Mary d’Harcourt, the woman who would later become known under her married name Mary of Guelders, led a tumultuous life. Born in 1378 and raised among the nobility of the French court, she eventually married a duke of high standing and commissioned an extraordinary prayer book of outstanding quality. She died childless in 1427.



Mary d’Harcourt had already led an entire life before she married Renaud IV, Duke of Guelders, on 5 May 1405 in Bastogne. She was almost thirty years of age and neither she nor forty-year-old Renaud had been married before. Renaud was an ambitious and reckless duke who had worked hard to consolidate Guelders’ position by strengthening his bonds with France. He had, however, only fathered illegitimate children, so the continuation of the dynasty could not be ensured. To remedy this situation, a marriage was arranged between Renaud and a princess of high standing who was to bear his children, thus ensuring the line would continue. Louis of Orleans, brother to the mad king Charles, provided the immense dowry which would have to be returned if the marriage remained childless.

Mary d’Harcourt was daughter to John VI, Count of Aumale, and Catherine of Bourbon. She was woman in waiting to Valentina Visconti, wife of Louis of Orleans, which meant she was very familiar with the highest of French court culture. During her time there, she exchanged gifts with her uncle John of Berry, a book enthusiast who regularly commissioned the Limbourg Brothers to illustrate his collection.

Relatively little is known of her years in Guelders, but it is almost certain she remained in contact with France. It must have been quite a shock for her when she learnt that Louis of Orleans had been murdered on 23 November 1407 at the instigation of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. In the years following the assassination, she started to commission her extraordinarily ambitious book filled with prayers. We know that the copyist finished taking down the text in 1415, but it is not unthinkable that it took him five years to write it all down. It then took several years more for the book to reach its gloriously illuminated final form.

The marriage remained childless and Renaud died on 25 June 1423. As before, a battle for succession broke out in Guelders, resulting in a break of the union between Guelders and Jülich. On 24 February 1426, Mary married Ruprecht of Berg, Duke of Jülich, and was no longer Duchess of Guelders.

During her years as a widow, she expanded her prayer book, a strong indication that she cherished and used the book throughout her life. Unfortunately, she was unable to enjoy her extended prayer book or her second marriage for very long: as far as we know, Mary died in 1427. She was buried in Nideggen, between Aachen and Bonn, south of the Duchy of Jülich. [JO]