Tenure 24 January 1328 – 15 August 1369
Coronation 4 March 1330
Spouse Edward III of Windsor
Issue
Edward, Prince of Wales The Black Prince
Isabella, Lady of Coucy
Lady Joan
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Mary of Waltham, Duchess of Brittany
Margaret of Windsor, Countess of Pembroke
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
House House of Plantagenet
Father William I, Count of Hainaut
Mother Joan of Valois
Born 24 June 1314(1314-06-24)
Valenciennes
Died 15 August 1369(1369-08-15) (aged 55)
Windsor Castle
Burial Westminster Abbey
Philippa of Hainault, or, Philippe (d'Avesnes) de Hainaut (24 June[1] 1314 – 15 August 1369) was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England[2] from her marriage on 24 January 1328 until her death at the age of 55, which was the result of an illness closely related to dropsy. Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the coming two years. [3] She got married to Edward, first by proxy : Edward, dispatched the bishop (Roger) of Coventry " to marry her in his name " in Valenciennes, (second city in importance of the county of Hainault) on October 1327. [4] The marriage was celebrated in York cathedral on January 24th, 1328, some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England. In August, 1328, he also fixed his wife’s dowry. [5]
Philippa acted as regent on several occasions when her husband was away from his kingdom, and she often accompanied him on his expeditions to Scotland, France, and Flanders. Philippa won much popularity with the English people for her kindness and compassion which was demonstrated in 1347 when she successfully persuaded King Edward to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. It was this popularity that helped maintain peace in England throughout Edward's long reign.[6]
The eldest of her 14 children was Edward, the Black Prince, a renowned military leader.
The Queen's College, Oxford was founded in her honour.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Family
* 2 Betrothal
* 3 Queen of England
* 4 Later years and death
* 5 Issue
* 6 Legacy
* 7 Ancestry
* 8 Notes
* 9 Sources
* 10 See also
[edit] Family
Philippa was born in Valenciennes, county of Hainaut, a daughter of William I, Count of Hainault, and Joan of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France.[7] She was one of eight children and the second of five daughters. Her eldest sister Margaret married in 1324 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor; and in 1345, she became the suo jure Countess of Hainault upon the death of their brother William in battle.
Philippa was interested in learning, and was an avid reader like her mother, Joan of Valois, who introduced French literary culture to the court of Hainault.
[edit] Betrothal
King Edward II had decided that an alliance with Flanders would benefit England and sent Bishop Stapledon of Exeter on the Continent. He crossed, during his travel, the border from Flanders to country of Hainaut to inspect the daughters of Count William of Hainaut to determine which girl would be the most suitable as an eventual bride for Prince Edward. The bishop's report to the king as regards Philippa (who was about eight years old at that time) reads in part: "The lady ..... has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is clean-shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than the forehead. Her eyes are blackish-brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that it is somewhat broad at the tip and flattened, yet it is no snub-nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full, and especially the lower lip. Her teeth which have fallen and grown again are white enough, but the rest are not so white. The lower teeth project a little beyond the upper; yet this is but little seen. Her ears and chin are comely enough. Her neck, shoulders, and all her body and lower limbs are reasonably well shapen; all her limbs are well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is of brown skin all over like her father; and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us."
Four years later Philippa was betrothed to Prince Edward when in the summer of 1326 Queen Isabella arrived at the Hainault court seeking aid from Count William to depose King Edward. Prince Edward had accompanied his mother to Hainault where she arranged the betrothal in exchange for assistance from the Count. As the couple were second cousins, a Papal dispensation was required;[8] and it was sent from Pope John XXII at Avignon in September 1327. Philippa and her retinue arrived in England in December 1327 escorted by her uncle Sir John of Hainault. On 23 December she reached London where a "rousing reception was accorded her".[9]
[edit] Queen of England
Philippa of Hainault by Jean Froissart
Philippa married Edward at York Minster, on 24 January 1328, eleven months after his accession to the English throne; although, the de facto rulers of the kingdom were his mother, Queen Dowager Isabella and her avaricious lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March who jointly acted as his regents. Soon after their marriage the couple retired to live at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire. Unlike many of her predecessors, Philippa did not alienate the English people by retaining her foreign retinue upon her marriage or bringing large numbers of foreigners to the English court. As Isabella did not wish to relinquish her status as Queen Dowager, Philippa's coronation was postponed for two years. She was eventually crowned queen on 4 March 1330 at Westminster Abbey when she was almost six months pregnant;[10] and she gave birth to her first son, Edward, the following June just nine days before her sixteenth birthday.
In October 1330, King Edward commenced his personal rule when he staged a coup and ordered the arrest of his mother and Mortimer. The latter was shortly afterwards executed for treason, and Queen Dowager Isabella was sent to Castle Rising in Norfolk, where she spent the remainder of her life.
Joshua Barnes, a medieval writer, said "Queen Philippa was a very good and charming person that exceeded most ladies for sweetness of nature and virtuous disposition." Chronicler Jean Froissart described her as "The most gentle Queen, most liberal, and most courteous that ever was Queen in her days."
Philippa accompanied Edward on his expeditions to Scotland, and the Continent in his early campaigns of the Hundred Years War where she won acclaim for her gentle nature and compassion. She is best remembered as the kind woman who, in 1347, persuaded her husband to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais, whom he had planned to execute as an example to the townspeople following his successful siege of that city.
She acted as regent in England on several occasions when her husband was away from his kingdom. She also influenced the King to take an interest in the nation's commercial expansion.[11]Philippa was a patron of the chronicler Jean Froissart, and she owned several illuminated manuscripts, one of which is currently housed in the national library in Paris.
[edit] Later years and death
Effigies of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault
Always buxom and matronly, Philippa's figure had become stout in her later years. She had given birth to 14 children and outlived nine of them; two having died of the Black Death in 1348.
On 15 August 1369, Philippa died of an illness similar to dropsy in Windsor Castle at the age of 55. She was given a state funeral six months later on 29 January 1370 and interred at Westminster Abbey. Her tomb, on the south side of the Chapel of Edward the Confessor, displays her alabaster effigy which was executed by sculptor Jean de Liège.
By all accounts, her 40-year marriage to Edward had been happy, despite his adulterous affair with her lady-in-waiting, Alice Perrers, during the latter part of it.
[edit] Issue
Philippa of Hainault's arms as Queen consort[12]
Main article: Issue of Edward III of England
Philippa and Edward had thirteen children,[13] including five sons who lived into adulthood and whose rivalry would, in the 15th century, bring about the long-running and bloody dynastic wars known as the Wars of the Roses.
* Edward, the Black Prince (1330 – 1376)
* Isabella of England (1332 – 1379)
* Joan of England (1335 – 1348)
* William of Hatfield (16 February - 8 July 1337)
* Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1338 – 1368)
* John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340 – 1399)
* Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341 – 1402)
* Blanche (1342 – 1342)
* Mary (1344 – 1362)
* Margaret (1346 – 1361)
* Thomas of Windsor (1347 – 1348)
* William of Windsor (24 June 1348 – 5 September 1348)
* Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (1355 – 1397)
[edit] Legacy
Philippa of Hainault, by an anonymous artist
Through her children, Philippa reintroduced the bloodline of an earlier English King, Stephen, into the royal family. She was descended from Stephen through Matilda of Brabant, the wife of Floris IV, Count of Holland. Their daughter Adelaide of Holland married John I of Avesnes, Count of Hainaut, Philippa's paternal great-grandfather. Matilda of Brabant in turn was the great-granddaughter of Stephen through her mother Matilda of Boulogne, the wife of Henry I, Duke of Brabant.
Philippa was also a descendant of Harold II of England through his daughter Gytha of Wessex, married to Vladimir II Monomakh of Kiev. His bloodline, however, had been reintroduced to the English royal family by Philippa's mother-in-law, Isabella of France, a granddaughter of Isabella of Aragon, the wife of Philip III of France. Isabella of Aragon's mother, Violant of Hungary, was a daughter of Andrew II of Hungary, a grandson of Géza II by Euphrosyne of Kiev, herself a granddaughter of Gytha. She was matrilineally descended from Elizabeth the Cuman (born before 1241), a daughter of Kuthen, Khan of the Cumens,[14] thus bringing Central Asian blood into the English royal line.[15]
The Queen's College, Oxford is named after Philippa. It was founded in 1341 by one of her chaplains, Robert de Eglesfield, in her honour.
Philippa is also known to be the most royal Queen consort of England due to her four great-grandfathers having been kings of France, Aragon, Naples, and Hungary.
[edit] Ancestry
Ancestors of Philippa of Hainault[show]
16. Bouchard IV of Avesnes
8. John I of Avesnes
17. Margaret II, Countess of Flanders
4. John II, Count of Holland
18. Floris IV, Count of Holland
9. Adelaide of Holland
19. Matilde of Brabant
2. William I, Count of Hainaut
20. Waleran III of Limburg
10. Henry V of Luxembourg
21. Ermesinda of Luxembourg
5. Philippa of Luxembourg
22. Henry II, Count of Bar
11. Margaret of Bar
23. Philippa de Dreux
1. Philippa of Hainault
24. Louis IX of France
12. Philip III of France
25. Margaret of Provence
6. Charles of Valois
26. James I of Aragon
13. Isabella of Aragon
27. Violant of Hungary
3. Joan of Valois
28. Charles I of Naples
14. Charles II of Naples
29. Beatrice of Provence
7. Margaret, Countess of Anjou
30. Stephen V of Hungary
15. Maria of Hungary
31. Elizabeth the Cuman
[edit] Notes
1. ^ David Williamson, Debrett's Kings and Queens of Britain, p.81, Webb and Bower Publishers, Ltd., London, 1986
2. ^ Strickland, Agnes, Lives of the queens of England from the Norman conquest, Vol.2, (George Barrie and Sons, 1902), 222.
3. ^ Geoffroy G. Sury, Guillaume Ier (d’Avesnes) comte de Hainaut et sa fille Philippe, in « Bayern Straubing Hennegau : la Maison de Bavière en Hainaut, XIVe - XVe s. », Edit. Geoffroy G. Sury, Bruxelles, © 2010 (2e éd.), p. 55 : - Un parchemin daté du 27/08/1326 à Mons, au sceau brisé, énonce qu’Edouard, duc de Guyenne (futur Edouard III roi d’Angleterre), fils aîné du roi Edouard (II) d’Angleterre, s’engage à prendre pour épouse, endéans les deux ans, Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc. In, G. Wymans, « Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut », aux A.E. Mons, n° d’ordre (cote) 574, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 128.
4. ^ Sury Geoffroy G. , Guillaume Ier (d’Avesnes) comte de Hainaut et sa fille Philippe, in, « Bayern Straubing Hennegau : la Maison de Bavière en Hainaut, XIVe - XVe s. », Edit. Geoffroy G. Sury, Bruxelles, © 2010 (2e éd.), p. 55 : - Un parchemin daté du 30/08/1327 à Avignon, à un sceau, énonce que le pape Jean (XXII) accorde les dispenses nécessaires pour le mariage du roi Edouard (III) d’Angleterre et de Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc., sa parente au troisième degré. In, G. Wymans, « Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut », aux A.E. Mons, n° d’ordre (cote) 583, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 130. ; - Un parchemin daté du 8/10/1327 à Nottingham, au sceau disparu, énonce qu’Edouard (III), roi d’Angleterre, donne procuration à R., évêque de Coventry, pour épouser en son nom, Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc., et régler la constitution de son douaire. In, G. Wymans, « Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut », aux A.E. Mons, n° d’ordre (cote) 587, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 131.
5. ^ Un parchemin daté du 15/08/1328 à Northampton, au sceau disparu, énonce qu’Edouard (III), roi d’Angleterre, confirme la fixation du douaire de son épouse Philippa de Hainaut. In, G. Wymans, « Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut », aux A.E. Mons, n° d’ordre (cote) 596, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 132.
6. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, retrieved 10 March 2010
7. ^ Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066-1399, (Heritage Books Inc., 2007), 140.
8. ^ David Williamson, Debrett's Kings and Queens of Britain, p.81
9. ^ Thomas B. Costain, The Three Edwards, p.249, Doubleday and Company, Garden City, New York, 1958
10. ^ Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Kings of England, Edward III, retrieved on 10 March 2010
11. ^ Costain, p.242
12. ^ Boutell, Charles (1863). A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular. London: Winsor & Newton. pp. 276
13. ^ Charles Cawley. Medieval Lands, England, Kings (1066-1603)
14. ^ Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Kumans
15. ^ WorldRoots.com. by Leo Van de Pas.
[edit] Sources
* Salmonson, Jessica Amanda.(1991) The Encyclopedia of Amazons. Paragon House. page 212. ISBN 1-55778-420-5
* Weir, Alison (1999). Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy. The Bodley Head London, U.K.. ISBN 0712674489. page 92
* Ashley, Mike (2002). British Kings & Queens. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1104-3. pages 185 & 186
[edit] See also
* Counts of Hainaut family tree
* Counts of Holland family tree
English royalty
Preceded by
Isabella of France Queen consort of England
Lady of Ireland
24 January 1328 – 15 August 1369 Vacant
Title next held by
Anne of Bohemia
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