Margaret I, Countess of Flanders

Margaret I of Alsace ( French Marguerite d'Alsace, * 1145, † November 15, 1194 in the Castle Male in Bruges ) was from 1171 through marriage Countess of Hainaut and from 1191 in its own right Countess of Flanders.

Life

Margaret was the third daughter of Dietrich of Alsace, who in 1128 inherited the county of Flanders, and Sibyl of Anjou.

About 1160 married Margaret Count Rudolf II of Vermandois and Valois († well on June 17, 1167 ). However, this got changed in 1163 to leprosy and its still not fully consummated marriage to Margaret was dissolved. His second wife Margarete married in April 1169 with Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut was 1171. This marriage had been agreed by her brother Philip of Alsace, to reaffirm the reconciliation between Flanders and Hainault after the long dispute between the two countries. As dowry Margaret received an annual pension of 500 pounds, which was paid out of the charges in Bapaume taxes. With Baldwin, they had seven children:

  • Isabella ( * 1170, † 1190 ) ∞ Philip II Augustus, King of France
  • Baldwin (* 1171, † 1205 ), Count of Flanders and Hainaut, Latin Emperor of Constantinople Opel
  • Philip I (* 1174, † 1212 ), Margrave of Namur
  • Yolanda (* 1175, † 1219 ) ∞ Peter II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople Opel
  • Heinrich ( * 1176, † 1216 ), Latin Emperor of Constantinople Opel
  • Sibylle (* 1179, † 1217 ) ∞ Guichard IV († 1216 ), Lord of Beaujeu and Montpensier
  • Eustace († 1219 ), Regent of the Kingdom of Thessaloniki

When Philip of Alsace, who had by his wife Elizabeth of Vermandois no children, in 1177 embarked on a crusade to the Holy Land, he entrusted the government of Flanders at the time of his absence Margarete and whose second husband Baldwin V. In August 1183 Margaret made ​​a lasting until October 1183 pilgrimage to Saint- Gilles in Provence.

After the death of her childless brother, Philip of Alsace during the siege of Acre ( June 1, 1191 ) Margarete usurped dominion over the county of Flanders, who had courted her already in 1177 on a large, held in Lille Assembly. As a result, she ruled Flanders together with her second husband (as Baldwin VIII counted ), but remained their claim to the rich country is not uncontested, because the widow of Philip, Matilda of Portugal, as well as King Philip II Augustus grew their competitors. The French king, who rose in the beginning of the Artois, and later on the whole of Flanders as a dowry of his wife Isabella claim, Baldwin threatened military intervention. Finally, the parties agreed in the Treaty of Arras ( October 1191 ) that Baldwin and Margaret against its recognition as the rightful ruler of Flanders Philip II Augustus ceded Artois and other areas, as well as Matilda of Portugal received a part of Flanders as jointure. In March 1192, Baldwin was enfeoffed with his wife by the French king with the county, but had agreed to pay 5000 silver marks are committed to the Crown.

Opposite end of life Margaret came forward with donations to various religious institutions. In May 1194 suffering from a disease and traveled by ship to Mons, where they temporarily recovered. Upon her return to Bruges, she was again ill, and died in November 1194 in the castle of times a year before her husband. You inherited Flanders her eldest son, who her. Than Baldwin IX succeeded. Your final resting place she found in the later Sint- Donaaskathedraal to Bruges. Your coffin was placed in front of the high altar of the cathedral, but in 1352 moved to one side choir, to make room for a grave monument of the late Count Louis I of Flanders. Her husband, Baldwin was not as usual buried after his death at the side of his wife, but in the church of Sainte - Waudru.

Source

  • Gislebert de Mons, Chronicon Hanoniense, in: Georg Heinrich Pertz (ed.): Monumenta Historica Germaniae, Scriptores 21, passim
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