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Birth:          24 Jun 1311 Hainault, Flanders
Death:          15 Aug 1369 Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England
Burial:         Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England

Notes
of Le Quesnoy, Nord, France?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_of_Hainault
Philippa of Hainault (24 June[1] 1314 – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the 
wife of King Edward III.[2] Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 
1326 to marry her within the following two years.[3] She was married to Edward, first 
by proxy, when Edward dispatched the Bishop of Coventry "to marry her in his name" 
in Valenciennes (second city in importance of the county of Hainaut) in October 
1327.[4] The marriage was celebrated formally in York Minster on 24 January 1328, 
some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England. In August 1328, he 
also fixed his wife's dower.[5]

Philippa acted as regent in 1346,[6] when her husband was away from his kingdom, 
and she often accompanied him on his expeditions to Scotland, France, and Flanders. 
Philippa won much popularity with the English people for her kindness and 
compassion, which were demonstrated in 1347 when she successfully persuaded King 
Edward to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. This popularity helped maintain 
peace in England throughout Edward's long reign.[7] The eldest of her fourteen 
children was Edward, the Black Prince, who became a renowned military leader. 
Philippa died at the age of fifty-five from an illness closely related to edema. The 
Queen's College, Oxford was founded in her honour.
Family[edit]

Philippa was born in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut in the Low Countries, a 
daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut, and Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut, 
granddaughter of Philip III of France.[8] She was one of eight children and the second 
of five daughters. Her eldest sister Margaret married the German king Louis IV in 
1324; and in 1345, she succeeded their brother William II, Count of Hainaut, upon his 
death in battle. William's counties of Zealand and Holland as well as of the seigniory 
of Frieze were devolved to Margaret after agreement between Philippa and her sister.
[9] Edward III of England, however, in 1364–65, in the name of his wife Philippa, 
demanded the return of Hainaut and other inheritances which had been given over to 
the Dukes of Bavaria–Straubing. He was not successful, as it was the custom in these 
regions to favour male heirs.[10]

Betrothal[edit]

King Edward II had 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 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.[11] The description runs:

The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her 
head is clean-shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. 
Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow 
and slender 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 also flattened, 
and yet it is no snub-nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips 
somewhat full, and especially the lower lip. Her teeth which have fallen and grown 
again are white enough, but the rest are not so white. The lower teeth project a little 
beyond the upper; yet this is but little seen. Her ears and chin are comely enough. Her 
neck, shoulders, and all her body are well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so 
far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her 
father; and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us. And the damsel will 
be of the age of nine years on St. John's day next to come, as her mother saith. She is 
neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage, and well taught in 
all that becometh her rank, and highly esteemed and well beloved of her father and 
mother and of all her meinie, in so far as we could inquire and learn the truth.[12]

Four years later Philippa was betrothed to Prince Edward when, in the summer of 
1326, Queen Isabella arrived at the Hainaut court seeking aid from Count William to 
depose King Edward. Prince Edward had accompanied his mother to Hainaut where 
she arranged the betrothal in exchange for assistance from the count. As the couple 
were second cousins, a Papal dispensation was required;[13] and it was sent from 
Pope John XXII at Avignon in September 1327. Philippa and her retinue arrived in 
England in December 1327 escorted by her uncle, John of Hainaut. On 23 December 
she reached London where a "rousing reception was accorded her".[14]
Queen of England[edit]


 


 Philippa of Hainaut is shown seated under the canopy
Philippa married Edward at York Minster, on 24 January 1328, eleven months after his 
accession to the English throne; although, the de facto rulers of the kingdom were his 
mother, Queen Dowager Isabella and her avaricious 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 upon her marriage 
or by bringing large numbers of foreigners to the English court. As Isabella did not 
wish to relinquish her own status, Philippa's coronation was postponed for two years. 
She eventually was crowned queen on 4 March 1330 at Westminster Abbey when she 
was almost six months pregnant;[15] and she gave birth to her first son, Edward, the 
following June just nine days before her sixteenth birthday.

In October 1330, King Edward commenced his personal rule when he staged a coup 
and ordered the arrest of his mother and Mortimer. Shortly afterward, the latter was 
executed for treason, and Queen Dowager Isabella was sent to Castle Rising in 
Norfolk, where she spent the remainder of her life.

Joshua Barnes, a medieval writer, said "Queen Philippa was a very good and charming 
person who exceeded most ladies for sweetness of nature and virtuous disposition." 
Chronicler Jean Froissart described her as "The most gentle Queen, most liberal, and 
most courteous that ever was Queen in her days."

Philippa accompanied Edward on his expeditions to Scotland, and the European 
continent in his early campaigns of the Hundred Years War where she won acclaim for 
her gentle nature and compassion. She is best remembered as the kind woman who, in 
1347, persuaded 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 city.

She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1346.[6] Facing 
a Scottish invasion, she gathered the English army and met the Scots in a successful 
battle near Newcastle: she rallied the English soldiers on horse before them prior to 
the battle, which resulted in an English victory and the Scottish king being taken 
prisoner.[6] She influenced the king to take an interest in the nation's commercial 
expansion.[16] Philippa was a patron of the chronicler Jean Froissart, and she owned 
several illuminated manuscripts, one of which currently is housed in the national library 
in Paris.

Later years and death[edit]

Phillipa had given birth to thirteen children and outlived nine of them. Three of her 
children died of the Black Death in 1348.

On 15 August 1369, Philippa died of an illness similar to edema in Windsor Castle at 
the age of fifty-five. She was given a state funeral six months later on 29 January 
1370 and was interred at Westminster Abbey. 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 and great grandfather Henry III. Her 
alabaster effigy was beautifully executed by sculptor Jean de Liège. Eight years later 
Edward III died and was buried next to Philippa. By all accounts, her forty-year 
marriage to Edward had been happy.[citation needed]

Issue[edit]
Philippa and Edward had thirteen children,[18] including five sons who lived into 
adulthood and the rivalry of whose numerous descendants would, in the fifteenth 
century, bring about the long-running and bloody dynastic wars known as the Wars of 
the Roses.


Name

Birth

Death

Notes

Edward, the Black Prince 15 June 1330
Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire 8 June 1376 Married his cousin Joan, Countess of 
Kent on 10 October 1361; Had issue (King Richard II of England). 
Isabella 16 June 1332
Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire April 1379 or 17 June/5 October 1382 Married 
Enguerrand VII de Coucy, 1st Earl of Bedford on 27 July 1365; Had issue. 
Joan 19 December 1333 or 28 January 1334[19]
Tower of London 1 July 1348 Was betrothed to Pedro of Castile but died of the plague 
en route to Castile before the marriage could take place. Pedro's two daughters from 
his union with María de Padilla would later marry Joan's younger brothers John and 
Edmund. 
William of Hatfield 16 February 1337
Hatfield, Hertfordshire before 3 March 1337 Died shortly after birth. Buried at York 
Minster. 
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence 29 November 1338
Antwerp 7 October 1368 Married (1) Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster in 
1352; Had issue. Married (2) Violante Visconti on 28 May 1368; No issue. 
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster 6 March 1340
Ghent 3 February 1399 Married (1) Blanche of Lancaster on 19 May 1359; Had issue 
(Henry IV of England). Married (2) Infanta Constance of Castile in 1371; Had issue. 
Married (3) Katherine Swynford (formerly his mistress) in 1396; Had issue. The Dukes 
of Beaufort continue in the male line today. 
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York 5 June 1341
Kings Langley, Hertfordshire 1 August 1402 Married (1) Infanta Isabella of Castile 
sister of Gaunt's second wife; Had issue. Married (2) Joan Holland (his 2nd cousin) in 
1392. No issue. 
Blanche 
March 1342
Tower of London
 Died shortly after birth. Buried at Westminster Abbey. 
Mary 10 October 1344
Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire September 1361 Married John IV, Duke of Brittany on 3 
July 1361; No issue. 
Margaret 20 July 1346
Windsor 1 October/25 December 1361 Married John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke 
on 13 May 1359; No issue. 
Thomas of Windsor[20] Summer 1347[20]
Windsor September 1348 Died in infancy of the plague. Buried at King’s Langley 
Church, Hertfordshire 
William of Windsor before 24 June 1348
Windsor before 5 Sep 1348 Buried at Westminster Abbey. 
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester 7 January 1355
Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire 8/9 September 1397 Married Eleanor de Bohun in 
1376; Had issue. 

Legacy[edit]

The Queen's College, Oxford is named after Philippa. It was founded in 1341 by one of 
her chaplains, Robert de Eglesfield, in her honour.

Philippa is a character in The Accursed Kings, a series of French historical novels by 
Maurice Druon. She was portrayed by Françoise Burgi in the 1972 French miniseries 
adaptation of the series, and by Marie de Villepin in the 2005 adaptation.[21]

Parents
D'AVESNES William (Willem) III (1286 - 7 Jun 1337)
DE VALOIS Joan (Jeanne) (1294 - 7 Mar 1342)

Siblings
OF HAINAULT Philippa (24 Jun 1311 - 15 Aug 1369)

Marriage To ____ Edward III (13 Nov 1312 - 21 Jun 1377)
    m. 24 Jan 1327 York, Yorkshire, England

Notes

Parents
____ Edward II (25 Apr 1284 - 21 Sep 1327)
OF FRANCE Isabella (1292 - 21 Nov 1358)

Children by ____ Edward III 13 Nov 1312 - 21 Jun 1377
PLANTAGENET Lionel of Antwerp (29 Nov 1338 - 17 Oct 1368)
OF GAUNT John (Mar 1340 - 3 Feb 1399)
____ Edmund "of Langley" (5 Jun 1341 - 1 Aug 1402)

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