Louis I of Westport

Louis I (19th Plue. 1352 - 26 Plue. 1414), nicknamed Louis the Grand, the Great, or the Triumphant, was a Prince of Westport. He was the first of the Gallouis Princes, having been largely responsible for the First and Second Fallguard Revolts as well as their escalation into the Westportian War for Independence. His reign was marked not only by Westport's independence but also her consolidation as a great maritime trade power, regulating the royal tribute owed by shipping companies to the crown and striking diplomatic deals to forge new commercial routes under a free and sovereign West.

Early Life

Louis was born at the ducal palace in Rovercourt, then located in the Rafian Dominion of Westport, on the 19th of Plueratio 1352, first-born to Theodosius II, 6th Duke of Rovercourt and his wife, Frances Beasley, daughter to the Count of Beasley. Son of a powerful family in Westport with roots in Pargentie, Louis was taught to speak Rafian, Lobrandosian and Pargentais. Against his father's wishes, his mother endeavoured to have him tutored in the Western tongue, due to being used to speak it as a Westportian native. To Rafian high nobility, use of the Western language was considered uncouth and lowly, and the use of Rafian as a replacement was common in the upper eschelon of Westportian nobility. Louis was, through his mother's efforts, able to recieve an education in Westportian, which would prove useful in later years.
Louis was known to have a penchant for hunting from an early age. Often taken on great hunts by his father, he is documented to have slain his first buck at age seven (after it had been immobilized by a musket shot to the neck by his uncle Charles). This habit would continue well into his adulthood and follow him until the end of his life, given one month before he fell ill with the plague that would come to take his life he purportedly killed "nine does, seven bucks, three eagles and twelve hares and rabbits of good condition" on a 4 hour hunt. He was known to oppose hunting for simple sport and always made it a point to have every part of the animal carcass put to practical use, including, in the case of big game, having the pelt and hides tanned and made into clothing, the meat used in cooking and the head sawn off, preserved and mounted in a hunting room as decoration.
He was opposed to marriage in his teen years, remaining very pious and insisting that God only could choose his betrothed. He was presented with several proposals for marriage with many young Westportian noblewomen, all of which he turned down. He was eventually stricken with Margaret of Saltin, niece of the Duke of Saltin, whom he met on a visit to Pargentie when he was 19 years old (and she 16). Arrangements were made and they were married on the 3rd of Sarculatio 1376, five years later, in the Grand Church of Rovercourt.

Portrait by Vasco de Pena, 1400.

Arms as Prince of Westport.

Duke of Rovercourt

Reign: 31 Cont. 1379- 30 Sarc. 1398
Predecessor: Theodosius II
Successor: Henry

Prince of Westport

Reign: 1 Cess. 1393- 17 Inri. 1414
Predecessor: Maurice of Rafia (as Prince of the Dominion of Westport)
Successor: Henry __________________________________________
Born: 19 Plue. 1352

Rovercourt, Dominion of Westport

Died: 26 Plue. 1414 (aged 62)

Palace of the Bay, Fallguard, Westport

Burial: 5 Prov. 1460

Royal Crypt, Fallguard

Spouse: Margaret of Saltin (m. 1376, died 1396)

Philippa of Ceredania (m. 1398)

Issue:

Louis

Henry

Margaret

Frances

Louise

William

Louis

Anne

Names:

Louis William James

House: Gallouis
Father: Theodosius II, Duke of Rovercourt
Mother: Frances Beasley