Baldwin VII of Flanders was count of Flanders

Count of Flanders

The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the position by the French revolutionaries in 1790....

 from 1111 to 1119.

Family Relations

He was the son of Robert II of Flanders and Clementia of Burgundy

Clementia of Burgundy

Clementia of Burgundy was Countess of Flanders by marriage and acted as regent while her husband was on crusade.-Family:She was the daughter of William I, Count of Burgundy and a noblewoman named Stephanie de Etiennette. Pope Callixtus II was her brother.-Life:In 1097, she married Robert II, Count...

. Two of his maternal uncles were the later Pope Calixtus II and Raymond of Burgundy

Raymond of Burgundy

Raymond of Burgundy was the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy, and was Count of Amous. He came to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time during the period 1086–1087 with Odo I, Duke of Burgundy...

, Count of Coimbra and husband of the future Queen Urraca of Castile and Leon

Urraca of Castile

Urraca was Queen regnant of León, Castile, and Galicia, and claimed the imperial title as suo jure Empress of All the Spains from 1109 until her death in childbirth, as well as Empress of All Galicia.- Childhood :...

. In consequence, Baldwin and the later King Alfonso VII of Castile and Leon - son of Raimond and Urraca - were first cousins. Two of Baldwin's other first cousins were the Count Amadeus III of Savoy

Amadeus III of Savoy

Amadeus III of Savoy was Count of Savoy and Maurienne from 1103 until his death. He was also known as the Crusader....

 and the Margrave William V of Montferrat; both were sons of one of his maternal aunts, Gisela of Burgundy, who had married firstly with Humbert II of Savoy

Humbert II of Savoy

Umberto II, surnamed the Fat , was Count of Savoy from 1080 until his death in 1103. He was the son of Amadeus II of Savoy....

 (father of Amadeus III) and secondly with Renier I of Montferrat

Renier I of Montferrat

Renier or Rainier was the ruler of the state of Montferrat in north-west Italy from about 1100 to his death, and the first such to be identified in contemporary documents as Margrave of Montferrat....

 (father of William V).

Reign as Count and Death

Baldwin succeeded his father as Count of Flanders when he died, on 5 October 1111. Only eighteen years old, the new Count solicited the advice of his cousin, Charles of Dennmark, several years older. It was Baldwin who arranged the marriage of Charles to the heiress of the County of Amiens, Margaret of Clermont, in 1118.

He died after being wounded at the Battle of Bures-en-Brai, where he was fighting Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

, on behalf of Louis VI of France

Louis VI of France

Louis VI , called the Fat , was King of France from 1108 until his death . Chronicles called him "roi de Saint-Denis".-Reign:...

. When he was dying, Baldwin declared his cousin Charles his heir. Charles became the new Count of Flanders after his death.

Marriage

In 1105, Baldwin married Hawise (also called Havide), daughter of Alain IV Fergent, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong"...

. The groom was twelve, and the bride, only nine. The union, in all probability, was never consummated. They were divorced in 1110. Neither of them remarried.