Louis I, Duke of Bourbon

Louis I, called the Lame (1279–1341), was the first Duke of Bourbon and a grandson of King Louis IX. Through his mother Beatrix of Burgundy he inherited Bourbon. He fought at the Golden Spurs and Mons-en-Pévèle and became Grand Chamberlain of France in 1310.

Crusading was his cause: he took the cross in 1316 and was to lead an expedition until Genoa destroyed the assembling fleet in 1319. A second crusade plan was cancelled in 1336 as war with England loomed.

In 1327 Charles IV took Clermont from him, gave him La Marche, and raised Bourbon to a duchy-peerage; his support for Philip VI's claim won Clermont back in 1331. Chroniclers report spells of severe mental infirmity, which some historians trace through his granddaughter Joanna to her son Charles VI. He died in 1341 and his son Peter succeeded him.