Isabella of Hainault - Queen of France

Queen of France

She married King Philip on 28 April 1180 at Bapaume and brought as her dowry the county of Artois. The marriage was arranged by her maternal uncle Philip, Count of Flanders, who was advisor to the King.

Isabella was crowned Queen of France at Saint Denis on 28 May 1180. As Baldwin V rightly claimed to be a descendant of Charlemagne, the chroniclers of the time saw in this marriage a union of the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties.

The wedding did not please the queen mother, since it had meant the rejection of her nephew and the lessing of influence for her kinsmen. Though she received extravagant praise from certain annalists, she failed to win the affections of Philip due to her inability to provide him with an heir; although she was only 14 years old at the time. Meanwhile, King Philip in 1184, was waging war against Flanders, and angered at seeing Baldwin support his enemies, he called a council at Sens for the purpose of repudiating her. According to Gislebert of Mons, Isabella then appeared barefooted and dressed as a penitent in the town's churches and thus gained the sympathy of the people. Her appeals angered them so much that they went to the palace and started shouting loud enough to be heard inside.

Robert, the king's uncle, successfully interposed and no repudiation followed as repudiating her would also have meant the loss of Artois to the French crown.

Finally, on 5 September 1187, she gave birth to the needed heir, the future King Louis VIII of France.