Margaret I, Countess of Flanders
Template:Short description Template:Infobox noble
Margaret I (Template:Circa 1145 – died 15 November 1194) was the countess of Flanders suo jure from 1191 to her death.
Early life
Margaret was the daughter of Count Thierry of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou.Template:Sfn
In 1160 she married Count Ralph II of Vermandois,Template:Sfn son of Ralph I and known as Ralph the Younger.Template:Sfn Due to his leprosy, the marriage could not be consummated and remained childless. He died of leprosy in 1167 without issue.
In 1169 she married Count Baldwin V of Hainaut,Template:Sfn a scion of the House of Flanders.
Countship
In 1191, Margaret's brother Count Philip I of Flanders died childless, as his heir she claimed the county of Flanders with the support of her husband. Her claim was questioned by the king of France who, with support of Ghent, declared Flanders escheated to the crown due to the lack of male heirs, a problem that was not solved until the Treaty of Arras by the mediation of the archbishop of Reims.Template:Sfn They met some unrest among the nobility of the area, foremost by her brother's widow, Theresa of Portugal, who was given extensive dower lands in the coastal and southern Flanders where she provoked considerable unrest by high taxation.Template:Sfn
The right of Margaret and her husband to the County of Flanders was not finally acknowledged until 1 March 1192.Template:Sfn As countess, she objected to all foreign legal independence in her lands, and accordingly, she prevented the Hanse merchants living in Bruges from acquiring a separate quarter and rights for themselves in the port of Damme.<ref>Classen, Albrecht (ed.) Handbook of Medieval Culture, Volym 2, 2015</ref>
Margaret died on 15 November 1194. As her husband had become Count of Flanders jure uxoris, he could not remain sole count, and Margaret was succeeded by their son Baldwin IX.Template:Sfn
Issue
Margaret and Baldwin had:
- Isabella of Hainault, married Philip II of FranceTemplate:Sfn
- Baldwin IX of Flanders (1171–1205),Template:Sfn also count of Flanders and Latin Emperor
- Yolanda (1175–1219), married Peter of Courtenay, Latin Emperor.
- Philip I of Namur (1175–1212), Margrave of Namur, married Marie of France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Henry of Flanders (1176–1216), Latin emperor of Constantinople, married firstly to Agnes of Montferrat and secondly to Maria of Bulgaria.<ref>Joinville and Villehardouin (1963). Chronicles of the Crusades. Translated by Shaw, M. R. B. Penguin. pp. 146-148.</ref>
- Sybille (1179–9 January 1217), married c. 1197 Guichard IV, Sire de Beaujeu. They had a daughter, Agnes of Beaujeu.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Eustace (d. 1219), regent of the Kingdom of Thessalonica
- Godfrey
References
Sources
External links
Template:S-start Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end
- 1140s births
- 1194 deaths
- 12th-century counts of Flanders
- House of Metz
- Countesses of Flanders
- Countesses of Hainaut
- French suo jure nobility
- Year of birth uncertain
- 12th-century countesses regnant
- 12th-century women from the county of Flanders
- 12th-century people from the county of Flanders
- Mothers of emperors