Margaret I (Flanders)

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Margaret I of Alsace (French Marguerite d'Alsace ; * around 1145; † November 15, 1194 in Male Castle near Bruges ) was Countess of Hainaut from 1171 by marriage and Countess of Flanders in her own right from 1191 .

Life

Margarete was the third daughter of Dietrich von Alsace , who had inherited the county of Flanders in 1128, and the Sibyl of Anjou .

Around 1160 Margaret married Count Rudolf II of Vermandois and Valois († probably on June 17, 1167). However, he contracted leprosy around 1163 and his not yet consummated marriage to Margaret was dissolved. In April 1169, Margarete married Balduin V , who became Count of Hainaut in 1171, in her second marriage . This marriage had been arranged by her brother Philip of Alsace in order to confirm the reconciliation between Flanders and Hainaut after the long disputes between the two countries. As a dowry Margarete received an annual pension of 500 pounds, which was paid from the taxes levied in Bapaume . She had seven children with Baldwin:

When Philip of Alsace, who had no children from his wife Elisabeth von Vermandois , went on a crusade to the Holy Land in 1177 , he entrusted the government of Flanders to Margaret and her second husband Baldwin V for the time of his absence. In August 1183 Margaret made a pilgrimage to Saint-Gilles in Provence that lasted until October 1183 .

After the death of her childless brother Philip of Alsace during the siege of Acre (June 1, 1191), Margaret took control of the county of Flanders, which had already paid homage to her in 1177 at a large meeting held in Lille . She subsequently ruled Flanders together with her second husband (counted as Baldwin VIII), but her claim to the rich land was not undisputed, as her rivals grew up in Philip's widow, Mathilde of Portugal , and in King Philip II August . The French king, who initially claimed the Artois and later all of Flanders as a dowry from his wife Isabella, threatened Baldwin with military intervention. Finally, in the Treaty of Arras (October 1191) , the parties to the dispute agreed that Baldwin and Margaret, against their recognition as the rightful rulers of Flanders, would cede to Philip II August the Artois and other territories and that Mathilde of Portugal also received part of Flanders as Wittum . In March 1192, Baldwin and his wife were enfeoffed with the county by the French king, but had to commit to paying 5,000 silver marks to the crown.

Towards the end of her life, Margarete emerged as gifts to various religious institutions. In May 1194 she suffered from an illness and traveled by ship to Mons , where she temporarily recovered. On her return to Bruges she fell ill again and died in Male Castle in November 1194 a year before her husband. She bequeathed Flanders to her eldest son, who was named Balduin IX. followed. She found her final resting place in the later St. Danube Cathedral in Bruges. Her coffin was placed in front of the high altar of the cathedral, but moved to a side choir in 1352 to make room for a grave monument of the late Count Ludwig I of Flanders . After his death, her husband Baldwin was not buried at the side of his wife as usual, but in the church of Sainte-Waudru .

source

literature

  • PL: Marguerite d'Alsace. In: Nouvelle Biographie Générale. Volume 33: Maldonado - Martial. Didot, Paris 1860, col. 594-595 .
  • Alphonse Wauters: Marguerite d'lsace. In: Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (ed.): Biographie Nationale de Belgique . Volume 13: Ma - Massenus. Bruylant-Christophe, Bruxelles 1895, Sp. 579-582.

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Commons : Margaret I of Flanders  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Philip Countess of Flanders
1191–1194 		Baldwin IX.
personal data
SURNAME Margaret I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Margaret I of Alsace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Countess of Flanders
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 1194