Margaret III, Countess of Flanders

Margaret III, Countess of Flanders
Margaret of Dampierre, Countess of Flanders
Spouse(s)	Philip I, Duke of Burgundy Philip the Bold
Noble family	House of Dampierre
Father	Louis II of Flanders
Mother	Margaret of Brabant, Countess of Flanders
Born	13 April 1350
Died	16 March 1405 (aged 54) Arras

Margaret of Dampierre (13 April 1350 – 16/21 March 1405) was the last Countess of Flanders (as Margaret III) of the House of Dampierre, Countess of Artois and Countess Palatine of Burgundy (as Margaret II) and twice Duchess consort of Burgundy. She was the only surviving child and heir of Louis de Mâle, Count of Flanders, Count of Nevers, and Count of Rethel (1346–1384); and his wife Margaret of Brabant, Countess of Flanders.^[1]

Biography

In 1355,^[2] the young Margaret married Philip of Rouvres,^[3] grandson and heir of Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy. He was count of Burgundy and Artois (1347–1361), Duke of Burgundy (1350–1361), and became Count of Auvergne and Boulogne (1360–1361).

Following Philip's death from a riding accident in 1361,^[4] Margaret was widowed. King John II of France claimed the duchy for the kingdom of France.^[4] In 1364 Philip the Bold, John's youngest son, was granted the duchy,^[5] and subsequently married Margaret.^[6] Margaret's second marriage to Philip the Bold took place in 1369.^[7]

When Margaret's father died in 1384, she and Philip inherited the counties of Artois, Burgundy, Flanders, Nevers, and Rethel.^[8] Philip died in 1404, and Margaret died the next year. With her death, the House of Dampierre became extinct and the County of Flanders lost its independence. It came under the rule of the House of Burgundy and later of the House of Habsburg.

Family

Margaret and Philip had the following children:

• John the Fearless (1371–1419, murdered at Montereau), her eldest son and successor in Flanders, Artois and Burgundy
• Charles (1372–1373)
• Margaret of Burgundy (October 1374 – March 8, 1441, Le Quesnoy), Countess of Mortain married William VI, Count of Holland and Duke of Bavaria-Straubing
• Louis (1377–1378)
• Catherine of Burgundy (April 1378, Montbard – January 24, 1425, Gray, Haute-Saône), married Leopold IV, Duke of Austria
• Bonne (1379–1399, Arras)
• Mary of Burgundy (September 1380, Dijon – October 2, 1422, Thonon-les-Bains), married Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy
• Antoine, Duke of Brabant (August, 1384 – October 25, 1415, at Agincourt)
• Philip, her successor in Nevers and Rethel (1389–1415, at Agincourt)

Legacy

The main line of the House of Dampierre ended with Margaret III. The Dampierres, originally only counts of Flanders, had through a clever marriage policy managed to inherit the counties of Nevers (1280) and Rethel (1328). Through her grandmother, a daughter of King Philip V of France, the counties of Artois and Burgundy (the "Franche Comté") were added to this (1382). These lands were to provide the core of the dominions of the House of Valois-Burgundy, which were, together with the Duchy of Burgundy, to provide them with a power base to challenge the rule of their cousins, the Valois kings of France in the 15th century.

Her eldest son, John the Fearless, succeeded her husband in 1404 as Duke of Burgundy and her as Count of Burgundy, Count of Artois, and Count of Flanders. In 1406 her younger son Anthony inherited Brabant and Limburg. Nevers and Rethel were at first, in her lifetime, given to her eldest sons John (Nevers) and Anthony (Rethel), but after John's accession to the duchy, Nevers went to her youngest son Philip. Rethel was given to Philip in 1402 when it became clear that Anthony would inherit Brabant.

Her residences

The château de Germolles château de Germolles

In Burgundy, the château de Germolles offered by Philip the Bold to Margaret of Flanders in 1381 was embellished by the princess. Largely preserved, it is today one of the best example of the princely residences in France at the end of the Middle Ages.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Margaret III, Countess of Flanders

16. Robert III of Flanders               8. Louis I, Count of Nevers                       17. Yolande, Countess of Nevers               4. Louis I of Flanders                             18. Hugh IV, Count of Rethel               9. Joan, Countess of Rethel                       19. Isabelle de Grandpré               2. Louis II of Flanders                                   20. Philip IV of France               10. Philip V of France                       21. Joan I of Navarre               5. Margaret I, Countess of Burgundy                             22. Otto IV, Count of Burgundy               11. Joan II, Countess of Burgundy                       23. Mahaut, Countess of Artois               1. Margaret of Flanders                                         24. John I, Duke of Brabant               12. John II, Duke of Brabant                       25. Margaret of Flanders               6. John III, Duke of Brabant                             26. Edward I of England               13. Margaret of England                       27. Eleanor of Castile               3. Margaret of Brabant                                   28. Philip III of France               14. Louis d'Évreux                       29. Maria of Brabant               7. Marie d'Évreux                             30. Philip of Artois               15. Margaret of Artois                       31. Blanche of Brittany

References

1. Sergio Boffa, Warfare in Medieval Brabant, 1356-1406, (Boydell & Brewer, 2004), xvii.
2. Wim Blockmans and Walter Prevenier, The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530, transl. Elizabeth Fackelman, ed. Edward Peters, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 13.
3. David M Nicholas, Medieval Flanders, (Routledge, 1992), 225-226, 442.
4. W. Mark Ormrod, Edward III, (Yale University Press, 2011), 417
5. Richard Vaughan, Philip the Bold: The Formation of the Burgundian State, Vol. 1, (The Boydell Press, 2005), 152
6. Mapping Family Lines: A Late Fifteenth Century Example of Genealogical Display, Charlotte Bauer-Smith, Reputation and Representation in Fifteenth Century Europe, ed. Douglas L. Biggs, Sharon D. Michalove, Albert Compton Reeves, (Brill, 2004), 130.
7. Wim Blockmans, Walter Prevenier, The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530, ed. Edward Peters, transl. Elizabeth Fackelman, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988), 1.
8. Duchy of Burgundy, Cathal J. Nolan, The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Vol. 1, (Greenwood Publishing, 2006), 100.