William I (III) of Hainault, count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland (d. 1337)

William I (III) (b. 1286, d. 1337), son of John II, count of Hainault, and Philippine de Luxemburg. He married Jeanne de Valois. Philippa of Hainault, the wife of king Edward III of England, was one of their daughters.

King Edward III of England (d. 1377)

Edward III (1312 - 1377), king of England; son of king Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

William I (III) of Hainault, count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland (d. 1337)

William I (III) (b. 1286, d. 1337), son of John II, count of Hainault, and Philippine de Luxemburg. He married Jeanne de Valois. Philippa of Hainault, the wife of king Edward III of England, was one of their daughters.

King Edward III of England (d. 1377)

Edward III (1312 - 1377), king of England; son of king Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

Philippa of Hainault, queen of England (d. 1369)

She was born as the daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault and Holland and countess Jeanne, either in 1310 or in 1315. Froissart’ statement in the ‘Rome’ redaction of Book I (SHF § 39) that she was thirteen years old when she married on 25 January 1328 supports the later of these two dates. Jean le Bel and Froissart state that negotiations for her marriage to king Edward III of England started in 1327, after the Scottish campaign of that year. In reality, there had already been plans for a wedding between the young Edward and a daughter of count William, possibly Philippa, from as early as 1319, and there were negotiations for a marriage between Edward and Philippa’ eldest sister, Margaret in 1320 and 1321. Edward and Philippa first met in 1325 in Paris and were engaged in August 1326, while Queen Isabella and her son Edward were staying in Hainault. On 27 August 1326 Edward signed a promise that he would marry Philippa within two years; Queen Isabella and her supporters, Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer, stood sureties. Papal dispensation for the marriage was first refused but then granted on 30 August 1327. Philippa married Edward by procuration in Valenciennes, after which she travelled to England, where she married her husband on 24 January 1328 in York. She was crowned queen of England on 25 February 1330. She died shortly before 14 August 1369.

Jeanne of Valois, countess of Hainault and Holland (d. 1352)

Jeanne of Valois (1294 - 1352), countess of Hainault; daughter of Charles I, count of Valois, and Margaret of Anjou. She married William I (III), count of Hainault and Holland in 1305.

Isabella of Hainault (d. 1360)

Daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland and Jeanne of Valois. She was betrothed to John of Brabant, son of Duke John III of Brabant, in 1334, but her fiancé died before they were married. In 1354 she was married to Robert of Namur. She died in 1360 and was buried in Fontenelle Abbey.

John of Brabant

Son of John III, duke of Brabant. On 8 July 1332 he was betrothed to Marie, daughter of king Philip VI of Valois. Marie died before the marriage could be concluded. John was then betrothed to Isabella, daughter of count William III of Hainault, but died before the marriage was contracted. John died before his father, in 1341 or 1342. Froissart in his Book I (SHF § 1-57) suggests that the negotiations about the betrothal between John and Isabella of Hainault preceded John’s betrothal to the French princess and that Isabella was in fact snubbed in favour of a marriage link to the French royal family.

Isabella of Hainault (d. 1360)

Daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland and Jeanne of Valois. She was betrothed to John of Brabant, son of Duke John III of Brabant, in 1334, but her fiancé died before they were married. In 1354 she was married to Robert of Namur. She died in 1360 and was buried in Fontenelle Abbey.

King Edward III of England (d. 1377)

Edward III (1312 - 1377), king of England; son of king Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

John of Hainault, lord of Beaumont (d. 1356)

John of Hainault (c. 1288 - 1356), lord of Beaumont. He was the second son of John II of Avesnes, count of Hainault and Holland, and Philippine of Luxemburg. He married Marguerite of Nesle, countess of Soissons. They only had one daughter, Jeanne, who was married to Louis I of Châtillon, count of Blois. Jeanne died before her father, and it was her sons who inherited the various lordships held by John of Hainault.

Hainault

A historical county in the Low Countries. Froissart originated from this historical region that today is divided between the Belgian province of Hainault and the southern part of the French department of the Nord.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

England

Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.

William I (III) of Hainault, count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland (d. 1337)

William I (III) (b. 1286, d. 1337), son of John II, count of Hainault, and Philippine de Luxemburg. He married Jeanne de Valois. Philippa of Hainault, the wife of king Edward III of England, was one of their daughters.