Marie of Champagne ( – 29 August 1204) was the first

Latin Empress of Constantinople The following is a list of the Latin empresses consort of Constantinople. Yolanda of Flanders and Marie of Brienne were not only empresses consort but also empresses regent. Catherine I and Catherine II were empresses regnant, not empresses con ...

by marriage to Emperor Baldwin I. She acted as

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of Flanders during the absence of her spouse from 1202 until 1204.

Life

Marie was a daughter of

Henry I, Count of Champagne Henry I (December 1127 – March 16, 1181), known as the Liberal, was count of Champagne from 1152 to 1181. He was the eldest son of Count Theobald II of Champagne, who was also count of Blois, and his wife, Matilda of Carinthia. Biography Henry ...

, and

Marie Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...

, daughter of King

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...

and

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...

. 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. Her betrothed was Baldwin VI, son of

Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut Baldwin V of Hainaut (1150 – 17 December 1195) was count of Hainaut (1171–1195), margrave of Namur as Baldwin I (1189–1195) and count of Flanders as Baldwin VIII (1191–1195). History He was the son of Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut. In the ...

and

Margaret I, Countess of Flanders Margaret I (c. 1145 - died 15 November 1194) was the countess of Flanders ''suo jure'' from 1191 to her death. Early life Margaret was the daughter of Count Thierry of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou. In 1160 she married Count Ralph II of Verman ...

Countess of Flanders

On 6 January 1186, Marie and Baldwin were married at

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. The young countess consort issued charters in her own name and seems to have a soft spot for the cities in Flanders.Karen S. Nicholas, Countesses as Rulers in Flanders, in Theodore Evergates (ed.), ''Aristocratic Women in Medieval France'', (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), p
128
In 1200 she and her husband also released the Ninove and Bohéries Abbey from every toll on their territory. In 1200 she and her husband took the cross in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

. On 14 April 1202 her husband left Flanders to join the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

. During her husband's absence, Marie acted as regent for Flanders for two years. Marie herself left Flanders to join her husband in

Outremer The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...

. According to

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for w ...

and other authors she could not join him in the crusade earlier as she was pregnant at the time of his departure. After delivery of the child, Margaret and sufficient recovery, she set forth to join him.Geoffrey of Villehardouin, ''De la Conquête de Constantinople'' CXXX (= Paulin Paris (ed.), ''La Conquête de Constantinople'', Paris, 1838, pp
104105

Latin Empress

Her husband's Crusade was diverted to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, capital of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, 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 Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and landed in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

.Geoffrey of Villehardouin, ''De la Conquête de Constantinople'' CXXX (= Paulin Paris (ed.), ''La Conquête de Constantinople'', Paris, 1838, pp
104105
. Cfr. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, ''Chronica s.a.'' 1204 (= L. Weiland (ed.), ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores'' XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p

), ''Flandria generosa (Continuatio Claromariscensis)'' 12 (= L.C. Bethmann (ed.), ''Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores'' IX, Hannover, 1861, p

), Baldwin of Avesnes, Chronicon Hanoniense quod dicitur Balduini Avennensis (= J. Heller (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores XXV, Hannover, 1880, p
448
). 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 Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed (french: Bohémond le Borgne; 1175–1233), was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III ...

.Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, ''Chronica s.a.'' 1204 (= L. Weiland (ed.), ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores'' XXIII, Hannover, 1874, p
884
). She wanted to set sail for Constantinople but fell sick and died in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. News of her death reached Constantinople through Crusading reinforcements from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Baldwin was reportedly afflicted by the death of his wife. Villehardouin reports that Marie "was a gracious and virtuous lady and greatly honoured".

Children

They had two known children: *

Joan, Countess of Flanders Joan, often called Joan of Constantinople ( 1199 – 5 December 1244), ruled as Countess of Flanders and Hainaut from 1205 (at the age of six) until her death. She was the elder daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, and Marie ...

(1199/1200 – 5 December 1244). *

Margaret II, Countess of Flanders Margaret, often called Margaret of Constantinople (1202 – 10 February 1280), ruled as Countess of Flanders during 1244–1278 and Countess of Hainaut during 1244–1253 and 1257–1280. She was the younger daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of ...

(2 June 1202 – 10 February 1280).

Ancestry

Notes

Historical sources

Alberic of Trois-Fontaines Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (french: Aubri or ''Aubry de Trois-Fontaines''; la, Albericus Trium Fontium) (died 1252) was a medieval Cistercian chronicler who wrote in Latin. He was a monk of Trois-Fontaines Abbey in the diocese of Châlons-su ...

, ''Chronica Alberici Monachi Trium Fontium''. * Gislebert of Mons, ''Chronicon Hanoniense'' (''Chronicle of Hainaut''). *

, '' 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). *

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Marie of Champagne 1170s births 1204 deaths Year of birth uncertain Latin Empresses of Constantinople Countesses of Flanders Countesses of Hainaut House of Blois 13th-century women rulers 12th-century women from the county of Flanders Christians of the Fourth Crusade