House of Dampierre

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The coat of arms used by the family

The House of Dampierre played an important role during the

Counts and Dukes of Rethel, Count of Artois and Count of Franche-Comté
.

Guy II of Dampierre, with his wedding with Mathilde of Bourbon, became also lord of Bourbon and founded the House of Bourbon-Dampierre.

The senior line of the House came to an end with the death of

Margaret III in March 1405. She was succeeded in Flanders, Artois, Nevers and Franche-Comté by her eldest son John the Fearless and in Rethel by her younger son Anthony, which marked the start of the House of Valois-Burgundy. The junior line, springing from a younger son of Guy I reigning in Namur, ended in 1429. The earliest known member of the House of Dampierre is Guy I of Dampierre, great-grandson of Guy I of Montlhéry through his son Milo I of Montlhéry
.

The members of the House of Dampierre had an antagonistic relation with the

House of Avesnes
.

Origin of the House: feud between Dampierre and Avesnes

Margaret II
(reigned 1244-1280).

In 1212 Margaret II married

War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault
.

In 1246 king

William of Holland, the German king recognized by the pro-papal forces, to seize Hainaut and the parts of Flanders which were within the bounds of the empire. William of Holland was theoretically, as king, overlord for these territories, and also John's brother-in-law. A civil war followed, which ended when the Avesnes forces defeated and imprisoned the Dampierres at the Battle of West-Capelle
of 4 July 1253, after which John I of Avesnes was able to force Guy of Dampierre and his mother to respect the division of Louis and grant him Hainault.

Margaret did not rest in her defeat and did not recognise herself as overcome. She instead granted Hainault to

Charles of Anjou, the brother of King Louis, who had recently returned from the crusade. Charles took up her cause and warred with John I of Avesnes, but failed to take Valenciennes and just missed being killed in a skirmish. When Louis returned in 1254, he reaffirmed his earlier arbitration and ordered his brother to get out of the conflict. Charles returned to Provence
. With this second arbitration of the holy king, the conflict closed and John I of Avesnes was secure in Hainault.

The following decades saw further strife between the Dampierres and the Avesnes, who by the start of the 14th century had also inherited the County of Holland and Zeeland.

Counts of Flanders

Legacy

The main line of the House of Dampierre, originally only counts of Flanders, had managed to inherit the counties of Nevers (1280) and Rethel (1328) through a clever marriage policy. Through Louis II's mother, a daughter of King Philip V of France, the counties of Artois and Burgundy (the "Franche Comté") were added to this. These lands were to provide the core of the dominions of the House of Valois-Burgundy, which were, together with the Duchy of Burgundy, to provide them with a power base to challenge the rule of their cousins, the Valois kings of France in the 15th century.

Counts of Namur

In 1263, the

Baldwin II of Courtenay, sold his county to Guy I of Dampierre. Guy in turn gave over the county on his death to his younger son John I from his marriage to his second wife Isabelle of Luxembourg. The house of Dampierre would rule Namur until 1421, when the county of Namur was sold to the Burgundian duke Philip the Good
. The last Dampierre count, John III, died in 1429.

Other members

  • Matilda of Bethune
    .
  • Henry of Flanders, count de Lodi (c. 1270–1337), elder son of Guy I
  • Guy of Namur, younger son of Guy I and his second wife Isabelle of Luxembourg.
  • Louis I of Nevers, count of Nevers (r. 1280-1322) and jure uxoris count of Rethel, son of Robert III and father to Louis I.

See also

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