Mari of Poher

Mari of Poher was the first Duchess of Britanny as well as the Countess of Poher and, as consort of Emperor Charles the Younger, Holy Roman Empress between 832 and her death in 849. Renowned for her beauty, Mari was a much sought-after match who was courted by many local noblemen, but she rejected them all. Some have suggested that this might have been because in her adolescence, she developed a romantic attraction to women which she kept hidden. She did, however, accept the suit of Emperor Charles the Younger when he came to vie for her hand, convinced that the Emperor was a good match who would help her keep her lands.

Over the course of her marriage to the Emperor, which resulted in a son and three daughters, she proved an able and well-beloved Empress. A diary fragment in her hand-writing dated to the early 840s suggest that by that time, she had fallen deeply in love with her husband. This leads scholars to conclude that if the rumours about her attraction to women were true, Empress Mari was bisexual. Her husband doted on her, and after the birth of their son Louis conquered the county of Broërec on her behalf and crowned her Duchess of Britanny in her own right. She, on her part, supported Charles II emotionally. The writings of the Emperor attest how much he relied on this support, in addition to his devout nature, to overcome his mental health problems.

It is generally presumed that after recovering from the birth of her youngest daughter, the Princess Blanche, she grew increasingly stressed between supporting her husband, raising her children and the burden of concealing her closeted bisexuality from her husband, whom she feared would disown her on account of his personal devotion (this is based on an interpretation of her last will and testament, in which she expresses her thanks to her husband that he never stopped loving her despite an unspecified sin). She died of severe stress in October 849, with her son and husband at her side. It is well-attested that at her deathbed, Charles declared that he would never stop loving her even in death, and that he promised her that he would have his heart laid to rest next to her resting place in Britanny. Much comforted by this, she passed away, leading to the extinction of the House of Poher and the passage of her titles to her son, Louis II Karling.

The romance between Emperor Charles and Empress Mari became the subject of a popular ballad in later times.