Jeanne (Joan) of Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan,_Countess_of_Ponthieu

She was Queen consort of Castile and León, Countess of Ponthieu, and Countess of Aumale.

Joan was the eldest daughter of Simon of Dammartin, Count of Ponthieu (1180-21 September 1239) and his wife Marie of Ponthieu, Countess of Montreuil (17 April 1199-1251). Her paternal grandparents were Alberic II, Count de Dammartin and Mahaut de Clermont, daughter of Renaud de Clermont, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, and Clémence de Bar. Her maternal grandparents were William IV of Ponthieu and Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France and Constance of Castile.

After secret negotiations were undertaken in 1234, it was agreed that Joan would marry King Henry III of England. This marriage would have been politically unacceptable to the French, however, since Joan stood to inherit not only her mother's county of Ponthieu but also the county of Aumale that was vested in her father's family. Ponthieu bordered on the duchy of Normandy, and Aumale lay within Normandy itself. The French king Philip Augustus had seized Normandy from King John of England as recently as 1205, and Philip's heirs could not risk the English monarchy recovering any land in that area, since it might allow the Plantagenets to re-establish control in Normandy.

As it happened, Joan's father Simon had become involved in a conspiracy of northern French noblemen against Philip Augustus and to win pardon from Philip's son Louis VIII, Simon, who had only daughters, was compelled to promise that he would marry off neither of his two eldest daughters without the permission of the king of France.

In 1235, the queen-regent of France, Blanche of Castile, invoked that promise on behalf of her son, King Louis IX of France, and threatened to deprive Simon of all his lands if Joan married Henry III. Blanche also petitioned the Pope to deny the marriage based on consanguinity. He agreed, denying the dispensation which Henry had sought and paid for. Henry therefore abandoned the project for his marriage to Joan and in January 1236 married instead Eleanor of Provence, the sister of Louis IX's wife.

In November 1235, Blanche of Castile's nephew, King Ferdinand III of Castile, lost his wife, Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, and Blanche's sister Berengaria of Castile, Ferdinand's mother, was concerned that her widowed son might involve himself in liaisons that were unsuited to his dignity as king. Berengaria determined to find Ferdinand another wife, and her sister Blanche suggested Joan of Dammartin, whose marriage to the king of Castile would keep her inheritance from falling into hostile hands. In October 1237, at the age of about seventeen, Joan and Ferdinand were married in Burgos. Since Ferdinand already had seven sons from his first marriage to Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, there was little chance of Ponthieu being absorbed by Castile.

They had four sons and one daughter:

1. Ferdinand (1239-ca 1265), Count of Aumale, who married after 1256 Laure de Montfort, Lady of Espernon, and had issue.
2. Eleanor (1240-1290), Countess of Ponthieu, who married king Edward I of England and had issue.
3. Louis (1243-ca 1275), who married Juana de Manzanedo, Lady of Gaton, and had issue.
4. Simon (1244), died young and buried in a monastery in Toledo.
5. John (1246), died young and buried at the cathedral in Córdoba.

After Ferdinand III died in 1252, Joan did not enjoy a cordial relationship with his heir, her stepson Alfonso X of Castile, with whom she quarreled over the lands and income she should have received as dowager queen of Castile. Sometime in 1253, she became the ally and supporter of another of her stepsons, Henry of Castile, who also felt Alfonso had not allowed him all the wealth their father had meant him to have. Joan unwisely attended secret meetings with Henry and his supporters, and it was rumored that she and Henry were lovers. This further strained her relations with Alfonso and in 1254, shortly before her daughter Eleanor was to marry Edward of England, Joan and her eldest son Ferdinand left Castile and returned to her native Ponthieu.

Upon her mother's death in 1251, Joan succeeded as Countess of Ponthieu and Montreuil, which she held in her own right. Sometime between May 1260 and 9 February 1261, Joan took a second husband, Jean de Nesle, Seigneur de Falvy et de La Hérelle (died 2 February 1292).

During her marriage to Jean de Nesle, Joan ran up considerable debts and also appears to have allowed her rights as countess in Ponthieu to weaken. The death of her son Ferdinand in 1265 made her next son, Louis, her heir in Ponthieu but around 1275 he, too, died, leaving two children. But according to inheritance customs in Picardy, where Ponthieu lay, Joan's young grandson John of Ponthieu could not succeed her there; her heir in Ponthieu automatically became her adult daughter Eleanor, who was married to Edward I of England.

It does not appear that Joan was displeased at the prospect of having Ponthieu pass under English domination; from 1274 to 1278, in fact, she had her granddaughter Joan of Acre (the daughter of Edward I and Eleanor) with her in Ponthieu, and appears to have treated the girl so indulgently that when she was returned to England her parents found that she was thoroughly spoiled.

That same indulgent nature appears to have made Joan inattentive to her duties as countess. When she died at Abbeville, in March 1279, her daughter and son-in-law were thus confronted with Joan's vast debts, and to prevent the king of France from involving himself in the county's affairs, they had to pay the debts quickly by taking out loans from citizens in Ponthieu and from wealthy abbeys in France.

They also had to deal with a lengthy legal struggle with Eleanor's nephew, John of Ponthieu, to whom Joan bequeathed a great deal of land in Ponthieu as well as important legal rights connected with those estates. The dispute was resolved when John of Ponthieu was recognized as Joan's successor in Aumale according to the inheritance customs that prevailed in Normandy, while Edward and Eleanor retained Ponthieu, and John gave up all his claims there. By using English wealth, Edward and Eleanor restored stability to the administration and the finances of Ponthieu, and added considerably to the estate by purchasing large amounts of land there.




Buried:
Grave location, biography, and cemetery photo:
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Jeanne married Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. Ferdinand (son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile, Queen of Castile and Queen of Léon) was born Between 1198-1201, Monastery of Valparaíso, Peleas de Arriba, Kingdom of Leon, Spain; died 30 May 1252, Seville, Crown of Castile, Spain; was buried , Seville, Cathedral Seville, Andalucia, Spain. [Group Sheet]

1. Eleanor of Castile was born 10 Jan 1240, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; died 28 Nov 1290, Harby, Nottinghamshire, England; was buried , Westminster Abbey, London, England.

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon,_Count_of_Ponthieu

He was a son of Alberic II of Dammartin (Aubry de Dammartin) and his wife Mathildis of Clermont.

Simon was the brother of Renaud I, Count of Dammartin, who had abducted the heiress of Boulogne, and forced her to marry him. It is thought that in order to strengthen the alliance with the Dammartins, King Philip Augustus of France allowed Simon to marry Marie, Countess of Ponthieu, who was a niece of the king, in 1208. Renaud and Simon of Dammartin would eventually ally themselves with John, King of England. In 1214 the brothers stood against Philip Augustus in the Battle of Bouvines. The French won the battle, and Renaud was imprisoned, while Simon was exiled.

Marie's father William IV, Count of Ponthieu had remained loyal to Philip Augustus. When William died in 1221, Philip Augustus denied Marie her inheritance and gave Ponthieu in custody to his cousin Robert III, Count of Dreux. After the death of Philip Augustus, Marie was able to negotiate an agreement with his successor Louis VIII in 1225. Ponthieu was held by the king, and Simon would only be allowed to enter this or any other fief if he obtained royal permission. In 1231 Simon agreed to the terms and added that he would not enter into marriage negotiations for his daughters without consent of the king.

Simon married Marie, Countess of Ponthieu,the daughter of William IV, Count of Ponthieu and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. Marie became Countess of Ponthieu in 1221.

Simon and his wife Marie had four daughters:

1. Joan, Countess of Ponthieu (1220-1278), married a) Ferdinand III of Castile. Mother of Eleanor of Castile, the wife of Edward I of England. Married b) Jean de Nesle, Seigneur de Falvy et de La Hérelle.

2. Mathilda of Dammartin (-1279), married John of Châtellerault

3. Philippa of Dammartin (-1280), married a) Raoul II of Lusignan, b) Raoul II, Lord of Coucy, c) Otto II, Count of Guelders.

4. Maria of Dammartin, married John II, Count of Roucy.

Simon married Marie of Ponthieu, Countess of Ponthieu. Marie (daughter of William (Guillaume) IV (Talvas) of Ponthieu, Count of Ponthieu and Alys of France, Countess of Vexin) was born 17 Apr 1199, Abbeville, Picardie, France; died 21 Sep 1250, Abbeville, Picardie, France; was buried , Abbey of Valloires, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipeida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie,_Countess_of_Ponthieu

She was was Countess of Ponthieu and Countess of Montreuil, in her own right, ruling from 1221 to 1250. Marie was the daughter of William IV of Ponthieu and Alys, Countess of the Vexin, and granddaughter of King Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile. As her father's only surviving child, Marie succeeded him, ruling as Countess of Ponthieu and Montreuil.

She married Simon of Dammartin before September 1208. He was the son of Alberic II of Dammartin and Maud de Clermont, daughter of Renaud de Clermont, Count de Clermont-en-Beauvaisis and Clemence de Bar. Simon and Marie had four daughters.

1.Joan of Dammartin (1220-16 March 1279), second wife of Ferdinand III of Castile.

2. Mathilda of Dammartin (-1279), married John of Châtellerault.

3. Philippa of Dammartin (died 1277/81) who married firstly Raoul II d' Issoudun, secondly Raoul II de Coucy, and thirdly Otto II, Count Geldern.

4. Maria of Dammartin, married John II, Count of Roucy.

Marie married secondly sometime between September 1240 and 15 December 1241, Mathieu de Montmorency, Seigneur d'Attichy, who was killed in battle at Mansurrah on 8 February 1250 during the Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France.



Buried:
Grave location and cemetery photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102492349

Notes:

Wikipeida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IV,_Count_of_Ponthieu

He was Count of Ponthieu, ruler of a small province in northern France. It was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France. Its chief town is Abbeville.

He was son and heir of John (Jean) I, Count of Ponthieu (died 1191) by his third wife Beatrice de St Pol. His father was the son of Guy II, Count of Ponthieu (who died on the Second Crusade 1147) and grandson of William III of Ponthieu, also frequently called William III Talvas, and who represented the senior line of the lords of Montgomery, once trusted vassals and allies of William the Conqueror.

Talvas was married on August 20, 1195 to Alys, Countess of the Vexin, the daughter of King Louis VII of France. She was some eighteen years older than he, and was said by some to have been seduced by King Henry II of England while betrothed to his son, King Richard the Lionheart. Richard sent her back to her brother, King Philip II of France, refusing to marry his father's mistress.

Philip then arranged for Alys to marry William Talvas, with the intent that the couple would be childless, and he would thus gain control of Ponthieu, a small but strategically important county. However, Alys then gave birth to a daughter and heiress, Marie, in 1199. This daughter was the maternal grandmother of Eleanor of Castile, first wife of Edward I, King of England, to whom Ponthieu and the disputed Vexin inheritance would eventually pass as Eleanor's dowry. William Talvas died in 1221, his daughter Marie being his heiress.

William was an important army commander in the Anglo-French War (1202-1214). He also participated in the Albigensian Crusade, particularly in the Siege of Termes in 1210.
He led the left wing of the victorious French army in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.



Buried:
Grave location and cemetery photo:
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William married Alys of France, Countess of Vexin. Alys (daughter of King Louis VII of France and Constance of Castile) was born 04 Oct 1160; died ca 1220; was buried , Abbey of Valloires, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alys_of_France,_Countess_of_Vexin

She was the daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile. Alys was the half-sister of Marie and Alix of France, Louis's children by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the younger sister of Margaret of France.

In January 1169, Louis and Henry II of England signed a contract for the marriage between Alys and Henry's son Richard the Lionheart. The 8-year-old Alys was then sent to England as Henry's ward. There were widespread rumors that Henry had not only made Alys his mistress, but that she had borne him a child. Henry died in 1189. King Richard married Berengaria of Navarre on 12 May 1191, while still officially engaged to Alys.

Her brother, King Philip of France, had offered Alys to Prince John, but Eleanor prevented the match. Alys married William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu, on 20 August 1195, and had one child Marie, Countess of Ponthieu. She was some eighteen years older than William, and Philip figured that the couple would be childless, and he would thus gain control of Ponthieu, a small but strategically important county. However, when Alys then gave birth to Marie, this child became the heiress to Ponthieu when her father died.

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I,_Count_of_Ponthieu

He was the son of Guy II of Ponthieu and succeeded him as Count of Ponthieu in 1147. He married Beatrice of Saint-Pol, and was succeeded by his son William IV Talvas.

John married Beatrice of Saint-Pol. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I,_Count_of_Ponthieu

John I of Ponthieu married Beatrice of Saint-Pol, and was succeeded by their son William IV Talvas

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VII_of_France

He was King of the Franks from 1137 until his death. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI of France, hence his nickname, and married Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. Eleanor came with the vast Duchy of Aquitaine as a dowry for Louis, thus temporarily extending the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees, but their marriage was annulled in 1152 after no male heir was produced. They had two daughters, Marie and Alix.

Immediately after the annulment of her marriage, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, to whom she gave the Aquitaine. When Henry became King of England in 1154, as Henry II, he ruled over a large empire that spanned from Scotland to the Pyrenees. Henry's efforts to preserve and expand on this patrimony for the Crown of England would mark the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England.

Louis VII's reign saw the founding of the University of Paris and the disastrous Second Crusade. Louis and his famous counselor Abbot Suger pushed for a greater centralization of the state and favoured the development French Gothic architecture, notably the construction of Notre-Dame de Paris.

Louis was born in 1120 in Paris, the second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. The early education of Prince Louis anticipated an ecclesiastical career. As a result, he became well-learned and exceptionally devout, but his life course changed decisively after the accidental death of his older brother Philip in 1131, when he unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France. He spent much of his youth in Saint-Denis, where he built a friendship with the Abbot Suger, an advisor to his father who also served Louis well during his early years as king.

In the first part of his reign, Louis VII was vigorous and zealous in his prerogatives. His accession was marked by no disturbances other than uprisings by the burgesses of Orléans and Poitiers, who wished to organise communes. He soon came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II, however, when the archbishopric of Bourges became vacant.

Louis VII then became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois, the seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald II's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, sister of the queen of France. He was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry-le-François. More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church died in the flames. Overcome with guilt and humiliated by ecclesiastical reproach, Louis admitted defeat, removed his armies from Champagne and returned them to Theobald.

Desiring to atone for his sins, he declared his intention of mounting a crusade on Christmas Day 1145. In June 1147, in fulfilment of his vow to mount the Second Crusade, Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, set out from the Basilica of St Denis, first stopping in Metz on the overland route to Syria. Just beyond Laodicea, the French army was ambushed by Turks. The French were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, and the Turks swarmed down from the mountains. Louis VII and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, but this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.

The expedition to the Holy Land came at a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor that lead to the annulment of their marriage. Perhaps the marriage to Eleanor might have continued if the royal couple had produced a male heir, but this had not occurred. The marriage was annulled on 21 March 1152. The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment, but in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between Louis and Eleanor, the decreasing likelihood that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France, and the distinct possibility that Louis had learned of Eleanor's affair with Henry, Count of Anjou.

In 1154, Louis VII married Constance of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of Castile. She also failed to supply him with a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Marguerite and Alys. Constance died in childbirth on 4 October 1160.

Five weeks after the death of Constance, Louis VII married Adèle of Champagne. In 1165, she bore him a son and heir, Philip II Augustus. Louis had him crowned at Reims in 1179, in the Capetian tradition (Philip would in fact be the last king so crowned). Already stricken with paralysis, Louis himself could not be present at the ceremony. He died on 18 September 1180 at the Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier, and was buried in the Cistercian Abbey of Barbeaux (later moved to Saint-Denis in 1817).

From the point of view of the preservation and expansion of the French royal domains, the reign of Louis VII was a difficult and unfortunate one. Yet royal authority was more strongly felt in the parts of France distant from these domains: more direct and more frequent connections were made with distant vassals, a result largely due to an alliance between the clergy with the crown. Louis VII thus reaped the reward for services rendered the church during the least successful portions of his reign. His greater accomplishments lie in the development of agriculture, population, commerce, the building of stone fortresses, as well as an intellectual renaissance. Considering the significant disparity of political leverage and financial resources between Louis VII and his Angevin rival Henry II, not to mention Henry's superior military skills, Louis VII should be credited with helping to preserve the Capetian dynasty.

Louis' children by his three marriages:

Eleanor of Aquitaine:

1. Marie (1145-11 March 1198), married Henry I of Champagne[

2. Alix (1151-1197/1198), married Theobald V of Blois


Constance of Castile:

3. Margaret (1158-August/September 1197), married a) Henry the Young King; b) King Béla III of Hungary

4. Alys (4 October 1160-ca. 1220), engaged to Richard I of England; she married William IV, Count of Ponthieu


Adele of Champagne:

5. Philip II Augustus (22 August 1165-1223)

6. Agnes (1171-after 1204), who was betrothed to Alexius II Comnenus (1180-1183). but married first Andronicus I Comnenus (1183-1185), then Theodore Branas (1204)






Buried:
Grave location and tomb photo:
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Louis married Constance of Castile. Constance (daughter of Alfonso VII Raimúndez of León, King of Galicia, King of León and Castille and Berenguela (Berengaria) of Barcelona, Queen of Castille, León and Galicia) was born 1140, Spain; died 04 Oct 1160, Paris, France; was buried , Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Castile

She was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.[1] She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not certainly known.

Constance died giving birth to her second child. Desperate for a son, her husband remarried a mere five weeks after her death.

Constance bore her husband two children:

1. Margaret, 1157-1197, who married first Henry the Young King of England, and then Béla III of Hungary

2. Alys, 1160-1220, who married William IV of Ponthieu


Buried:
Grave location, biography and effigy photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21065