Margaret, Marchioness of Namur

Margaret de Courtenay
Marchioness of Namur
Reign	1229–1237
Countess consort of Vianden
Reign	1217–1252
Born	c. 1194
Died	17 July 1270(1270-07-17) (aged 75–76) Marienthal
Burial	Marienthal monastery
Spouse	Raoul, Lord of Issoudun Henry I, Count of Vianden
Issue	Matilda, Lady of Požega Philip I of Vianden Henry I van Vianden Yolanda of Vianden Frederic of Vianden Peter of Vianden
House	House of Courtenay (by birth) House of Vianden (by marriage)
Father	Peter II of Courtenay
Mother	Yolanda of Flanders

Margaret, Marchioness of Namur (c. 1194 – Marienthal, 17 July 1270) was ruling Marchioness of Namur, from 1229 to 1237. She was the daughter of Peter of Courtenay (d. 1219), Latin Emperor of Constantinople (1216-1219) and Yolanda of Flanders (d. 1219). By her second marriage, to Henry I, Count of Vianden (d. 1252), Margaret was Countess-consort of Vianden.

Life

Margaret′s father Peter Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople (d. 1219)

In some later sources, Margaret was also called Sybille.

She was first married to the French noble Raoul III, Lord of Issoudun (c. 1208), who should not be confused with Raoul I of Exoudun (d. 1219). Her husband composed his will in 1212, and died soon after, without sons. According to customs, Raoul's main domains passed to his distant cousin Guillaume de Chauvigny, who was also his brother-in-law, while Margaret claimed possession over Châteauneuf-sur-Cher and Mareuil-en-Berry.[1][2]

Soon after that (c. 1216) she remarried to Henry I, Count of Vianden (d. 1252). Henry was the son of Frederic III, Count of Vianden (d. 1217), and his wife Matilda (de).

In 1216, Margaret′s father Peter Courtenay (d. 1219) was elected Latin Emperor of Constantinople, and crowned in Rome by Pope Honorius III on 9 April 1217. He was succeeded by son Robert of Courtenay (Margaret′s brother) who ruled as Emperor of Constantinople until 1228, when he was succeeded by their brother Baldwin II of Constantinople. Since the elevation to the imperial throne in Constantinople (1216), Margaret′s family became involved in creation of new dynastic policies and alliances.[3]

Marchioness of Namur

Margaret became Marchioness of Namur after the death of her brother Henry II, Marquis of Namur in 1229, who had succeeded another brother, Philip II. Their grandfather had received the county as an inheritance as a nephew of Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg (Henry I of Namur). Margaret and her husband Henry I of Vianden (Henry III of Namur) ruled Namur until 1237, when they had to transfer Namur to Margaret's brother Baldwin II of Courtenay.^[citation needed]

Henry and Margaret continued ruling Vianden. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281), maternal grandson of Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg (Henry I of Namur), invaded Namur and ruled it 1256–1264 as Henry IV (or III ?). Baldwin sold Namur in c. 1263 to his cousin Guy of Dampierre, count of Flanders and Henry was removed by military force but they made peace with family marriage.

Later life

After the death of her husband in 1252, Margaret entered a convent in Marienthal near Luxembourg and became a nun. In 1253, together with her brother, the Emperor Baldwin II, she petitioned the Pope on behalf of her grand-daughter Maria (born to Margaret's daughter Matilda and her husband John Angelos of Syrmia), thus securing papal consent for Maria's marriage to the Picardian noble Anselm of Cayeux.[4][5] Margaret died in Marienthal on 17 July 1270 and was buried there.^[citation needed]

Issue

Regarding Margaret's daughter Matilda, some earlier researches believed that she was born from her second marriage, with Henry I of Vianden, but later scholars pointed out that Margaret's first husband Raoul III of Issoudun, in his 1212 testament, mentioned their "little daughter" (lat. filiola) Matilda, thus concluding that she was born from Margaret's first marriage.[6][7] Matilda was later (c. 1230) married to John Angelos (b. c. 1193 - d. before 1253), Lord of Syrmia. They (Matilda and John) had a daughter Maria (c. 1235 - a. 1285) whose husband Anselm (Anseau) de Cayeux (the younger) worked for King Charles I of Naples. Since Maria is mentioned, in some 1280s sources, as sister (lat. soror) of Queen Helen of Serbia (c. 1236–1314), some researchers have proposed that Helen was also a daughter of Matilda, and thus grand-daughter of Margaret.[8][9]

Margaret and Henry I of Vianden had several children, including:^[citation needed]

• Peter, dean in cathedrals of Liège and Cologne (died after 1272).
• Frederic of Vianden, who died in 1247 (5 years before his father). He married Matilda of Salm (b. c. 1223), a daughter of Henry III, Count of Ardennes (seigneur de Viviers, c. 1190–1246 ?), and had a son named Henry, Lord of Schönecken (1248–1299).
• Henry I van Vianden (d. 1267), bishop of Utrecht from 1249 to 1267.
• Philip I (d. 1273), Count of Vianden 1252–1273. He married Marie of Brabant-Perwez, daughter of Godfrey of Louvain, Lord of Perwez, apparently a descendant of Godfrey III, Count of Louvain and Landgrave of Brabant (1142–1190). Their issue was Godefroid I, Count of Vianden (d. 1307 or 1310) and four other children.
• Yolanda of Vianden (1231–1283), prioress of Marienthal, still revered today in Luxembourg.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Margaret, Marchioness of Namur

Louis VI of France (House of Capet) Peter I of Courtenay (House of Courtenay) Adelaide of Maurienne Peter II of Courtenay (1167-1219) Renaud de Courtenay Elizabeth of Courtenay (fr) Elizabeth (Hawise) of Donjon Margaret of Courtenay Marchioness of Namur Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut Alice of Namur Yolanda of Flanders-Hainaut (1175-1219) Thierry, Count of Flanders Margaret I, Countess of Flanders Sibylla of Anjou

References

1. Devailly 1973, p. 375, 424-425, 433-435.
2. Abbott 1981, p. 177-178.
3. Angold 2011, p. 47–68.
4. McDaniel 1984, p. 43–50.
5. McDaniel 1986, p. 191–200.
6. Van Tricht 2011, p. 6.
7. Van Tricht 2020, p. 56–107.
8. McDaniel 1984, p. 43.
9. McDaniel 1986, p. 196.

Sources

• Abbott, Paul D. (1981). Provinces, pays, and seigneuries of France. Myrtleford, Australia.
• Angold, Michael (2011). "The Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1204–1261: Marriage Strategies". Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 47–68. ISBN 9781409410980.
• Bácsatyai, Dániel (2017). "A 13. századi francia–magyar kapcsolatok néhány kérdése" (PDF). Századok. 151 (2): 237–278.
• Devailly, Guy (1973). Le Berry du Xe siècle au milieu du XIIIe: Étude politique, religieuse, sociale, et économique. Paris: École pratique des hautes études en sciences sociales; Mouton.
• McDaniel, Gordon L. (1984). "On Hungarian-Serbian Relations in the Thirteenth Century: John Angelos and Queen Jelena" (PDF). Ungarn-Jahrbuch. 12 (1982-1983) [1984]: 43–50.
• McDaniel, Gordon L. (1986). "The House of Anjou and Serbia". Louis the Great: King of Hungary and Poland. Boulder: East European Monographs. pp. 191–200. ISBN 9780880330879.
• Van Tricht, Filip (2011). The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228). Leiden-Boston: Brill.
• Van Tricht, Filip (2020). "Latin Emperors and Serbian Queens Anna and Helena: Genealogical and Geopolitical Explorations in the Post-1204 Byzantine World". Frankokratia. 1 (1–2): 56–107.

Preceded by Henry II

Marchioness of Namur 1229–1237

Succeeded by Baldwin