Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Notes On: Philippa d'Avesnes of Hainault (Queen)


Philippa Of Hainaut,  (born c. 1314—died Aug. 15, 1369Windsor, Berkshire, Eng.), queen consort of King Edward III of England (ruled 1327–77); her popularity helped Edward maintain peace in England during his long reign.
Philippa’s father was William the Good, graaf van Hainaut (in modern Belgium) and Holland, and her mother, Jeanne de Valois, was the granddaughter of King Philip III of France. She was married to Edward in October 1327, nine months after he ascended the throne. Accompanying him on his expeditions to Scotland (1333) and Flanders (1338–40), she won universal respect for her gentleness and compassion. In 1347 she interceded and saved the lives of six burghers of Calais, France, whom Edward had threatened to execute. Unlike earlier foreign queens of England, she did not alienate the English barons by bringing large numbers of her countrymen to the royal court.
She was patron to the Hainauter chronicler Jean Froissart, who served as her secretary from 1361 until her death. Queen’s College, Oxford University, was founded by her chaplain and named for her. Philippa bore Edward five daughters and seven sons; five of their sons were prominent in 14th-century politics.
(Source: HERE)


Philippa of Hainault

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Philippa d'Avesnes of Hainault)
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainaut-mini
Queen consort of England
Tenure24 January 1328 – 15 August 1369
Coronation4 March 1330
SpouseEdward III of England
Issue
more...
Edward, the Black Prince
Isabella, Lady of Coucy
Joan of England
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Mary, Duchess of Brittany
Margaret, Countess of Pembroke
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
HouseHouse of Avesnes
(House of Plantagenet by marriage)
FatherWilliam I, Count of Hainaut
MotherJoan of Valois
Born24 June 1314
Valenciennes
Died15 August 1369 (aged 55)
Windsor Castle
BurialWestminster Abbey
This article is about the English queen. For the Portuguese queen, see Philippa of Lancaster.
Philippa of Hainault (24 June[1] 1314 – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward III.[2] Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years.[3] She was married to Edward, first by proxy, when Edward dispatched the Bishop of Coventry "to marry her in his name" in Valenciennes (second city in importance of the county of Hainaut) in October 1327.[4] The marriage was celebrated formally in York Minster on 24 January 1328, some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England. In August 1328, he also fixed his wife's dower.[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 were 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 fourteen children was Edward, the Black Prince, who became a renowned military leader. Philippa died at the age of fifty-five from an illness closely related to dropsyThe Queen's College, Oxford was founded in her honour.

Contents

  [show

Family[edit]

Philippa was born in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut, in the Low Countries, a daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland, 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 Emperor Louis IV in 1324; and in 1345, she became the suo jure Countess of Hainaut upon the death of their brother William in battle. William II, Count of Hainaut, nicknamed the Audacious, was also possessor of the counties of Zealand and Holland as well as of the seigniory of Frieze: these vacant inheritances were devolved to Margaret after agreement between Philippa and her sister.[8] Edward III of England, however, in 1364–65, in the name of his wife Philippa, demanded the return of Hainaut and other inheritances which had been given over to the Dukes of Bavaria–Straubing. He was not successful, as it was the custom in these regions to favour male heirs.[9]
Philippa was interested in learning and was as avid a reader as her mother, Joan of Valois, who introduced French literary culture to the court of Hainaut.

Betrothal[edit]

King Edward II had decided that an alliance with Flanders would benefit England and sent Bishop Stapledon of Exeter on the Continent as an ambassador. On his journey, he crossed into the county of Hainaut to inspect the daughters of Count William of Hainaut, to determine which daughter would be the most suitable as an eventual bride for Prince Edward. The bishop's report to the king describes one of the count's daughters in detail. A later annotation says it describes Philippa as a child, but historian Ian Mortimer argues that it is actually an account of her older sister Margaret.[10] The description runs:
The lady whom we saw 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 her 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 also flattened, and 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 are well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father; and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us. And the damsel will be of the age of nine years on St. John's day next to come, as her mother saith. She is neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage, and well taught in all that becometh her rank, and highly esteemed and well beloved of her father and mother and of all her meinie, in so far as we could inquire and learn the truth.[11]
Four years later Philippa was betrothed to Prince Edward when, in the summer of 1326, Queen Isabella arrived at the Hainaut court seeking aid from Count William to depose King Edward. Prince Edward had accompanied his mother to Hainaut where she arranged the betrothal in exchange for assistance from the count. As the couple were second cousins, a Papal dispensation was required;[12] 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, John of Hainaut. On 23 December she reached London where a "rousing reception was accorded her".[13]

Queen of England[edit]


Philippa of Hainaut is shown seated under the canopy
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 by bringing large numbers of foreigners to the English court. As Isabella did not wish to relinquish her own status, Philippa's coronation was postponed for two years. She eventually was crowned queen on 4 March 1330 at Westminster Abbey when she was almost six months pregnant;[14] 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. Shortly afterward, the latter was executed fortreason, 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 who exceeded most ladies for sweetness of nature and virtuous disposition." ChroniclerJean 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 European 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.[15] Philippa was a patron of the chronicler Jean Froissart, and she owned several illuminated manuscripts, one of which currently is housed in the national library in Paris.

Later years and death[edit]


Effigies of Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut
Always buxom and matronly, Philippa's figure had become stout in her later years. She had given birth to fourteen children and outlived nine of them. Three of her children died of theBlack Death in 1348.
On 15 August 1369, Philippa died of an illness similar to dropsy in Windsor Castle at the age of fifty-five. She was given a state funeral six months later on 29 January 1370 and interred atWestminster Abbey. Her tomb, placed 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 forty-year marriage to Edward had been happy, despite his adulterous affair with her lady-in-waitingAlice Perrers, during the latter part of it.

Issue[edit]


Philippa of Hainaut's arms as Queen consort[16]
Philippa and Edward had fourteen children,[17] including five sons who lived into adulthood and the rivalry of whose numerous descendants would, in the fifteenth century, bring about the long-running and bloody dynastic wars known as the Wars of the Roses.

Legacy[edit]

Philippa was 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, who was 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,[18] thus bringing Central Asian genes into the English royal line.[19]
In 2004 she was voted fifth in a "Greatest Black Briton" poll.[20] Her presence derived from a claim promoted by the Black Cultural Archives that bishop Stapledon's description of her "brown" skin, broad nose and wide nostrils, is evidence of African ancestry. This view is dismissed by Edward III's biographer Ian Mortimer, who says that her family history is well-known.[21]
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.




(Source: HERE)

Philippa Avesnes of Hainault

Born: 24 June 1314, Valenciennes, France
Died: 15 Aug 1369, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
Buried: Westminster Abbey, London, England

Reigned: 24 Jan 1328 – 15 Aug 1369

Married Edward III Plantagenet, King of England: 24 Jan 1328
[link]

She was the daughter of William I Avesnes, Count of Hainaut and Joan of Valois. She was 2nd cousins with her husband Edward III through his mother Isabella as she was Philip III great granddaughter thorough his 2nd son Charles and Isabella was his granddaughter through his 1st son Philip IV.

She had 13 children, 6 lived to adulthood including 5 sons who’s descendants in 15th century brought about the long dynastic wars known as the Wars of the Roses.
1. Edward, The Black Prince – (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376, illness) married Joan of Kent and fathered Richard II King of England
2. Isabella, Lady of Coucy – (16 June 1632 - either Apr 1379 or 17 June/5 Oct 1382), married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, 2 daughters, was the ancestress of Mary Queen of Scots, Henry IV King of France and the Bourbon kings of France and Spain.
3. Joan (1335-1348)
4. William of Hatfield (16 Feb – 8 July 1337)
5. Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence (29 Nov 1338 - 7 Oct 1368) married 1st Elizabeth de Burg Countess of Ulster, 1 daughter. His 5Great Granddaughter was Jane Seymour
6. John of Gaunt, Earl of Lancaster (6 Mar 1340 – 3 Feb 1399) married 1st Blanche of Lancaster, 7 children, parents of Henry IV, married 2nd Constance of Castile, 2 children, 1 lived, married 3rd Katherine Swynford, 4 children
7. Edmund of Langley (5 June 1341-1 Aug 1402) married Isabella of Castile, 3 children
8. Blanche (1342-1342)
9. Mary, Duchess of Brittany (10 Oct 1344 – Dec 1362) married John V, Duke of Brittany, no issue
10. Margaret, Countess of Pembroke (20 Jul 1346 - (between 1 Oct and 25 Dec) 1361) married John Hastings Earl of Pembroke, no issue
11. Thomas (1347 - 1348)
12. William (24 June – 5 Sep 1348)
13. Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (7 Jan 1355 – 8 Dec 1397) married Eleanor de Bohun, 1 son, 1 daughter.

Her son John of Gaunt became the Duke of Aquitaine which he ruled from 1390 to 1399.

Note: Joan of Kent was 2nd cousins with Edward the Black Prince, she was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, son of Margaret of France and Edward I, While her husband was Edward I great grandson through his first Wife Eleanor of Castile.

Through her son John of Gaunt she is a great great grandmother of Margaret Beauford (mother of Henry VII), and a 5Great grandmother of Charles I & V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor (her son's daughter philippa was Maximilian I HRE's double great grandmother), a Great Great grandmother of Isabella I of Castile.

She is a 6th generation Grandmother of Catherine Parr

She was descended from King Stephan I of England through his Matilda of Brabant, she was also descended from Harold II King of England through his daughter Gytha of Wessex. Through her mother she was descended from Kuthen, Khan of the Cumens via his daughter Elizabeth of Cumen.

She was known as the “most royal” Queen consort as 4 of her great grandfathers were Kings, Louis IX King of France, James I King of Aragon, Charles I King of Naples, and Stephen V King of Hungary.

She was said to be very kind and had a gentle nature. She accompanied her husband on his expeditions to Scotland and Europe and encouraged her husband to take an interest in England’s commercial expansion.

Interesting note her husband had unusual hair he had Silver blonde hair. He was the 3rd of 7 Kings of England not to inherit the Plantagenet red hair passed down from Geoffrey V Count of Anjou.



England's first black queen, mother of the black prince

Philippa was the daughter of William of Hainault, a lord in part of what is now Belgium. When she was nine the King of England, Edward II, decided that he would marry his son, the future Edward III, to her, and sent one of his bishops, a Bishop Stapeldon, to look at her. He described her thus:
"The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is cleaned 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 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…all her limbs are well set and unmaimed, and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father, and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us."

Four years later Prince Edward went to visit his bride-to-be and her family, and fell in live with her. She was betrothed to him and in 1327, when she was only 14, she arrived in England. The next year, when she was 15, they married and were crowned King and Queen in 1330 when she was heavily pregnant with her first child and only 17.

This first child was called Edward, like his father, but is better known as the Black Prince. Many say that he was called this because of the colour of his armour, but there are records that show that he was called 'black' when he was very small. The French called him 'Le Noir'.

Philippa was a remarkable woman. She was very wise and was known and loved by the English for her kindliness and restraint. She would travel with her husband on his campaigns and take her children as well. When the King was abroad she ruled in his absence. Queen's College in Oxford University was founded under her direction by her chaplain, Robert de Eglesfield in 1341 when she was 28. She brought many artists and scholars from Hainault who contributed to English culture.
When she died, Edward never really recovered, and she was much mourned by him and the country. King Edward had a beautiful sculpture made for her tomb which you can see today at Westminster Abbey.

Sourced from the Black Cultural Archives

(Source: HERE)


Very interesting blog that I found on erinlawless.wordpress.com/  (copied for my notes in case blog is ever lost)



England’s “Black” Queens


When you consider historical Queens of England, you probably picture sumptuous dresses, ropes of jewels, tumbling fair or chestnut curls and peaches-and-cream complexions. Would it surprise you to know that two queens of England are now considered by some historians and genealogists to have had “black” or Moorish ancestry? Interestingly, the two ladies – whilst separated by centuries – had much in common; both were especially beloved in their lifetimes and are still remembered particularly fondly today.
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault (24 June 1314 – 15 August 1369) was the Queen-Consort of Edward III. She was the daughter of the Count of Hainault in the Low Countries (now in Belgium), an area that had once been ruled by Moorish tribes. It would appear that perhaps, in Philippa, there was a genetic throwback to the darker colouring of the erstwhile rulers. Edward II sent a man to Hainault to report back on his son and heir’s mooted bride. The man gave the following feedback:
“The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is cleaned 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 dark. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that 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…all her limbs are well set and unmaimed, and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father, and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us.”
No contemporary images of Philippa exist; those that we have show a very standard, delicate featured, Caucasoid woman, absolutely nothing like the woman that the little “brown” girl described above would have grown into.
Philippa was an avid patron of the arts, a capable regent when her husband was away warring and a prolific mother. She was known for her kindness and restraint, frequently interceding with her husband and successfully pleading for the lives of those who had been sentenced to die. Philippa also is known to be the “most royal” Queen-Consort of England due to four of her great-great-grandfathers all having been kings (of France, Aragon, Naples and Hungary).
The eldest of her thirteen children was Edward of Woodstock, known as “The Black Prince”. It is usually said that the adult Crown Prince must have obtained this moniker due to the black armour he wore in battle against the French, however some evidence seems to show that he was referred to as “Le Noir” from childhood. Perhaps he inherited his mother’s darker complexion? His father, Edward III, was a typical Plantagenet, red-haired and ruddy.
Moving forward more than four hundred years, Charlotte of Mecklenburg (19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was the Queen of Great Britain, consort of George III. A Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – a small duchy within the Holy Roman Empire – she was descended via six separate lines from Margarita de Castro, the daughter of Alfonso III of Portugal and his mistress, Mourana Gil, an African of Moorish descent. It is often pointed out that there are distinct sub-Saharan aspects to portraits of Queen Charlotte, features that did not seem to be passed down to Charlotte’s grand-daughter, Queen Victoria, and through her to our current royal family.
Charlotte and children
In the in the poem penned to her on the occasion of her wedding to George III and the Coronation celebration that immediately followed, Charlotte is referred to as resembling her ‘Vandal’ ancestors (a Roman African tribal race).
Descended from the warlike Vandal race,
She still preserves that title in her face.
Tho’ shone their triumphs o’er Numidia’s plain,
And and Alusian fields their name retain;
They but subdued the southern world with arms,
She conquers still with her triumphant charms,
O! born for rule, – to whose victorious brow
The greatest monarch of the north must bow.
 People in the Georgian court made note of the Queen’s ‘wide nose’. Her personal physician, Baron Stockmar, said in his autobiography that the Queen had a ‘true mulatto (mixed race) face’. Like with Philippa, she wasn’t considered a beauty by the standards of the time; when King George sent out scouts to engage his bride, none of them thought her attractive, but they did agree she was healthy, amiable, and gay. Even Charles Dickens was rather mean about her; the very first page of A Tale of Two Cities dismisses her thus: “There was a king with a large jaw, and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England.”
There have also always been rumours that the reason for Charlotte’s unusual complexion was that she was not the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Meckenburg-Streliz, but rather the result of her mother’s affair with an man brought from Ethiopia to be a slave, who had risen high in the Russian army (one Abram Petrovich Gannibal, if you care to look him up).
Like Queen Philippa before her, Queen Charlotte was a lover of arts and literature and tried to advance the rights of women. When her husband was struck down with his periodic fits of “madness”, she capably ruled Britain in his name. With fifteen children, thirteen of whom survived to adulthood, like Philippa she was seen as matronly and nurturing, the “mother” of the kingdom.
Queen Charlotte
Both Philippa and Charlotte were removed from any potential African or Moorish ancestry by several generations; however the tendency that European royalty had to inter-marry probably preserved dominant traits and made the gene pool unusually small. It isn’t too hard to imagine that the more interesting characteristics, from the more ‘exotic’ contributors to the gene pool, might have come to the fore in a few of the European hoi-polloi, including in two women destined to become Queen-Consorts in England, and mothers to subsequent royal generations, perpetuating the ‘Moorish’ genes. Perhaps Will and Kate’s baby will come out “brown of skin all over”??





(Source: Here)

Philippa of Hainault


Lineage

Richard II's grandmother, Philippa of Hainault (1310/15-1369), was the daughter of Count William the Good of Hainault and Holland. Her mother, Jeanne de Valois, was a granddaughter of Philippe III of France and cousin to Edward II's estranged queen, Isabella.

Betrothal and marriage

Philippa was betrothed to the future Edward III in 1327, an alliance contracted against the wishes of Edward II by the queen and her lover, Roger Mortimer, to win support for their invasion of England. Nonetheless, the match between Philippa and Edward seems to have been loving and companionate. Philippa accompanied Edward in the 1330s and 1340s on his expeditions to Scotland and on the early campaigns of the Hundred Years War. They had at least twelve sons and daughters, nine of whom survived infancy. Their eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, Richard II's father, later known as the Black Prince, was born in 1330, their youngest, Thomas of Woodstock, in 1355. Their third son, Lionel, was born in Antwerp in 1338 and their fourth, John (of Gaunt), at Ghent in 1340.
A photo of the effigy of Philippa of Hainault
Jean de Liège, Tomb effigy of Philippa of Hainault, alabaster (London, Westminster Abbey)

Philippa as patron

Philippa spent her early years at the cultured Hainault court. She seems to have had well developed literary tastes and perhaps a real interest in learning. For New Year 1333 she gave Edward a ewer enamelled with figures from epic and romance poetry. Among manuscripts associated with Philippa is a richly illuminated compilation now in the national library in Paris (MS fr. 571). She was the patron of the chronicler, Jean Froissart, who first arrived in England from Hainault in 1362. He wrote a lament on the queen's death in 1369. In 1341 one of her chaplains, Robert Eglesfield, founded in Oxford the future Queen's College, but placed it under the queen's protection. She used her influence on its behalf, especially after Eglesfield's death. Some of Philippa's jewels and plate are almost certainly listed among Richard II's treasure, but none is known to survive today. Her alabaster tomb in Westminster Abbey is our best witness to her patronage. It stands to the east of Edward III's monument on the south side of the Confessor's chapel and was commissioned in 1367, during Philippa's lifetime, from Jean de Liège of Brabant. The bronze figures of angels, however, were cast by John Orchard in 1376. Philippa's effigy represents a 'realistic' rather than an idealised image of the ageing queen. This was an innovation in English tomb sculpture. Jean de Liège had already worked for the French court. He had executed on the orders of Charles V the effigies of Blanche and her sister, the king's baby daughters. He later carved the effigies of Charles IV (d. 1328) and his widow, Jeanne d' Evreux (d. 1371), for the French royal mausoleum of Saint-Denis.
Short Biography, facts and interesting information about Philippa of Hainault, Queen consort in England
during the Middle Ages

Medieval Queens and Princesses - Philippa of Hainault

Name: Philippa of Hainault

Married: King Edward III of England in 1328

Family connections / Genealogy: Philippa of Hainault was the daughter of William III, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France

Title: Her title was Queen consort of England

Lifespan: This famous woman lived from c. 1314 - 1369

Famous children: King Edward III and Queen Philippa had twelve children, seven sons ( only five survived) and five daughters:

Edward, Prince of Wales - the Black Prince
Lionel, Duke of Clarence
John, Duke of Lancaster ( John of Gaunt)
Edmund, Duke of York
Thomas, Duke of Gloucester

His daughters were called  Isabella Plantagenet (1332 - 1382), Joan Plantagenet (1335 - 1348), Blanche Plantagenet (b. 1342), Mary Plantagenet (1344 - 1362) and Margaret Plantagenet (1346 - 1361)

King Edward III was succeeded by Richard, the son of Edward the Black Prince. He was crowned King Richard II of England

Facts about her life: 
Philippa of Hainault was renowned for her patience with her womanising husband
Important events during her life: 
The start of the Hundred Years War between England and France
Phillippa of Hanault died from the Black Death in 1369
Famous Medieval Queen of the Middle Ages - Philippa of Hainault

(Source: HERE

PHILIPPA OF HAINAULT (1313-1369)

PHILIPPA, afterwards Queen of Edward III. of England, was born in the province of Hainault in Belgium, in 1313. Her mother, the Countess of Hainault, was a wise and good woman, devoted to her husband and her four little daughters, of whom Philippa was the second. Her uncle, Sir John, was a very powerful man, and fought for England when Edward was king. Now, on one of their many visits abroad, the young Prince Edward and his mother came to Hainault, and stayed at Count William's house.

The story runs, that the future King of England took a great fancy to Count William's daughter Philippa, who was about his own age. They had long talks together, and spent a very happy fortnight, and the pretty little Philippa missed her companion very much when he and his mother were obliged to return to England.
On the death of Edward II. his son Edward was crowned king, and it was thought advisable for him to marry. Now it so happened that it would be to the benefit of England to have the Flemings as allies; for the people there were ready to help Edward against the French, and to trade with England; so "a daughter of William of Hainault" was to be selected for the young king. A bishop was accordingly sent over to choose which daughter should be queen.

Happily for both parties, he chose the tall and pretty Philippa, who started joyfully for England to marry the young king. She received a hearty welcome, and, with her uncle and numerous attendants, went up to York, where Edward and she were married in the winter of 1328, at the ages of fifteen and sixteen. Then they went for the summer to the beautiful palace of Woodstock, while Edward's mother, and Mortimer, a bad and tyrannical man, governed the kingdom.

It was at Woodstock, in 1330, that Philippa's first son was born, the future hero, the Black Prince. To celebrate his birth, a grand tournament was held in London, and a tower was erected and filled with seats, so that the queen and all her ladies might see it. But they had scarcely taken their seats, when, with a crash, the boarding gave way, and all fell to the ground. No one was hurt, but all were very much frightened. When the young king saw the peril of his wife, he flew into a violent passion, and vowed that all the careless carpenters should be put to death. But the gentle Philippa, still trembling from the effects of her fall, threw herself on her knees before him, and pleaded for pardon so hard, that Edward forgave the men.

When Edward was seventeen, he determined to govern the kingdom for himself, and throw off the restraints of his mother and Mortimer, so he shut his mother up in a castle, and Mortimer was sent to the Tower, and sentenced to die, as he deserved. Then Edward began to reform many abuses; many good laws were made, and trade was encouraged with other nations. Philippa, too, knew how well the people in her own country wove wool, so she sent for some of them to come and teach the English. First she made a little colony of weavers at Norwich, and had them taught, often going herself to look after them, and encourage their work.
During all the early part of his reign Edward was fighting in Scotland, and Philippa went with him whenever she could. Once Edward had been up in Scotland, and had arranged that Philippa should meet him at Durham. Having welcomed him and supped at the priory, she retired to bed. Scarcely had she undressed, when the monks came to her door in a great state of excitement, to say that it was against rules for any lady—even a queen—to sleep at their priory. Queen Philippa was very much distressed, and, not waiting to dress, fled in her nightgown to the castle close by, where she was allowed to pass the night in peace.
Up to this time Philippa's father had supplied Edward with money to carry on war with Scotland; on his death Edward became so poor that he had to pawn the queen's crown in Germany. Soon after the English people sent their woollen manufactures to Germany, and, instead of receiving money, so the story says, they redeemed their queen's crown.

In 1340, a fourth son was born to Philippa at Ghent, and called John of Gaunt—Gaunt being the old English way of saying Ghent.

Now Edward had entered on a war with France, which had made him poorer than ever. Again the queen's crowns and jewels were pawned, and Edward was getting into so much trouble, that one night he took his wife and baby, and with a few trusty servants crossed to England secretly. The ship was small, the weather cold, the wind was high, and at times their lives were in great danger. However, about midnight they arrived at the Tower in London, to find it unguarded and only occupied by the three royal children and nurses. Edward was in a fury, and had it not been for the gentle Philippa at his side, the guards on their return would have come off very badly. Not only was Queen Philippa a faithful wife, always ready to calm Edward's fits of passion and to encourage the industry of the country, but now we find her ruling his kingdom for him and leading his army to battle.

In 1346, Philippa said farewell to her husband and to the Black Prince, the darling of her heart, who at sixteen was off to the French war with his father. She and Lionel, a child of eight, were left to govern England.

But no sooner had Edward gone, than the King of Scotland invaded England. Philippa did not spend long in wondering what was to be done—she went quickly to Newcastle, where she awaited the English army. When the King of Scotland heard she was there, he sent to say that he was ready to fight! Philippa sent back word, that she was ready too; adding, "My barons will risk their lives for the realm of my lord the king!"
The queen's army drew up at Neville's Cross, and Philippa, on a white charger, so runs the story, was among them. She begged them to do their duty, and to defend the honour of the king; then leaving them to the protection of God, she rode away. She would not stop to fight; her nature was too womanly to stay and see the carnage which was going to take place; she had done all a great queen could do by cheering and encouraging her men; now she would go and pray for victory while the battle raged.

When she heard it was over, she mounted her white horse and rode again to the battle-field, where she heard that not only had a victory been won, but the King of Scotland had been taken prisoner. He was taken on a tall black war-horse through the streets of London, and put in the Tower. The next day Philippa sailed for Calais, and her royal husband held a grand court to welcome his victorious queen. The terrible siege of Calais was going on; the French had defended it bravely, till at last they were so much reduced by famine that they were obliged to surrender. Everything was eaten, even the cats, dogs, and horses; there was no corn, no wine, and the unhappy people were fast dying.

So the governor of Calais came to ask Edward on what terms they could surrender. Edward was very angry at having been kept waiting so long, and refused to spare the people unless the six chief men of Calais would come out bareheaded and bare-footed, with ropes round their necks and the keys of Calais in their hands, ready to die for the rest of the people. The governor returned sad and sick at heart, and calling the people together he gave them the king's message. There was silence for a moment among the feeble few. Then the hero Eustace de St. Pierre cried:

"Oh! never be it said,
That the loyal hearts of Calais
To die could be afraid!
I will be the first, I will willingly give myself up to the mercy of the King of England." 

Then five others followed his brave example, and the willing captives came before the angry king. They knelt and pleaded for mercy. But in vain. In vain the lords around him begged him to restrain his anger,—he only thundered:

"Strike off their heads, each man of them shall die; I will have it so!"

Then gentle Philippa stepped forth and knelt at the feet of her royal husband:

"My loving lord and husband," she cried, "I have crossed the stormy sea with great peril to come to you—I have been faithful to you all our wedded life—do not deny my request, but, as a proof of your love to me, grant me the lives of these six men!"

The king looked at her in silence, "Lady, I would you had not been here," he cried at last, "I cannot refuse you, do as you please with them."

Then Philippa joyously arose, took the men, fed them, clothed them, and sent them back to their wives, friends, and children.

Soon after Philippa and Edward returned to England. The same year a terrible disease called the Black Death broke out in England, and Philippa's second daughter, a girl of fifteen, died of it. She was just going to marry the Infant Pedro of Spain, and had crossed to France, where he was to meet her, when she was taken very ill with the plague, and died in a few hours. And on the very day appointed for her wedding the little princess was buried.

In 1357, the Black Prince returned to England after his victories of Crecy and Poitiers, and proudly presented his royal prisoner King John to his mother, as well as John's little son, a boy of fourteen, who had fought to the end by his father's side, and had been at last captured terribly wounded. The first day, when at dinner with the king and queen and his captive father, the boy started up, and boxed the servant's ears for serving Edward, King of England, before his father John, King of France.

Philippa, instead of being angry, only smiled at the boy's spirit, and she treated him as one of her own sons as long as he remained with her.

The following year Philippa, her husband, and four sons went to France, leaving Thomas, a child of five, guardian of the kingdom. There she saw her eldest son married.

She did not live to see the sad change which made the last years of her son's life so unhappy; she did not live to see her husband, with a mind once so mighty, sink into helpless old age, but she died in 1369, at Windsor.
When she was dying, she called the king: "We have, my husband, enjoyed our long union in peace and happiness, but before we are for ever parted in this world, I entreat you will grant me three requests."

 "Lady, name them," answered Edward, "they shall be granted."

"My lord," she whispered, "I beg you will pay all the merchants I have engaged for their wares; I beseech you to fulfil any gifts or legacies I have made to churches and my servants; and when it shall please God to call you hence, that you will lie by my side in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey."

She ceased speaking. The king was in tears. "Lady," he said, "all this shall be done." And Philippa the queen died.

(Source: HERE)

Phillipa of Hainault

(24 June 1314 - 15 August 1369) 

Phillipa of HainaultPhilippa of Hainault was born in Valenciennes, Hainaut, in the Low Countries, she was the daughter of William III, 'the Good' Count of Holland and Hainaut, and Joan of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France. Philippa spent her early years at the court of Hainault, renowned for its culture. She developed literary tastes and an interest in learning.

King Edward II wished to establish an alliance with Flanders through the marriage of his eldest son and heir, Prince Edward, to one of the daughters of Count William of Hainaut, and sent Bishop Stapledon of Exeter to the court of Hainault as his ambassador. The bishop sent a report to the king regarding Philippa, then about eight years old :-

The lady whom we saw 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 somewhat 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 are 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 brown of skin all over, and much like her father; and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us. And the damsel will be of the age of nine years on St John's day next to come, as her mother saith. She is neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage."

The couple were betrothed four years later, when, in the summer of 1326, Queen Isabella, who was estranged from her husband, Edward II, visited the Hainault court, along with Prince Edward, to obtain aid from Count William to depose King Edward in return for the couple's betrothal. After a dispensation had been obtained for the marriage of the cousins (they were both great grandchildren of Philip III of France through their mothers), Philippa arrived in England in December 1327 escorted by her uncle, John of Hainaut, she was married to Edward IIIat York Minster, on 24 January 1328.

Edward III and the Black PrinceAlthough Edward wore the crown, in the early years of their marriage, England was ruled by the Dowager Queen, his mother Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. In October 1330, King Edward took command of his kingdom, when he staged a coup and ordered the arrest of Isabella and Mortimer. Despite Isabella's pleas of "Fair son, have pity on gentle Mortimer!" he was tried for treason and beheaded at Tyburn. Isabella was treated more leniently by her son, she was initially transferred to Berkhamsted Castle and then held under house arrest at Windsor Castle until 1332, when she then moved back to her own property of Castle Rising in Norfolk.

Edward and Phillipa's first child, Edward, later known as the Black Prince was born at Woodstock on 15th June, 1330 just nine days before Phillipa's sixteenth birthday. The dowager Queen, Isabella of France, is said to have doted on Edward III's eldest son. Phillipa's mother Joan of Valois, visited her in England in 1331. During a tournament to celebrate the visit, Phillipa famously interceded with the king on behalf of carpenters whose careless work on a platform resulted in an accident to herself and her ladies.

Philippa reintroduced the bloodline of King Stephen, into the English royal family, she was descended from Stephen's great-granddaughter 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. Philippa was also a descendant of another English monarch, the Saxon King Harold II, whose daughter Gytha of Wessex, married Vladimir II Monomakh of Kiev. From her maternal great-grandmother, Maria of Hungary, she descended from Elisabeth of Bosnia (born before 1241), a daughter of Kuthen, Khan of the Cumens and his Slavic wife, Galicie of Halicz, thus bringing Western Asian blood into the English royal line.

Phillipa and Edward produced fourteen children in all and she was to outlive nine of them. Her second child, a daughter, was born at Woodstock on June 16, 1332 and named Isabella after her paternal grandmother. Isabella was her father's favourite daughter he was said to have doted on her. A second daughter, Joan, named after Phillipa's mother, was born in the Tower of London in late 1333 or early 1334. A son William was born at Hatfield on 16 February, 1337, but survived only a few months. In 1338, Philippa and Edward traveled to Euope to arrange alliances in support of Edward's claim to the French throne. Philippa stayed in Antwerp, where her son, Lionel, later Duke of Clarence, was born on November 29, 1338. He was to grow to be nearly seven feet tall. Philippa gave birth to another son John of Gaunt, later Duke of Lancaster, on March 6, 1340 at Ghent. A further son, Edmund, who would be created Duke of York, was born at Langley in June of 1341. In 1343, Phillipa gave birth to daughter Blanche who died soon after she was born. On October 10, 1344 she gave birth to a daughter named Mary, another daughter, Margaret, was born in 1346. Thomas and William were born at Windsor in 1347 and 1348 respectively.

Three of her children, her daughter Joan and young sons, Thomas and William, who had been born in 1347 and 1348, were to die during the outbreak of bubonic plague known as the Black Death in 1348. Joan was betrothed to Peter of Castile, son of Alfonso XI of Castile in 1345, and left England to journey to Castille in the summer of 1348. She stayed at the city of Bordeaux, in southern France, en-route, where there was a severe outbreak of the plague, members of her entourage began to fall sick and die and Joan was moved, probably to the small village of Loremo, where she succumbed to the Black Death, suffering a violent attack she died on September 2, 1348. Phillipa's last child, Thomas was born at Woodstock in 1355
.
Tomb of Edward III and Phillipa of HainaultBefore 1335 Philippa had established a small colony of Flemish weavers at Norwich, and she displayed an active interest in the weaving trade by repeated visits to the town. She also encouraged coal-mining on her estates in Tynedale. Phillipa was kind and inclined to be generous and exercised a steadying influence on her husband. Phillipa of Hainault was a popular Queen Consort, who was widely loved and respected, and theirs was a very close marriage, despite Edward's frequent infidelities. She frequently acted as Regent in England during Edward's absences in France. A generally accepted story, based on the chronicles of Froissart, that Phillipa summoned the English forces to meet the Scottish invasion of 1346, and addressed the troops before the Battle of Neville's Cross.

Froissart describes her as being "tall and upright, wise, gay, humble, pious, liberal and courteous." Philippa accompanied her husband on his expeditions to Scotland, and France during the Hundred Years War, where she was to win acclaim for her gentle and compassionate nature. In 1347, she persuaded her husband to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais, whom he had planned to execute after the Siege of Calais.

In later years, Phillipa's figure stoutened. Edward III descended into dotage and was ruled by his avaricious mistress Alice Perrers who had been a lady-in-waiting to Philippa. Queen Phillipa died in August, 1369, at Windsor Castle at the age of fifty-five, of an illness similar to dropsy. Edward visited her on her deathbed when she requested that when he died, he would be buried by her side at Westminster. As she lay dying, Philippa is said to have asked Edward:-

"We have, my husband, enjoyed our long union in peace and happiness, but before we are forever parted in this world, I entreat you will grant me three requests." "Lady, name them," answered Edward, "they shall be granted." "My lord," she whispered, "I beg you will pay all the merchants I have engaged for their wares; I beseech you to fulfill any gifts or legacies I have made to churches and my servants; and when it shall please God to call you hence, that you will lie by my side in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey." As she passed, the king was in tears. "Lady," he said, "all this shall be done."

Jean Froissart, of whom she was patron, wrote a lament on the queen's death. She was buried at Westminster Abbey. Her tomb is on the south side of the Chapel of Edward the Confessor and displays her alabaster effigy which was executed by sculptor Jean de Liège.
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster -Phillipa's third surviving son
St. George's Chapel, Windsor - Chapel of the Order of the Garter

The Ancestry of Phillipa of Hainaut

Phillipa of HainautFather:
William I, Count of Hainaut
Paternal Grandfather:
John II, Count of Hainaut
Paternal Great-grandfather:
John I of Avesnes
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Adelaide of Holland
Paternal Grandmother:
Philippa of Luxembourg,
Paternal Great-grandfather:
Charles, Count of Valois
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Margaret, Countess of Anjou
Mother:
Joan of Valois
Maternal Grandfather:
Charles, Count of Valois
Maternal Great-grandfather:
Phillip III of France
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Isabella of Aragon
Maternal Grandmother:
Margaret, Countess of Anjou
Maternal Great-grandfather:
King Charles II of Naples
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Mary of Hungary


The Children and Grandchildren of Edward III and Phillipa of Hainault

(1) Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, The Black Prince, (1330-76) m. Joan Plantagenet, Countess of Kent.
Issue :-
(i) Edward of Angouleme (1365-72)
(ii) RICHARD II (1367-1400) m. (1) Anne of Bohemia (no issue) (2) Isabelle of France(no issue)
(2) Isabella (1332- 1382) m. Enguerrand de Coucy, Seigneur de Coucy, Earl of Bedford.
issue:-
(i) Marie de Coucy (1367-1405) m.Henry de Bar, Seigneur de Oisy
(ii) Phillipa de Coucy (d.1411) m. Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford.
(3) Princess Joan of England or 'of the Tower' (1335-1348) no issue
(4) Prince William of Hatfield b. 1337 died in infancy (1337)
(5) Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence (1338-1368) m. (1) Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster. (2) Violante Visconti.

Issue (by 1) :-
(i) Phillipa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster (1355-78) m. Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. From this marriage descended the House of York.
(6) John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine, Earl of Richmond.(1340-99) m. (1) Blanche Plantagenet (2) Constance of Castille (3) Katherine Swynford.
Issue by (1) :-
(i) John, Earl of Richmond. (b.1362) died in infancy
(ii) Edward. ( b. 1365) died in infancy
(iii) John (b. 1366) died in infancy
(iv) HENRY IV (1367-1413) m. (1) Mary de Bohun, Countess of Hereford. (2) Joan of Navarre from the first marriage descended the House of Lancaster.
(v) Phillipa of Lancaster (1360-1415) m. John I, King of Portugal
(vi) Elizabeth of Lancaster (1365-1425) m. (1) John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke (2) John Holland, Duke of Exeter (3) Sir John Cornwall.
Issue by (2) :-
(vii) Isabel of Lancaster (b. 1368) died in infancy
(viii) Catherine of Lancaster (1372-1458) m. King Henry III of Castille and Leon
Issue by (3):-
(ix) John Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset and Somerset (1373-1410) m. Hon. Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso
(x) Henry Beaufort, Cardinal (1375-1417)
(xi) Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset (1377-1426) m. Margaret Neville
(xii) Joan Beaufort (1379-1440) m. (1) Robert Ferrers, Baron Ferrers (2) Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland
(7) Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge, Duke of York (1341-1402) m.(1) Isabel of Castille and Leon (2) Joan Holland
Issue by (1 ):-
(i) Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland, Duke of York and Albemarle (1373-1415) m. Hon Phillipa de Mohun
(ii) Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cambridge (1374-1416) m. (1) Lady Anne Mortimer (2) Hon. Maud Clifford
(iii) Constance Plantagenet (1374-1416) m. Thomas le Despencer, Earl of Gloucester
(8) Princess Blanche Plantagenet (b. 1342) died in infancy (1342)
(9) Princess Mary Plantagenet (1334-1362) m. John V, Duke of Brittany
(10) Margaret Plantagenet (1346-1361) m, John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke
(11) Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, Duke of Gloucester (1335-97) m. Eleanor de Bohun.
Issue:-
(i) Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1382-99)
(ii) Anne Plantagenet (1383-1438) m, (1)Thomas Stafford, Earl of Stafford (2) Edmund Stafford, Earl of Stafford (3) Sir William Bourchier
(Source: HERE

(From: Find A Grave)


Birth: Jun. 24, 1311
Valenciennes
Departement du Nord
Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Death: Aug. 14, 1369
Windsor
Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough
Berkshire, England

English Monarch. Queen consort of King Edward III. The daughter of William III "The Good", Count of Hainault and Jean de Valois, she married Edward on January 24, 1328. She often accompanied him on this foreign travels, and Edward was devoted to her. The couple had 13 children, including 5 sons whose rivalry would later set into motion the Wars of the Roses. She was said to be tender-hearted, and interfered little in politics. (bio by: Kristen Conrad)

Family links:
 Parents:
  Guillaume d'Avesnes (1286 - 1337)
  Jeanne de Valois (1294 - 1342)

 Spouse:
   King Edward III (1312 - 1377)

 Children:
  Edward Plantagenet (1330 - 1376)*
  Isabel Plantagenet Coucy (1332 - 1379)*
  Joan Plantagenet (1334 - 1348)*
  Prince William Of Hatfield (1337 - 1337)*
  Lionel Plantagenet (1338 - 1368)*
  John 1st Duke of Lancaster Plantagenet (1340 - 1399)*
  Edmund of Langley (1341 - 1402)*
  Blanche de la Tour (1342 - 1342)*
  Mary de Waltham (1344 - 1362)*
  Margaret Plantagnet Hastings (1346 - 1361)*
  William de Windsor (1348 - 1348)*
  Thomas Plantagenet (1355 - 1397)*

 Siblings:
  Isabeau d'Avesnes de Namur (____ - 1360)*
  Margarete II de Avesnes (1293 - 1356)**
  Philippa d'Avesnes of Hainault (1311 - 1369)

*Calculated relationship
**Half-sibling


Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
City of Westminster
Greater London, England



No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for coming over to my side of the tree :) Comments are always welcome and appreciated!