Daughter of
Count William of Hainaut and French princess
Joan of Valois, Philippa was engaged to Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1326.[6] Their marriage was celebrated in
York Minster on 24 January 1328, some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England and
Isabella of France's infamous invasion.[7] After her husband reclaimed the throne, Philippa influenced King Edward to take interest in the nation's
commercial expansion, was part of the successful
Battle of Neville's Cross, and often went on expeditions to
Scotland and France. She won much popularity with the English people for her compassion in 1347, when she successfully persuaded the King to spare the lives of the
Burghers of Calais. This popularity helped maintain peace in England throughout their long reign.[8]
King
Edward II 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 young 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 face narrows between the eyes and its lower part is more narrow 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 flattened, and yet it is no snub-nose... Her lips are full, especially the lower lip... Her lower teeth project a little beyond the upper; yet this is but little seen... All her body is well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, much like her father. And she will be of the age of nine years on St. John's day next to come, as her mother said. She is neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage. The damsel is well taught in all that becometh her rank and highly esteemed and well beloved by her parents and of all her meinie, in so far as we could inquire and learn the truth. In all things, she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us.[11]
Growing up in the Low Countries in the period when this region was growing into a major trading centre, Philippa was well versed in
finances and diplomacy. Her older sister
Margaret succeeded their brother
William II, Count of Hainaut, upon his death in battle. The counties of
Holland,
Zeeland and the seigniory of
Frisia were devolved to Margaret after agreement between the sisters.[12]
Four years later, in the summer of 1326,
Isabella of France, the Queen of England, arrived at the court of Hainaut to seek aid from Count William in order to depose her husband, Edward II, from the throne. Prince Edward had accompanied his mother to Hainaut, where she arranged the betrothal to 13-year-old Philippa in exchange for assistance. As the couple were second cousins (as great-grandchildren of
Philip III of France), a
papal dispensation was required;[13] and sent from
Pope John XXII at
Avignon in September 1327. Philippa's retinue arrived in England in December, escorted by her uncle
John of Hainaut. On 23 December, she reached London where a "rousing reception was accorded her".[14]
Queen of England
First years
In October 1327, Philippa married Edward
by proxy through the
Bishop of Coventry in Valenciennes.[15] The official marriage was at
York Minster on 24 January 1328, eleven months after Edward's accession to the English throne; although the de facto rulers were Queen Mother Isabella and her 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 or bringing large numbers of foreigners to the English court. In August, her
dower was fixed.[7] She became a patron of the
chroniclerJean Froissart and owned several
illuminated manuscripts, one of which currently is housed in the national library in Paris. Froissart began to describe her as "The most gentle Queen, most liberal, and most courteous that ever was Queen in her days."
As Isabella did not wish to relinquish her own status, Philippa's coronation was postponed for two years. She was crowned queen on 18 February 1330 at
Westminster Abbey, when she was almost five months pregnant.[16] She gave birth to her first son,
Edward, the following June. In October 1330, King Edward commenced his personal rule by staging a coup and ordering the arrest of the regents. Shortly afterward, Mortimer was executed for
treason and then the Queen Mother was sent to
Castle Rising in Norfolk, where she spent a number of years under house arrest but with her privileges and freedom of movement eventually restored.
Philippa proved to be the model of a queen and worked tirelessly for the crown, maintaining balance between royal and familial duties admired in tumultuous times. She was widely loved and respected as a queen who managed to have a successful marriage with Edward.
In 1364 or 1365, Edward III demanded the return of Hainaut and other inheritances which had been given over to the dukes of Bavaria–Straubing in the name of Philippa, but he was unsuccessful as the custom in those regions favoured male heirs.[20]
Military campaigns
Philippa served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1346. Facing a Scottish invasion, she gathered the English army, fought the Scots at the
Battle of Neville's Cross near
Durham, and rallied the English soldiers on horse before them prior to the battle. This event resulted in an English victory and the
Scottish King David II being taken prisoner, and held captive for eleven years.[5]
Philippa accompanied her husband on expeditions to
Scotland and the rest of Europe in the early campaigns of the
Hundred Years War, where she won acclaim for her gentle nature and compassion. She was also remembered for persuading 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 port.
Death
On 15 August 1369, Queen Philippa died of an illness similar to
edema in
Windsor Castle. She was given a
state funeral six months later on 9 January 1370 and was interred at
Westminster Abbey. Her alabaster
effigy was executed by sculptor
Jean de Liège. Her tomb was placed on the northeast side of the Chapel of Edward the Confessor and on the opposite side of her husband's grandparents,
Edward I and
Eleanor of Castile. Eight years later, Edward III died and was buried next to Philippa. By all accounts, their forty-year marriage had been happy.[21]
Philippa and Edward had thirteen children,[citation needed] including five sons who lived into adulthood. Three of their children died of the
Black Death in 1348.[24] The rivalry of their numerous descendants would bring about the long-running and bloody dynastic wars known as the
Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.
Betrothed to King
Pedro of Castile, but died of
the plague before the marriage could take place. Two of Pedro's two daughters would later marry Joan's younger brothers,
John and
Edmund.
In 2003, she was voted as 5th on the list of
100 Great Black Britons.[30] However, the decision to include her on the list has been criticised, with many historians noting that there was no evidence that suggested Philippa has any African ancestry.[31][b]
^According to Kathryn Warner, the fictitious existence of "Thomas of Windsor" is a spurious story that has been shaped by two chroniclers. Philippa's son buried at Langley Priory is Edmund of Langley.[28]
^Philippa of Hainault was a European woman and emphatically not of African ancestry, and absolutely no-one in her own lifetime or long afterwards claimed otherwise, either about her or about any of her relatives and descendants.[32]
^Strickland, Agnes, Lives of the queens of England from the Norman conquest, Vol.2, (George Barrie and Sons, 1902), 222.
^
abcStrickland, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England: From the Norman Conquest
^Geoffroy G. Sury, Guillaume Ier (d'Avesnes) comte de Hainaut et sa fille Philippe, in " Bayern Straubing Hennegau : la Maison de Bavière en Hainaut, XIVe – XVe s. ", Edit. Geoffroy G. Sury, Bruxelles, 2010 (2e éd.), p. 55 : – Un parchemin daté du 27 August 1326 à Mons, au sceau brisé, énonce qu'Edouard, duc de Guyenne (futur Edouard III roi d'Angleterre), fils aîné du roi Edouard (II) d'Angleterre, s'engage à prendre pour épouse, endéans les deux ans, Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc. In, G. Wymans, " Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut ", aux A. E. Mons, n° d'ordre (cote) 574, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 128.
^
abUn parchemin daté du 15 August 1328 à Northampton, au sceau disparu, énonce qu'Edouard (III), roi d'Angleterre, confirme la fixation du douaire de son épouse Philippa de Hainaut. In, G. Wymans, " Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut ", aux A.E. Mons, n° d'ordre (cote) 596, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 132.
^Leese, Thelma Anna, Blood royal: issue of the kings and queens of medieval England, 1066–1399, (Heritage Books Inc., 2007), 140.
^Mortimer, Ian, The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation, Vintage 2008, p.34.
^The original document is written in Norman French. This is the translation derived from The Register of Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, 1307–1326, ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph (London, 1892), p.169. It is used in several books of the 1950s–60s, including G. G. Coulton, Medieval Panorama: The English Scene from Conquest to Reformation, Meridian Books, New York, 1955, p.644.; W. O. Hassal, How They Lived: An Anthology of Original Accounts Written before 1485, Blackwell, Oxford, 1962, p.95. However, Michael Prestwich's 2005 summary translates the description of the hair as "between blonde and brown" (the original is "entre bloy et brun"); Plantagenet England, 1225–1360 Clarendon, Oxford, 2005, p.215
^David Williamson, Debrett's Kings and Queens of Britain, p.81
^Thomas B. Costain, The Three Edwards, p.249, Doubleday and Company, Garden City, New York, 1958
^Sury Geoffroy G., "Guillaume Ier (d'Avesnes) comte de Hainaut et sa fille Philippe", in, Bayern Straubing Hennegau : la Maison de Bavière en Hainaut, XIVe – XVe s., Edit. Geoffroy G. Sury, Bruxelles, 2010 (2e éd.), p. 55 : – Un parchemin daté du 30 August 1327 à Avignon, à un sceau, énonce que le pape Jean (XXII) accorde les dispenses nécessaires pour le mariage du roi Edouard (III) d'Angleterre et de Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc., sa parente au troisième degré. In, G. Wymans, " Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut ", aux A.E. Mons, n° d'ordre (cote) 583, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 130.; – Un parchemin daté du 8/10/1327 à Nottingham, au sceau disparu, énonce qu'Edouard (III), roi d'Angleterre, donne procuration à R., évêque de Coventry, pour épouser en son nom, Philippa, fille du comte Guillaume (Ier) de Hainaut, etc., et régler la constitution de son douaire. In, G. Wymans, " Inventaire analytique du chartrier de la Trésorerie des comtes de Hainaut ", aux A.E. Mons, n° d'ordre (cote) 587, Editions A.G.R., Bruxelles, 1985, p. 131.
^The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III Father of the English Nation, Ian Mortimer, Vintage Books London, 2006
^'Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon auctore cononici Bridlingtoniensi, cum continuatione ad A.D. 1377', Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and II, ed. W Stubbs, 2 vols. (RS, London, 1882-3), Vol. 63, ii, pp. 128-9.
^'Register of William Melton, Archbishop of York 1317-1340', ed. R.M. Hill, Canterbury and York Society, Vol 70 (1977), p.109 No.370
Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. (1991) The Encyclopedia of Amazons. Paragon House. page 212.
ISBN1-55778-420-5
Sury, Geoffroy G., Bayern Straubing Hennegau: la Maison de Bavière en Hainaut, XIVe – XVe s., (2nd Ed.), Geoffroy G. Sury, Edit., Brussels, 2010. pp. 55, 66 & 128.