Nevers

Nevers was a county centred on the Loire town of Nevers. In 1337 its count was Louis I of the Dampierre family, who also ruled Flanders and Rethel and held Nevers as a French vassal.

Driven from Flanders by Jacob van Artevelde's revolt in 1339, Louis fell at Crécy in 1346. His granddaughter Margaret brought Nevers to Philip the Bold of Burgundy, whose younger son founded a separate line. Raised to a duchy in 1539, Nevers passed to Louis Gonzaga by marriage in 1565; the last Gonzaga duke sold it to Cardinal Mazarin.