Isabella of Hainault was queen consort

Queen consort

A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

 of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 as the first wife of King Philip II of France

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

.

Early life

Isabella was born in Valenciennes on 5 April 1170, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut

Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut

Baldwin V of Hainaut was count of Hainaut , count of Flanders as Baldwin VIII and margrave of Namur as Baldwin I .-History:...

, and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders

Margaret I, Countess of Flanders

Margaret I of Flanders was countess of Flanders from 1191 to her death.-History:She was the daughter of Thierry, Count of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou, and the heiress of her childless brother, Philip of Flanders.-Family:...

. At the age of one, her father had her betrothed to Henry, the future Count of Champagne. He was the nephew of Adèle of Champagne

Adèle of Champagne

Adèle of Champagne , also known as Adelaide and Alix, was the third wife of Louis VII of France and the mother of his only male heir, the future Philip II...

, 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

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

.

Queen of France

She married King Philip on 28 April 1180 at Bapaume and brought as her dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

 the county of Artois

County of Artois

The County of Artois was an historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659....

. The marriage was arranged by her maternal uncle Philip, Count of Flanders

Philip, Count of Flanders

Philip of Alsace was count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191. He succeeded his father Thierry of Alsace.-Count of Flanders:...

, who was advisor to the King.
Isabella was crowned Queen of France at Saint Denis

Saint Denis Basilica

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy...

 on 28 May 1180. As Baldwin V rightly claimed to be a descendant of Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

, the chroniclers of the time saw in this marriage a union of the Carolingian

Carolingian

The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...

 and Capetian

Capetian dynasty

The Capetian dynasty , also known as the House of France, is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of King Hugh Capet of France in the male line. Hugh Capet himself was a cognatic descendant of the Carolingians and the Merovingians, earlier rulers of France...

 dynasties.

The wedding did not please the queen mother, since it had meant the rejection of her nephew and the lessing of influence for her kinsmen.
Though she received extravagant praise from certain annalists

Annalists

Annalists , is the name given to a class of writers on Roman history, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the Second Punic War to that of Sulla...

, she failed to win the affections of Philip due to her inability to provide him with an heir; although she was only 14 years old at the time.
Meanwhile, King Philip in 1184, was waging war against Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, and angered at seeing Baldwin support his enemies, he called a council at Sens

Sens

Sens is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.Sens is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.-History:...

 for the purpose of repudiating her. According to Gislebert of Mons

Gislebert of Mons

Gislebert of Mons was the Flemish chronicler whose Chronicon Hanoniense is an essential eyewitness source for events affecting his patron Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut....

, Isabella then appeared barefooted and dressed as a penitent in the town's churches and thus gained 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.

Robert, the king's uncle, successfully interposed and no repudiation followed as repudiating her would also have meant the loss of Artois to the French crown.

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

Louis VIII of France

Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...

.

Death

Her second pregnancy was extremely difficult; on 14 March 1190, Isabella gave birth to twin boys named Robert and Philip. Due to complications in childbirth, Isabella died the next day, and was buried in the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. She was not quite 20 years old and was mourned for greatly in the capital, since she had been a popular queen.

The twins lived only four days, both having died on 18 March 1190.
Her son Louis succeeded her as Count of Artois

Counts of Artois

The counts of Artois were the rulers over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.-List of Counts of Artois:*Odalric...

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

Ancestry

Sources

• Charles Cawley Medieval Lands
• Nolan, Kathleen D. Capetian Women, 2003.
• Worldroots.com