Baldwin VII, Count of Flanders

Called Baldwin VII with the ax, even Hapkin, (* 1093, † January 17, 1119 in Rousselaere ), was Count of Flanders from the House Flanders. He was the only son of Count Robert II the Jerusalem driver and Clemency, a daughter of Count William I of Burgundy. Pope Calixtus II was his uncle.

Baldwin was considered a very energetic and assertive. Emancipation efforts of his vassals he suppressed with all the force in favor of the common people, and especially the cities whose prosperity he thereby additionally promoted. He broke with the allies of his father, the Anglo-Normans Henry I Beauclerc, and instead stood on the side of his lords, King Louis VI. of France. With the neighboring Count Hugh II of Saint-Pol he was in constant feud. In the covenant with King Louis VI. and Count Fulk of Anjou attacked Baldwin 1119, the Normandy, but was fatally wounded in battle before Bures -en- Bray.

As a twelve year old Baldwin was in 1105 with the first nine years, Hedwig, daughter of the Duke Alain IV of Brittany, married. The marriage was never consummated and dissolved again in 1110, a second time he did not marry. To regulate the succession Baldwin had therefore his cousin, the Prince of Denmark Charles the Good, designated as his successor.

Baldwin epithet probably resulted from his merciless severity with which he pursued become insubordinate vassals. Unlikely, however, is the assumption that his nickname from his battle-ax ( " Hapkin " ) arising, which he had worn all the time with it.