Montoire

The House of Montoire was a noble family of the Loire valley. Its first known ancestor Hubert held Langeais castle as a vassal of Fulk Nerra of Anjou around 1000. About 1073 Hamelin II married Helvise, heiress of Montoire on the Loir, and his descendants took its name.

Pierre II de Montoire married Agnes, daughter of Count Bouchard IV of Vendome. Their son John inherited the county from his uncle around 1218, ruling as John IV and joining Montoire permanently to Vendome. His line ended in 1412 with Countess Catherine.

Catherine had married John I of Bourbon-La Marche, and the inheritance passed to the Bourbon-Vendome branch. The county became a duchy-peerage in 1515; Catherine was an ancestor of Henry IV, who held it before taking the French throne in 1589.