Constance of France, Countess of Toulouse
{{Short description|Countess of Boulogne (1140–1153) and Toulouse (1154–1165)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
|consort= yes
| name = Constance of France
| succession = Countess consort of Boulogne and Toulouse
| image =
| caption =
| reign = 1140–1153
| reign1 = 1154–1165
| coronation =
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
- {{marriage|Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne|1140|1153|end=d}}
- {{marriage|Raymond V, Count of Toulouse|1154}}
}}
| issue = {{Plainlist|
}}
| issue-link = #Issue
| father = Louis VI of France
| mother = Adélaide de Maurienne
| house = Capet
| birth_date = {{circa|1126}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{circa|1190}}
}}
Constance of France ({{circa|1126}} – {{circa|1190}}) was a French princess of the House of Capet, the only daughter of Louis VI of France and his wife Adélaide de Maurienne. Amongst her siblings was Louis VII, who succeeded their father in 1137.
Life
In 1140, Constance married Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, son of Stephen, King of England.G. P. R. James, A History of the Life of Richard Cœur-de-Lion, King of England, Volume 1 (Saunders and Otley, 1841), p.140 The couple were married for thirteen years until Eustace's death, they had no children.
The following year, Constance was married to Raymond V, Count of Toulouse. The marriage was arranged by her brother, who was in need of allies against Henry II of England, particularly after the latter bolstered his presence in France by marrying Louis's former wife, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.F. L. Cheyette, Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours (Cornell University Press, 2001), p.259
The marriage was an unhappy one,D. Seward, Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Mother Queen of the Middle Ages (Pegasus Books, 2014), no pagination a factor that can explain the tense relationship between Raymond and Louis. After a decade of marriage, Raymond broke from Louis and moved towards a partnership with Frederick Barbarossa. Constance wrote to Louis, complaining that she was isolated in Toulouse; the courtiers ignored her and her servants did not obey her orders.W. M. Reddy, The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900-1200 CE (University of Chicago Press, 2012), p.123 In addition, Constance was displeased by her husband taking mistresses.Ibid In 1165, she fled from Toulouse and returned to Paris.Ibid
In 1166, with the support of Antipope Paschal III and Frederick, Raymond repudiated Constance.M.D. Costen, The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade (Manchester University Press, 1997), p.27 Having lost the favour of Louis, Raymond was forced to perform homage to Henry for Toulouse at Limoges in 1173.C. Taylor, Heresy in Medieval France: Dualism in Aquitaine and the Agenais, 1000-1249 (Boydell & Brewer, 2005), p.148
Issue
Raymond and Constance had four children together, they were:
- Raymond VI, who succeeded his father
- William Taillefer
- Adelaide or Adelais
- Baldwin of Toulouse, born 1165, executed on the orders of Raymond VI in 1214
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- Bom, M. M., Constance of France. Womanhood and Agency in Twelfth-Century Europe (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022)
- Cheyette, F. L., Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours (Cornell University Press, 2001)
- Costen, M. D., The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade (Manchester University Press, 1997)
- James, G. P. R., A History of the Life of Richard Cœur-de-Lion, King of England, Volume 1 (Saunders and Otley, 1841)
- Reddy, W. M., The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900-1200 CE (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
- Seward, D., Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Mother Queen of the Middle Ages (Pegasus Books, 2014)
- Taylor, C., Heresy in Medieval France: Dualism in Aquitaine and the Agenais, 1000-1249 (Boydell & Brewer, 2005)
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Category:12th-century French people
Category:12th-century French women
Category:Countesses of Toulouse
Category:Countesses of Boulogne