Ralph I of Vermandois (1085 – 14 October 1152), Count of Vermandois. He was son of Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, and Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois

Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois

Adelaide of Vermandois was suo jure Countess of Vermandois and Valois and the last member of the Carolingian dynasty.Adelaide was the daughter of Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois, and Adele of Valois and of the Vexin. Her younger brother Otto became Count of Vermandois upon their father's death in...

 and paternal grandson of Henry I of France

Henry I of France

Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...

 and while his mother had been heiress to Herbert IV of Vermandois

Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois

Herbert IV of Vermandois , Count of Vermandois, was the son of Otto of Vermandois and Pavia .-Family and children:He married Adele of Valois, daughter of Raoul III of Valois and Adele de Bar-sur-Aube, and had:...

.

His only paternal uncle was Philip I of France

Philip I of France

Philip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...

. Through him Raoul was a first cousin 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:...

 and a first cousin, once removed of Louis VII of France

Louis VII of France

Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...

.

Ralph served as the seneschal of France

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

 during the reign of his cousin Louis VII. Under pressure from 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...

 Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

, Louis allowed him to repudiate his wife Eléonore of Blois

Eléonore of Blois

Eleanor of Blois was a daughter of Stephen II, Count of Blois, and of Adela of Normandy. She married Raoul I of Vermandois and became mother of Hugh II of Vermandois , count of Vermandois and of Valois, then monk in 1160...

 in favor of Eleanor's sister, Petronilla of Aquitaine

Petronilla of Aquitaine

Petronilla of Aquitaine was the daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aenor of Châtellerault. She was the sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Queen consort of England...

. This led to a war with Theobald II of Champagne

Theobald II of Champagne

Theobald the Great was Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV from 1102 and was Count of Champagne and of Brie as Theobald II from 1125....

, who was the brother of Ralph's first wife Eleonore. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne

Champagne (province)

The Champagne wine region is a historic province within the Champagne administrative province in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name...

 by the royal army.

Ralph and Petronilla were excommunicated by Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...

 for their illegitimate marriage.

Family and children

Ralph was married three times:

• First, he was married in 1125 with Eléonore of Blois
  Eléonore of Blois
  Eleanor of Blois was a daughter of Stephen II, Count of Blois, and of Adela of Normandy. She married Raoul I of Vermandois and became mother of Hugh II of Vermandois , count of Vermandois and of Valois, then monk in 1160...
  
  , daughter of Stephen II, Count of Blois
  Stephen II, Count of Blois
  Stephen II Henry , Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres...
  
  . Their marriage ended in divorce in 1140. They had one son:
  • Hugh II "The Monk", count of Vermandois and Valois, resigned his titles in 1160 and became a monk, canonized 1177 (b. Amiens, 9.4.1127 - m. Caerfroy Cloister, near Paris, 4.11.1212).

• Second, he was married in 1140 with Petronilla of Aquitaine
  Petronilla of Aquitaine
  Petronilla of Aquitaine was the daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aenor of Châtellerault. She was the sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Queen consort of England...
  
  ; in 1151 their marriage was dissolved. They had two children:
  • Elizabeth (or Isabelle) Mabile (1143–1183), married 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:...
    
    
  • Ralph II, count of Vermandois and Valois (1145–1167), was the first husband of Margaret of Lorraine
    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:...
    
    , later countess 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....
    
    .

• Third, he was married in 1152 with Laurette of Flanders, daughter of Thierry, Count of Flanders
  Thierry, Count of Flanders
  Thierry of Alsace , in Flanders known as Diederik van den Elzas, was count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. He was the youngest son of Duke Thierry II of Lorraine and Gertrude of Flanders...
  
   and Swanhilde. They had one daughter:
  • Eleonore, countess of Vermandois and Valois, renounced her titles in 1214 in favor of the French Crown and became a nun (b. 1152 - d. aft.1222). She married five times:

1. (probably) Godfrey of Hainaut, Count of Ostervant (d. 1163).
2. before 1167 Count William IV of Nevers.
3. ca 1170 Matthew of Alsace
   Matthew of Alsace
   Matthew of Alsace was the second son of Thierry, Count of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou. By marriage to Marie de Boulogne, he became Count of Boulogne, in 1160. They were divorced in 1170, but he continued as Count until his death....
   
   .
4. ca 1175 Count Matthew III of Beaumont-sur-Oise.
5. ca 1210 Stephen of Blois, Lord of Châtillon-sur-Loing .