Philip I called the Noble, was the margrave of Namur

Marquis of Namur

Namur was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern part of the arrondissement Dinant....

 from 1195 to his death. He was the second son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault

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:...

. His paternal grandmother was Alice, Countess of Namur

Alice of Namur

Alice of Namur was the heiress of Namur when her brother Henry IV of Luxembourg died childless in 1196. She was the wife of Baldwin IV Count of Hainault...

.

Baldwin V had fought a war with his uncle, Henry IV of Luxembourg

Henry IV of Luxembourg

Henry IV , called the Blind , was count of Luxembourg from 1136 and count of Namur from 1139 until his abdication in 1189. He was the son of Godfrey I of Namur and Ermesinda, daughter of Conrad I of Luxembourg.He inherited the counties of La Roche and Durbuy from his cousins Henry II of Durbuy and...

, to establish Namur as independent from Luxembourg in 1190 and in 1194, the Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 Henry VI

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...

 declared Namur to be a margraviate. Baldwin's will left Namur to Philip, but as a fief of Hainault. However, Theobald I of Bar

Theobald I of Bar

Jean Theobald I of Bar was count of Bar from 1190 until his death, and a count of Luxemburg from 1197 until his death. He was the son of Reginald II of Bar and his wife Agnès de Champagne...

, who had married Henry of Luxembourg's heiress, Ermesinda, refused to relinquish Namur and attacked Philip. The war lasted for three years until the Treaty of Dinant, signed on 26 July 1199, recognised Philip as holder of Namur.

Philip was left as regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of Hainault while his elder brother Baldwin VI

Baldwin I of Constantinople

Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...

 went on the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

 and acted as guardian to the young heiresses Joanna

Jeanne, Countess of Flanders

right|thumb|Statue of Joan of FlandersJoan, called of Constantinople was countess of Flanders and Hainaut....

 and Margaret

Margaret II, Countess of Flanders

Margaret, called of Constantinople was countess of Flanders from 1244 to 1278 and also, countess of Hainaut from 1244 to 1253 and again from 1257 until her death.-History and Family:...

.

During a war with France, Philip was subsequently imprisoned and only bought his freedom by marrying Marie, daughter of King Philip Augustus and Agnes of Merania

Agnes of Merania

Agnes Maria of Andechs-Merania , queen of France, was the daughter of Bertold IV , who was Count of Andechs, a castle and territory near Ammersee, Bavaria and from 1183 duke of Merania . Her mother was Agnes of Rochlitz...

, and sending his nieces as envoys to the royal court of France. This insulted the barons of Flanders and Hainault and they revolted and forced him to give up the regency.

In Namur, Philip's reign was a peaceful and pious promoter of social development. He intervened as the mediator between many feuding lords. He died of dysentery

Dysentery

Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

 on 9 October 1212 in Valenciennes

Valenciennes

Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...

. He had designated his nephew Philip of Courtenay

Philip II of Namur

Philip II , called à la lèvre, was the margrave of Namur from 1212 to his death. He was the eldest son of the Peter II of Courtenay and Yolanda of Flanders. On the death of his maternal uncle Philip the Noble, Philip inherited Namur as the designated heir.Philip had to fight the descendants of...

 as heir.

Ancestry