Isabella of Hainault

Isabella was born in Valenciennes on 5 April 1170, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders.[1] Her father had her betrothed at the age of one to Henry, the future Count of Champagne.[2] He was the nephew of Adèle of Champagne, who was Queen of France. In 1179, both their fathers swore that they would proceed with the marriage, but her father later agreed to her marrying Philip II of France.

Isabella married King Philip on 28 April 1180 at Bapaume, and brought as her dowry the county of Artois. The marriage was arranged by her maternal uncle Philip, Count of Flanders, who was advisor to the King.[3] The wedding did not please the queen dowager, for it meant the rejection of her nephew and the lessening of influence for her kinsmen.

She was crowned Queen of France at Saint Denis on 28 May 1180. As Baldwin V rightly claimed to be a descendant of Charlemagne, the chroniclers of the time saw in this marriage a union of the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties.

Though Isabella received extravagant praise from certain annalists, she failed to win Philip's affections owing to her inability to provide him with an heir, though she was only 14 years old at the time.[4] Meanwhile, in 1184, King Philip was waging war against Flanders; angered at seeing his wife's father Baldwin support his enemies, he called a council at Sens for the purpose of repudiating her. According to Gislebert of Mons, Isabella then appeared barefooted and dressed as a penitent in the town's churches, thus gaining the sympathy of the people. Her appeals angered them so much that they went to the palace and started shouting loud enough to be heard inside.[5]

Robert, the king's uncle, successfully interposed; no repudiation followed, for repudiating her would also have meant the loss of Artois to the French crown.[6]

Finally, on 5 September 1187, she gave birth to the desired heir, the future King Louis VIII of France.

Isabella's second pregnancy was extremely difficult. On 14 March 1190, she gave birth to twin boys named Robert and Philip. Owing to complications in childbirth she died the next day, aged not quite 20, and was buried in the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. She was mourned greatly in the capital, having been a popular queen.[7]

The twins lived only four days, both dying on 18 March 1190.[8]

Her son Louis succeeded her as Count of Artois. Isabella's dowry of Artois eventually returned to the French Crown following the death of King Philip, when her son Louis became king.

"Queen Isabelle, she of noble form and lovely eyes."[9] In 1858, Isabelle's body was exhumed and measured at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. At 90 cm from pelvis to feet, she would have stood about 1.72-1.75 m, (5'8"-5'9") tall. It was during this exhumation that a silver seal (now in the British Museum) was discovered in the queen's coffin. Little used during her lifetime, it is one of the few medieval seals with a royal connection to survive from the Middle Ages.

• Bouchard, Constance Brittain (1987). Sword, Miter, and Cloister: Nobility and the Church in Burgundy, 980-1198. Cornell University Press.
• Bouyer, Christian (1992). Les reines de France. Perrin.
• Bradbury, Jim (1997). Philip Augustus: King of France 1180-1223. Routledge.
• Nolan, Kathleen D. (2003). Capetian Women. Palgrave Macmillan.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Isabella of Hainaut". Encyclopædia Britannica. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 860.