Peter was son of Louis I of Bourbon, whom he also succeeded as Grand Chamberlain of France, and Mary of Hainaut.
Duke Peter is reported to have been mentally somewhat instable, a trait of nervoud breakdowns presumably hereditary that showed clearly for example in his doughter Jeanne de Bourbon, the queen, and in her son, king Charles VI of France, as well as in Peter's only surviving son, Duke Louis II.