Robert I, Count of Artois

Robert I
Count of Artois
Born	September 25, 1216
Died	February 8, 1250
Spouse	Matilda of Brabant
Issue	Blanche of Artois Robert II of Artois
Father	Louis VIII of France
Mother	Blanche of Castile

Robert I (25 September 1216 – 8 February 1250), called the Good, was the first Count of Artois, the fifth (and second surviving) son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile.^[1]

Life

He received Artois as an appanage, in accordance with the will of his father (died 1226) on attaining his majority in 1237 (aged twenty-one). In 1240 Pope Gregory IX, in conflict with the Emperor Frederick II, offered to crown Robert as emperor in opposition to Frederick, but the French count refuse to pretend to such a title.

Coat of Arms of Robert of Artois

Marriage

On 14 June 1237 Robert married Matilda, daughter of Henry II of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen.^[2]

They had two children:

• Blanche (1248–1302)
• Robert II (1250–1302), who succeeded to Artois after Robert I was killed in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, led by his brother Louis IX of France.

Death

Robert died while leading a reckless attack on Al Mansurah, without the knowledge of his brother King Louis IX. He and the Templars accompanying the expedition charged into the town and became trapped in the narrow streets. According to Jean de Joinville, he defended himself for some time in a house there, but was at last overpowered and killed. In Egypt it is believed that Sultan Qutuz killed him, although it is more likely that an anonymous soldier did so. According to Matthew Paris who is not considered reliable by modern historians, he fled in disgrace at the height of the battle, and drowned while trying to cross a river named Thanis (a branch of the Nile).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Robert I, Count of Artois

16. Louis VI of France               8. Louis VII of France                       17. Adelaide of Maurienne               4. Philip II of France                             18. Theobald II, Count of Champagne               9. Adèle of Champagne                       19. Matilda of Carinthia               2. Louis VIII of France                                   20. Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut               10. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut                       21. Alice of Namur               5. Isabelle of Hainaut                             22. Thierry, Count of Flanders               11. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders                       23. Sibylla of Anjou               1. Robert I, Count of Artois                                         24. Alfonso VII of León               12. Sancho III of Castile                       25. Berenguela of Barcelona               6. Alfonso VIII of Castile                             26. García VI of Navarre               13. Blanca of Navarre                       27. Marguerite de l'Aigle               3. Blanche of Castile                                   28. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou               14. Henry II of England                       29. Matilda of England               7. Leonora of England                             30. William X, Duke of Aquitaine               15. Eleanor of Aquitaine                       31. Aenor de Châtellerault

Notes

1. Masson, Gustave, The story of mediaeval France: from the reign of Hugues Capet to the beginnings of the sixteenth century, (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1888), 90.
2. Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066–1399, (Heritage Books Inc., 2007), 35.

References

• Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066–1399, Heritage Books Inc., 2007.
• Masson, Gustave, The story of mediaeval France: from the reign of Hugues Capet to the beginnings of the sixteenth century, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1888.