Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut
| Jacqueline | |
|---|---|
William IV and VI | |
| Successor | Philip the Good |
| Born | 15 July 1401 Le Quesnoy, Nord, France |
| Died | 8 October 1436 (aged 35) Voorhout, Teylingen, the Netherlands |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
Margaret of Burgundy | |
Jacqueline (Dutch: Jacoba; French: Jacqueline; German: Jakobäa; 15 July 1401 – 8 October 1436), of the House of Wittelsbach, was a noblewoman who ruled the counties of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut in the Low Countries from 1417 to 1433. She was also Dauphine of France for a short time between 1415 and 1417 and Duchess of Gloucester in the 1420s, if her marriage to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is accepted as valid.
Jacqueline was born in Le Quesnoy and from her birth she was referred to as "of Holland", indicating that she was the heiress of her father's estates.
Jacqueline was the last
Life
Early life and marriage to John, Duke of Touraine
She was the only daughter of
At the age of 22 months (in Paris on 5 May 1403) and again at the age of four (in
Four months after the wedding, on 15 December 1415, John's elder brother
Dauphin John died (probably poisoned) on 4 April 1417, leaving Jacqueline as a widow aged 16. Two months later on 31 May, she unexpectedly lost her father. Duke William II was bitten by a dog, which caused a blood infection that quickly killed him. The politically inexperienced Jacqueline now had to fight for her inheritance.
Marriage to John IV, Duke of Brabant and war with John III
In Hainaut, where female succession was long customary, Jacqueline was recognized as countess on 13 June, but in Holland and Zeeland her rights were controversial from the beginning. While the old aristocracy supported her, the municipal party supported her uncle
Jacqueline also remarried, but her selection of husband was unfortunate. John IV, Duke of Brabant, stepson of Elisabeth of Görlitz, who succeeded his father Anthony as Duke of Brabant, was chosen to be her second husband; modern historians believed that this decision was widely influenced by Jacqueline's mother and uncle John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy.[6] On 31 July 1417, two months after William II's death, the betrothal between Jacqueline and John IV took place, and the wedding was celebrated in The Hague on 10 March 1418. However, the union proved to be a failure. The close relationship between the spouses required a papal dispensation, which, although granted in December 1417, was revoked in January 1418 in the Council of Constance due to the intrigues of Jacqueline's opponents, including King Sigismund of Luxembourg.[7] In addition to this, the considerable financial problems of the young Duke John IV and his weak political leadership increased the conflicts inside the marriage.
John III, with the support of King Sigismund and the Cods, took up arms against Jacqueline, who was supported by the Hooks; this civil war was known as the
John III agreed to recognize the legitimacy of the marriage between Jacqueline and John IV of Brabant if only to receive a high financial compensation from the government for the next five years of the regions dominated by the spouses. However, the intervention of Pope Martin V finally ended the controversy with granting the papal dispensation on May 1419.[10] John IV, always heavily indebted and against the will of his wife signed with John III the Treaty of St. Martinsdyk, under which he gave to Jacqueline's uncle full custody over Holland and Zeeland for the next 12 years.[11][12] In exchange, John III gave a monetary compensation to the couple and left them the County of Hainaut; however, this was a little consolation for Jacqueline, whose subjects of Holland, Zeeland and Friesland were released from their oath of allegiance under the terms of the treaty. Finally, John IV also pledged Hainaut to improve his financial situation; for Jacqueline, this was enough: she and her allies began to want the formal separation from John IV.
Marriage to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and aftermath
In the meanwhile, the political situation had changed radically. The Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, was assassinated in September 1419, and the French Dauphin Charles, brother of Jacqueline's first husband, was considered an accomplice and was therefore disinherited in 1420 under the Treaty of Troyes. King Henry V of England then claimed to be the King of France. In February 1421 Jacqueline issued a statement where she stated that, because of the destructive behaviour of John IV of Brabant, she wanted the annulment of her marriage. The fight against John III, continued until the capture of the city of Leiden, the last city loyal to Jacqueline; after this, she had to admit defeat.
On 6 March 1421 Jacqueline fled to England asking the help of Henry V, who gave her a glamorous reception.[13] She was an honoured guest at the court of England, and when the future Henry VI was born, Jacqueline was made one of his godparents.[14] It was only after the unexpected death of Henry V in 1422 that Jacqueline obtained a dubious divorce from John IV of Brabant valid only in England that allowed her third marriage with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry V's brother and principal counsellor of the Kingdom on behalf of his infant nephew Henry VI.[15] However, as not all rules were observed, the marriage was arranged in haste and in secret in the town of Hadleigh, Essex, sometime between February and 7 March 1423.
The news of this marriage shocked everyone. On 15 October 1423 it was announced that not only was Jacqueline married to one of the most powerful princes of Europe, but that she was also rumoured to be pregnant with his child. On 20 October, she was granted a letter of denization, which would allow her and her descendants to be treated as English under law, and it recorded her status as duchess of Gloucester.[16][17] To secure her position, Jacqueline had to obtain the formal annulment of her marriage with John IV of Brabant. She asked Pope Martin V in Rome and Antipope Benedict XIII in Avignon to resolve her irregular marital status, but her uncle John III intervened against it. Unexpectedly, her cousin Philip the Good, who wanted to prevent an English invasion, supported the annulment.
In the autumn of 1424 Jacqueline joined Humphrey in the Duchy of Gloucester, where she had a stillborn child; this was her only recorded pregnancy.[18]
Jacqueline and Humphrey landed in Calais and by the end of November they entered Mons, where on 5 December the Duke of Gloucester was recognized as the sovereign Count of Hainaut. Already on 3 January 1425 he signed with
- "Humphrey, by the grace of God, son, brother and uncle of kings, Duke of Gloucester, Count of Hainaut, Holland, Zealand and Pembroke, Lord of Friesland and Grand Chamberlain of England".[19]
War in Holland
Her situation changed when her uncle John III of Bavaria died on 6 January 1425, the victim of poisoning. John IV, Duke of Brabant, still claimed rights over Holland, Zeeland and Hainault and made Philip, Duke of Burgundy, regent of Holland and Zeeland, like he had done before with John III. Jacqueline escaped her imprisonment in Ghent disguised in men's clothing and fled to Schoonhoven and then Gouda, where she stayed with the leaders of the Hook faction. Now it was her former husband, John of Brabant, who tried to dispute her inheritance. In this matter, Humphrey did intervene, albeit with limited force; his efforts, however, had disastrous consequences for the English-Burgundian alliance that aided the English cause in France during the Hundred Years' War. Pope Martin V decreed that Jacqueline was still the wife of John IV, Duke of Brabant, and therefore her marriage to Humphrey of Gloucester was illegitimate.[20] However, John IV had died a year earlier.
Peace and loss of lands
On 3 July 1428 Jacqueline had to agree to a peace treaty, Reconciliation of Delft (de Zoen van Delft), with the duke of Burgundy. By this treaty, Jacqueline kept her titles of Countess of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut, but the administration of her territories was placed in the hands of Philip, who was also appointed as her heir in case she died without children. She was not allowed to marry without the permission of her mother, Philip and the three counties. (Her marriage to Humphrey was annulled in this same year.) However, her financial situation was dire. She barely had enough income to support her household. Furthermore, the duke of Burgundy did not stop after the peace treaty in 1428. He bought the loyalty of her allies or estranged them from her in another way.[21] At Easter 1433, Jacqueline "voluntarily" signed a treaty with Philip which gave Philip all her lands and titles. In return she was allowed the income of several estates, mostly situated in Zeeland.[22]
Marriage with Frank van Borssele and death
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With the renunciation of her titles, Jacqueline retired to her land in Zeeland. There, she and
Legends
There are many legends surrounding the life of Jacqueline. The most prevalent one is her supposed
Popular culture
She is the central protagonist of the 1831 novel Jacqueline of Holland by the Irish writer Thomas Colley Grattan.
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ a b see text
- ^ Antheun Janse: Een pion voor een dame, pp. 54–56
- ^ A. Janse, pp. 81–84.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 606–611.
- ^ Léopold Devillers: Cartulaire des Comtes de Hainaut de l’avènement de Guillaume II à la mort de Jacqueline de Bavière, vol. IV, Hayez, Brüssels 1889, Nº. 1157, p. 91.
- ^ A. Janse, p. 121.
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1173, p. 109, Nº. 1174, p. 111.
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1199, p. 158.
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1228, p. 187.
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1235, p. 199.
- ^ A. Janse, p. 179.
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1251, p. 200; Frans van Mieris: Groot charterboek der graaven van Holland, van Zeeland en heeren van Vriesland. vol. IV, van der Eyk, Leyden 1756, p. 545.
- ^ A. Janse, pp. 192–195.
- ^ A. Janse, p. 200.
- ^ Alfred H.Burne, "The Hundred Years War," (1st ed., 1955; Folio soc., 2005), 371
- ^ England's Immigrants 1330-1550, Jacqueline of (...) (23345) [retrieved 22 July 2022]
- ^ England's Immigrants 1330-1550, Letters of Denization and Other Sources [retrieved 22 July 2022]
- ^ Alison Weir: Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, p. 128. [retrieved 19 June 2015].
- ^ Devillers, Nº. 1427, p. 438.
- ^ A. Janse, pp. 279–280.
- ^ A. Janse, pp. 312–316.
- ^ For a complete list see: A. Janse, p. 316.
- ^ A. Janse, p. 326.
- ^ A. Janse, p. 326, Graven van Holland, p. 143.
- ^ A. Janse, pp. 329–331.
- ^ Graven van Holland, pp. 141–143; for a full argumentation against this legend see: A. Janse, pp. 288–326.
References
- Antheun JANSE, Een pion voor een dame. Jacoba van Beieren (1401–1436), Amsterdam, Uitgeverij Balans, 2009, 400 p. (ISBN 978-94-6003-185-4).
- Edmundson, George (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). p. 115.
- D.E.H. de Boer, E.H.P. Cordfunke. "Jacoba van Beieren (1417–1428) en Jan 'Zonder Genade' van Beieren (1418–1425)", In: Graven van Holland, Middeleeuwse Vorsten in Woord en Beeld (880–1580), 2010, pp. 135–145
- Ruth Putnam. A Mediaeval Princess: Being a True Record of the Changing Fortunes Which Brought Divers Titles to Jacqueline, Countess of Holland, Together with an Account of her Conflict with Philip, Duke of Burgundy (G. P. Putnam's, 1904)