Marie of Champagne

Marie of Champagne (c. 1174 – 29 August 1204[1]) was the first Latin Empress of Constantinople by marriage to Emperor Baldwin I. She acted as regent of Flanders during the absence of her spouse from 1202 until 1204.

Marie of Champagne
Latin Empress of Constantinople
Born	c. 1174
Died	(1204-08-29)29 August 1204 Acre, Israel
Noble family	Blois
Spouse(s)	Baldwin I of Constantinople
Father	Henry I, Count of Champagne
Mother	Marie of France

Life

Marie was a daughter of Henry I, Count of Champagne, and Marie,[2] daughter of King Louis VII of France.[3]

According to the chronicle of Gislebert of Mons, on 13 May 1179 Marie was officially bethrothed to Baldwin, son of the count of Flanders and Hainaut, to whom she was already promised to be wed in 1171.[4] Her betrothed was Baldwin VI, son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders.

Countess of Flanders

On 6 January 1186, Marie and Baldwin were married at Valenciennes.[5]

The young countess consort issued charters in her own name and seems to have a soft spot for the cities in Flanders.[6] In 1200 she and her husband also released the Ninove and Bohéries Abbey from every toll on their territory.[6]

In 1200 she and her husband took the cross in Bruges.[7] On 14 April 1202 her husband left Flanders to join the Fourth Crusade.[8] During her husband's absence, Marie acted as regent for Flanders[9] for two years.

Marie herself left Flanders to join her husband in Outremer. According to Geoffrey of Villehardouin and other authors she could not join him in the crusade earlier as she was pregnant at the time of his departure.[10] After delivery of the child, Margaret and sufficient recovery, she set forth to join him.[11]

Latin Empress

Her husband's Crusade was diverted to Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire, where the crusaders captured and sacked the city. Then the Crusaders and Venetian established the Latin Empire of Romaniae in place of the fallen one. On 9 May 1204, Baldwin was elected its first Emperor making Marie the Empress.

She set sail from the port of Marseille and landed in Acre.[10] It was only when she arrived in Outremer that the news reached her of the fall of Constantinople and the election of Baldwin as the new Emperor of the East. There as an Empress of Constantinople she received the homage of the Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch.[12] She wanted to set sail for Constantinople but fell sick and died in the Holy Land.[10]

News of her death reached Constantinople through Crusading reinforcements from Syria. Baldwin was reportedly afflicted by the death of his wife.[11] Villehardouin reports that Marie "was a gracious and virtuous lady and greatly honoured".[11]

Children

They had two known children:

• Joan, Countess of Flanders (1199/1200 – 5 December 1244).
• Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (2 June 1202 – 10 February 1280).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Marie of Champagne
8. Stephen, Count of Blois 4. Theobald II of Champagne 9. Adela of Normandy 2. Henry I of Champagne 10. Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia 5. Matilda of Carinthia 11. Uta of Passau 1. Marie of Champagne 12. Louis VI of France 6. Louis VII of France 13. Adelaide of Maurienne 3. Marie of France 14. William X, Duke of Aquitaine 7. Eleanor of Aquitaine 15. Aenor de Châtellerault

Notes

1. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Chronica s.a. 1204 (= L. Weiland (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p. 884 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Ralph of Coggeshall, Chronicon Anglicanum s.a. 1204 (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXVII, Hannover, 1885, p. 354 Archived 2 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Renier of St Laurent, Annales s.a. 1204 (= G.H. Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XVI, Hannover, 1858, p. 658 Archived 2 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Sigebert of Gembloux, Continuatio Bergensis s.a. 1203 (= G.H. Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores VI, Hannover, 1844, p. 438 Archived 2 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Flandria generosa (Continuatio Claromariscensis) 12 (= L.C. Bethmann (ed.), Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores IX, Hannover, 1861, p. 330 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Liber Obituum Ecclesie Beati Petri Insulensis (= É. Hautcœur (ed.), Documents liturgiques et nécrologiques de l'église collégiale de Saint-Pierre de Lille, Lille - Paris, 1895, p. 177), Necrologium Ecclesiæ Collegiatæ Beati Petri Insulensis (= É. Hautcœur (ed.), Documents liturgiques et nécrologiques de l'église collégiale de Saint-Pierre de Lille, Lille - Paris, 1895, p. 313). Philippe Mouskes, Chronique rimée, edited by Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg, vol. 2 (Brussels, 1838), vv. 20375-20380, p. 305).
2. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Chronica s.a. 1198 (= L. Weiland (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p. 876 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine).
3. John F. Benton, The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center, in Speculum, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct., 1961), p. 551.
4. Gislebert of Mons, Chronicon Hanoniense 89 (= W. Arndt (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIX, Hannover, 1869, pp. 97 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 117 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine; L. Napran (introd. trad. annot.), Gilbert of Mons, Chronicle of Hainaut, Woodbridge, 2005, pp. 60, 72).
5. Gislebert of Mons, Chronicon Hanoniense (= W. Arndt (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIX, Hannover, 1869, pp. 171 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine-172 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine). Karen S. Nicholas, Countesses as Rulers in Flanders, in Theodore Evergates (ed.), Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 127-128.
6. Karen S. Nicholas, Countesses as Rulers in Flanders, in Theodore Evergates (ed.), Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), p. 128.
7. Flandria generosa (Continuatio Gislenensis) s.a. 1200 (= L.C. Bethmann (ed.), Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores IX, Hannover, 1861, p. 326 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine).
8. Geoffrey of Villehardouin, De la Conquête de Constantinople VI (= Paulin Paris (ed.), La Conquête de Constantinople, Paris, 1838, pp. 3-4; F.T. Marzials (trad.), Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, London, 1908).
9. Karen S. Nicholas, Countesses as Rulers in Flanders, in Theodore Evergates (ed.), Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), p. 128.
10. Geoffrey of Villehardouin, De la Conquête de Constantinople CXXX (= Paulin Paris (ed.), La Conquête de Constantinople, Paris, 1838, pp. 104-105; F.T. Marzials (trad.), Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, London, 1908). Cfr. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Chronica s.a. 1204 (= L. Weiland (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p. 884 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Flandria generosa (Continuatio Claromariscensis) 12 (= L.C. Bethmann (ed.), Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores IX, Hannover, 1861, p. 330 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine), Baldwin of Avesnes, Chronicon Hanoniense quod dicitur Balduini Avennensis (= J. Heller (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXV, Hannover, 1880, p. 448 Archived 2 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine-449 Archived 2 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine).
11. Geoffrey of Villehardouin, De la Conquête de Constantinople CXXX (= Paulin Paris (ed.), La Conquête de Constantinople, Paris, 1838, pp. 104-105; F.T. Marzials (trad.), Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, London, 1908)
12. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Chronica s.a. 1204 (= L. Weiland (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p. 884 Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine). Runciman, Steven (1954). A History of the Crusades: Volume 3, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. p. 115.

Historical sources

• Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Chronica Alberici Monachi Trium Fontium.
• Gislebert of Mons, Chronicon Hanoniense (Chronicle of Hainaut).
• Geoffrey of Villehardouin, De la Conquête de Constantinople

References

• Karen S. Nicholas, Countesses as Rulers in Flanders, in Theodore Evergates (ed.), Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 111-137 (especially pp. 127-129).
• Runciman, Steven (1954). A History of the Crusades: Volume 3, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. p. 115.

External links

Media related to Maria of Champagne, Latin Empress of Constantinople at Wikimedia Commons

• Cawley, Charles, Her profile, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

Marie of Champagne House of Champagne Born: c. 1174 Died: 9 August 1204
Royal titles
New title Latin Empire established	Latin Empress consort of Constantinople 1204	Vacant Title next held by Agnes of Montferrat