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Margaret I, Countess of Flanders

{{short description|Countess of Flanders from 1191 to 1194}}

{{Infobox noble

| name = Margaret I

| image = Margaret I of Flanders.png

| caption = Margaret's effigy on a seal

| CoA =

| tenure =

| predecessor =

| noble family = Metz

| issue = Isabelle of Hainaut
Baldwin VI of Hainaut
Yolanda of Flanders
Philip I of Namur
Henry of Flanders
Sybille of Hainaut
Eustace of Flanders
Godfrey of Hainaut

| father = Thierry, Count of Flanders

| mother = Sibylla of Anjou

| spouse = Ralph II, Count of Vermandois
Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut

| successor = Baldwin IX

| birth_date = {{circa}} 1145

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date|1194|11|15|df=y}}

| death_place =

| burial_place = St. Donatian's Cathedral in Bruges

}}

Margaret I ({{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.{{sfn|Evergates|1999|p=114}}

In 1160 she married Count Ralph II of Vermandois,{{sfn|Evergates|1999|p=126}} son of Ralph I and known as Ralph the Younger.{{sfn|Evergates|1999|p=126}} 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,{{sfn|Evergates|1999|p=114}} 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.{{sfn|Nicholas|1992|p=74}} 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.{{sfn|Nicholas|1992|p=74}}

The right of Margaret and her husband to the County of Flanders was not finally acknowledged until 1 March 1192.{{sfn|Nicholas|1992|p=74}} 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.Classen, Albrecht (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Jq1CgAAQBAJ&dq=Margaret+I%2C+Countess+of+Flanders+1194&pg=PT517 Handbook of Medieval Culture, Volym 2], 2015

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.{{sfn|Nicholas|1992|p=75}}

Issue

Margaret and Baldwin had:

|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-89902-0 |pages=284 |language=en}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Sources

  • {{cite book |title=Aristocratic Women in Medieval France |editor-first=Theodore |editor-last=Evergates |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1999 }}
  • {{cite book |title=Medieval Flanders |first=David |last=Nicholas |publisher=Longman |year=1992}}

External links

  • {{commons category-inline}}

{{S-start}}

{{S-bef|before=Philip}}

{{S-ttl|title=Countess of Flanders 25px |years=1191–1194|regent1=Baldwin VIII|years1=1191–1194}}

{{S-aft|after=Baldwin IX}}

{{s-end}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}

Flanders, Margaret I of

Flanders, Margaret I of

Category:12th-century counts of Flanders

Category:House of Metz

Category:Countesses of Flanders

Category:Countesses of Hainaut

Flanders, Countess of, Margaret I

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:12th-century countesses regnant

Category:12th-century women from the county of Flanders

Category:12th-century people from the county of Flanders

Category:Mothers of emperors