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'Philippa of Hainault' (c. 1314 – August 15 1369) was the Queen consort of Edward III of England.
Philippa was born in Valenciennes (then in Flanders, now France) and was the daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France.
Some sources describe Philippa as being of African descent. However, there is no strong evidence for this and it appears to be based on one description of her facial features by a contemporary observer, and the fact that her eldest son, Edward was known as "the Black Prince" (a nickname which is generally attributed to the colour of his armour).

Contents

Life as Queen

Children

Later Life and Death

References

See also

Life as Queen

She married Edward at York Minster, on 24 January, 1328, eleven months after his accession to the English throne and, unlike many of her predecessors, she did not alienate the English people by retaining her foreign retinue upon her marriage or bringing large numbers of foreigners to the English court.
Philippa accompanied Edward on his expeditions to the Kingdom of Scotland (1333) and Flanders (1338-40), where she won acclaim for her gentleness and compassion. She is also remembered by history as the tender-hearted woman, who interceded with her husband and persuaded him to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais (1346) whom he had planned to execute as an example to the townspeople. She acted as a regent on several occasions when he was on the continent.

Children

Main articles: Issue of Edward III of England

Philippa and Edward had fourteen children, including five sons who lived into adulthood and whose rivalry would eventually bring about the long-running civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Their sons are listed below:

★ Edward, the Black Prince (1330-76)

★ Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1338-68)

★ John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-99)

★ Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341-1402)

★ Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (1355-97)
Another three sons and two daughters died in infancy. There were four surviving daughters, listed below:

★ Isabella of England (1332-1379)

★ Joan of England (1334-1348)

★ Mary Plantagenet (1344-1362)

★ Margaret Plantagenet (1346-1361)
Through her children, Philippa reintroduced the blood of an earlier King to the English royal house. She was descended from Stephen of England through Matilda of Brabant, the wife of Floris IV, Count of Holland. Their daughter Adelaide of Holland married John I of Avesnes, Count of Hainaut, Philippa's paternal great-grandfather. Matilda of Brabant in turn was the great-granddaughter of Stephen through her mother Matilda of Boulogne, the wife of Henry I, Duke of Brabant.
Philippa was also a descendant of Harold II of England through his daughter Gytha of Wessex, married to Vladimir II Monomakh of Kiev, but so was her husband Edward III. The descent came through their mutual great-grandparent Isabella of Aragon, married to Philip III of France. Her mother Violant of Hungary was a daughter of Andrew II of Hungary, a grandson of Géza II by Euphrosyne of Kiev, herself a granddaughter of Gytha.

Later Life and Death

Philippa had grown portly in her later years, and this added to the view most of her English subjects had of her; as a friendly, homely, motherly woman whom the nation greatly loved. Philippa outlived 9 of her 14 children; two of whom were lost during the Black Death outbreak (1348).
On 15 August 1369 Philippa died of an illness akin to dropsy in Windsor Castle, and was buried at Westminster Abbey. By all accounts, her 40 year marriage to Edward had been happy, despite his taking a mistress, Alice Perrers, during the latter part of it.
Queens College, Oxford is named after her.It was founded by one of her chaplains Robert de Eglesfield in her honour

References

★ Salmonson, Jessica Amanda.(1991) ''The Encyclopedia of Amazons.'' Paragon House. page 212. ISBN 1-55778-420-5

★ Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy, Weir, Alison, , , The Bodley Head London, U.K., 1999, page 92

★ British Kings & Queens, Ashley, Mike, , , Carroll & Graf, 2002, ISBN 0-7867-1104-3 pages 185 & 186

See also

★ Counts of Hainaut family tree

★ Counts of Holland family tree