count of Nevers was a French noble.
Margaret of Bavaria was Duchess of Burgundy by marriage to John the Fearless. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low Countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy during the absence of her son in 1419–1423. She became most known for her successful defense of the Duchy of Burgundy against Count John IV of Armagnac in 1419.
The House of Valois-Burgundy, or the Younger House of Burgundy, was a noble French family deriving from the royal House of Valois. It is distinct from the Capetian House of Burgundy, descendants of King Robert II of France, though both houses stem from the Capetian dynasty. They ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1363 to 1482 and later came to rule vast lands including Artois, Flanders, Luxembourg, Hainault, the county palatine of Burgundy (Franche-Comté), and other lands through marriage, forming what is now known as the Burgundian State.
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
The House of Dampierre played an important role during the Middle Ages. Named after Dampierre, in the Champagne region, where members first became prominent, members of the family were later Count of Flanders, Count of Nevers, Counts and Dukes of Rethel, Count of Artois and Count of Franche-Comté.
Ermentrude de Roucy (Irmtrude) was a Countess and Duchess of Burgundy.
The County of Rethel, promoted to Duchy of Rethel in 1581 and finally the Duchy of Mazarin after 1659, was a historic county in the French region of Ardennes. Its capital was the city of Rethel. The duchy was abolished due to the French Revolution in 1789.