Joan, Countess of Flanders

Not to be confused with Joanna of Flanders.

Statue of Joan of Flanders

Silver denier, struck in Valenciennes under Joan of Constantinople.

Joan of Flanders or of Hainaut, also called of Constantinople (1200? – 5 December 1244), Countess of Flanders and Hainaut from 1205 until her death, was a female politician of the Middle Ages who ruled during the first half of the 13th century. She was the eldest daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, and Marie of Champagne.

Her parents were dead during the Crusades, she was raised in Paris under the tutelage of King Philip II of France, who arranged her marriage with Infante Ferdinand of Portugal in 1212. The latter quickly turns against the French King, originating a war that ends with the defeat of Bouvines and his imprisonment. Joan then ruled her Counties alone, facing the rivalry of her sister Margaret, the revolt of her domains aimed by an imposter who claimed to be her father. After the end of the war, her husband Ferdinand was released, but he died soon after. Joan then married secondly with Thomas of Savoy. Jeanne died without surviving issue from any of her marriages in 1244 at the Abbey of Marquette near Lille.

Joan led a policy favorable to the economic development of her Counties, granting several charters to the Flemish cities. She played an important role in the development of the Mendicant orders, the Beguines, the Victorines and hospital communities in her domains, without neglecting the traditional orders. Under her reign, women's foundations, previously rare, have increased, transforming the place of women in both society and Church.

The Manessier's Continuation (also called the Third Continuation), one of the novels of the Story of the Grail was written for Joan, as well as the Life of St. Martha of Wauchier de Denain. The first novel in Dutch, Van den vos Reynaerde, was written by a cleric of her court.

Until the 19th century, Joan kept a very negative image, until she was rehabilitated by modern historians. There are several painted or sculpted representations of the Countess in France and Belgium, as well as two Géants du Nord.

Life

Childhood

Joan's exact date of birth is unknown, although several hypotheses have been advanced without tangible evidence. From contemporary sources is know that, like her younger sister Margaret, she was baptized in the Church of St. John of Valenciennes.

In 1202 Joan's father Baldwin left his lands to participate on the Fourth Crusade. After the capture of Constantinople, he was proclaimed Emperor by the Crusaders on 9 May 1204. His wife Marie joined him shortly after his departure, leaving their daughters Joan and Margaret in the care of their paternal uncle, Philip I, Marquis of Namur. Before joining her husband, she decided to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land before joining, but died after her arrival at Acre in August 1204. One year later, Baldwin disappears during the Battle of Adrianople against Bulgarians and Cumans under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria on 14 April 1205. His exact fate, dead or captured, is unknown, and his body was never found.

After the news of Baldwin's fate reached Flanders in February 1206, Joan succeeded her father as Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, but because she was still a child, the administration of both Counties was assumed by a Council composed by the Chancellor of Flanders, the Provost of Lille and the Castellans of Lille and Saint-Omer. The guardianship and education of both Joan and her sister was retained by their uncle Philip I of Namur, who soon put his nieces in a difficult position. He became betrothed to Marie of France, a daughter of King Philip II, and gave his future father-in-law the custody of the two girls. During their time in France they became familiar with the Cisterian Order, probably under influence of the future French queen Blanche of Castile.

Philip II in turn agreed to sell their custody to Enguerrand de Coucy, who probably planned to marry Joan when she came of age. But these plans fell through, and in the end she married Ferdinand of Portugal in Paris in January 1212. The match was arranged by Matilda of Portugal, the aunt of both Ferdinand and Joan's father.

Reign with Ferdinand

While on their way to Flanders the newlyweds were captured by Joan's first cousin Louis (the future Louis VIII of France), eldest son of Philip Augustus and his first wife, Joan's aunt Elizabeth of Flanders, otherwise known as Isabelle of Hainaut. Louis' aim was to acquire his dead mother's dowry, a large piece of Flemish territory including Artois, which Joan's father had taken back by force after Elizabeth's death.

Joan with her imprisoned husband Ferdinand after the Battle of Bouvines

Released after this concession, Joan and Ferdinand soon joined the old allies of her father, King John of England (her uncle), and Emperor Otto IV, in an alliance against France. They were decisively defeated at Bouvines in July 1214, where Ferdinand was taken prisoner.

Ferdinand was to remain in French hands for the next twelve years, while Joan ruled alone. During this period Joan ended up at odds with Margaret over the latter's inheritance, a matter complicated by the questionable validity of both of Margaret's marriages. A war between the sisters broke out, which only added to difficulties caused by famine. She exempted certain groups from taxes to encourage industry. An example is that of settlers in Kortrijk, who did not have to pay property tax, to promote woolen weaving in the town.

In 1225 a man appeared who claimed to be Joan's father Baldwin, returned after twenty years. He soon became the focus of a popular revolt. He was congratulated with his release from captivity by Henry III of England, but when he met Louis VIII, he failed to answer several questions posed to him. Clergymen recognized him as a Burgundian named Bertrand of Ray. He fled, was captured by Louis, sent to Joan and executed in 1226.

In 1226, Joan signed the Treaty of Melun with Louis VIII of France, according to which she had to pay 50,000 livres for her husband's freedom. Ferdinand was released at the beginning of the next year by Blanche of Castile, whose young son Louis IX had just succeeded, in an attempt to create more support for France's new minority rule.

Second marriage

After Ferdinand died, Simon de Montfort tried to gain her hand in marriage. Since Simon was still loyal to Henry III of England at this point, this did not sit well with the French crown. Queen Blanche put pressure on Joan to marry Thomas II of Savoy instead. They wed in 1237, but this marriage was childless.

Religious life

Countess Joan promoted and established several monasteries, abbeys and Béguinages around Flanders. There are statues of her in the béguinage of Kortrijk and the Old Saint Elisabeth in Ghent. She also supported hospitals and leper colonies.

Sources

• Abulafia, David. The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 1198-c. 1300, 1999.
• Fegley, R. (2002). The Golden Spurs of Kortrijk: How the Knights of France Fell to the Foot Soldiers of Flanders in 1302, 2007. McFarland and Company Inc.
• Goldstone, Nancy (2009). Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe. Phoenix Paperbacks, London.
• Mortimer, I. (2010). Medieval Intrigue: Decoding Royal Conspiracies. Continuum International Publishing Group.
• Weiler, B, Burton, J, Schofield, P and Stöber, K (2007). Thirteenth century England: Proceedings of the Gregynog Conference, 2007. The Boydell Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Wheeler, B.; Parsons, J (2002). Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady. Palgrave Macmillan.

External links

• Women's Biography: Joan of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders