The history of Flanders - Chapter 21
Johanna Van Constantinopel, Countess of Flanders (1)
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
Flanders again without count
On 12 April 1205 Boudewijn IX, count of Flanders and Henegouwen and emperor of Constantinople, is captured by Bulgarian king Johanisse during the fourth crusade in the battle of Adrianopel. Nothing more will ever be learned from him. According to a Bulgarian source he was ruthlessly executed by the king, but we do not know exactly what has happened. Pope Innocentius III repeatedly sent letters to Johanisse requesting information on the fate of Boudewijn, whether he was alive or not, but Johanisse refused to answer. Thus the mystery remained. In any case, it is only in the first half of 1206 that news on Boudewijn's death, or at least his disappearance, spread in Flanders.
This led to great consternation. As Boudewijn had no male heir to the throne, Flanders was again without count. His two daughters, Johanna of six and Margareta of three, were now orphans. A successor was urgently needed.
Meanwhile Johanna is recognized countess of Flanders. However, as she is still a minor, Filips, count of Namen, who had been appointed regent and guardian of the two girls before Boudewijn left, is legally the representative of the count's power until Johanna comes of age, i.e. 12 years old.
It was Mathildis, also known as Theresia, daughter to Alfons I, king of Portugal, and second wife to Filips van den Elzas (she married him in 1184), thus great aunt by marriage to Johanna, who took responsibility for the girls' education. It is she who will later arrange the marriage of Johanna to her cousin, Ferrand van Portugal, third son of Sanchos I of Portugal who had succeeded his father Alfons I in 1185.
It seems all was quiet in the country, but that will not last long as soon the French king makes his appearance.
Filips ll Augustus, king of France
French king Filips II Augustus, forty years old and son to Louis VII, had taken a relaxed attitude towards the county of Flanders in the years 1200 to 1206, even though Boudewijns IX's absence had been an ideal opportunity to crack down on Flanders.
Filips II Augustus
King of France 1179-1223
The sudden disappearance of Boudewijn IX gave Filips Augustus other ideas. When he looked at Flanders, he saw a country with a feable rule of an almost powerless regent. Before, he had had to deal with the powerful personality of Boudewijn IX, before whom he had to bow in 1200 when signing the treaty of Péronne.
When he heard about Boudewijn's death, he used the current campaign in Brittany to have a meeting with Filips of Namen, the regent, at Pont-de-l'Arche, on the left bank of the river Seine.
During that meeting Filips van Namen, the weak character he was, was dominated completely by Filips Augustus who managed to have Filips agree to turn Flanders into a fixed ally of France in his war against England. The agreement that concluded the meeting and was signed by both parties, consisted of three points:
1° Filips van Namen promised the French king to be his liege lord in good faith. He would aid the king of France against everybody except his brother Boudewijn IX.
2° The two princesses Johanna and Margareta will not marry without the permission of the French king.
3° In exchange for this, Filips of Namen would marry Maria, Filips Augustus' daughter from his third marriage with Agnès de Méranie, as soon as she reached marriageable age.
The date for this marriage was later determined to be 13 January 1211 and (this is quite exceptional) Filips had to bring along a dowry consisting of one third of his possessions and one third of the goods he would get after his marriage. Never will we know what possessed Filips van Namen ever to sign such an agreement, which was clearly nothing else but a shrewd trick from Filips Augustus to get control of Boudewijn's heritage. Perhaps the simple Filips van Namen was blinded by the fact that he would marry the daughter of the mighty king of France and thus become his son-in-law? It must be - one cannot think of a sensible reason.
Filips Augustus' intentions became clearer when he obtained from Filips van Namen that the two young princesses were taken to Paris, to avoid them falling in the hands of the Anglo-Welf. This was the name of the union that was formed in 1208 between German emperor Otto IV from the mighty German line called the Welf, and John of England, king of England. This formidable coalition was the biggest danger to France's supremacy in Western Europe. It will later, in 1213, be expanded due to Ferrand of Portugal, count of Flanders.
Exit Filips van Namen
When Flanders and Henegouwen hear about the Flemish princesses who were turned over to the French king, it roused emotions to such a degree that a rebellion rose against Filips. The people demanded his resignation as regent and Bourchard van Avesnes, the great-bailiff of Henegouwen and later husband of Margareta, takes his place.
This was a terrible blow to Filips and being the weakling he was, he never got over it. He was struck with guilt and must have finally realised that he had been foolish to sign the agreement of Pont-de-l'Arche and had been fooled by the French king - moreover, he had betrayed his country by turning over the princesses.
He was in sheer panic and close to insanity. One night he was running through the streets of Valenciennes with a string around his neck, shouting "J'ai vécu en chien, il faut que je meure en chien!". (I lived as a dog, I must die as a dog.)
Filips van Namen - from nobleman to wreck
Shortly after, on 8 October 1212, vexed by remorse, abandoned by everybody, and bitter because his promised marriage with the French king's daughter did not go ahead, Filips dies, barely thirty-eight years old.
Ferrand of Portugal
The elimination of Filips van Namen as regent did not take away the frustration of the Flemish people. The classes, supported by the Flemish nobles, fanatically demanded from the French king to return the two princesses, if not they would join the Anglo-Welf coalition. This threat surely resulted in Filips Augustus' granting of the Flemish request and sending the two princesses from Paris to Brugge.
As soon as they arrived in Brugge the girls were back in Mathildis' care who had already well prepared the marriage plans for Johanna. Already in early 1212 she had asked her cousin Ferrand of Portugal to come to Rijsel and have him noticed. Ferrand was then twenty-four years old and according to the chroniclers of that time "a handsome young man with brown skin colour and big nose".
Mathildis played it very clever and in only a few month's time she succeeded in conquering the rich countries Flanders and Henegouwen for her cousin. In both counties she influenced the Flemish and Henegouwen nobles with generous donations for one's own purpose. She also made Filips Augustus agree with her marriage candidate as in point 2 of the agreement of Pont-de-l'Arche. Filips Augustus did add two conditions in order to agree to the marriage: (1) Mathildis was to pay him a "right of elevation" of 50,000 pounds parisis and (2) Ferrand first had to renounce the cities of Aire and Sint Omaars, two cities Filips Augustus had had to cede to Boudewijn IX in the treaty of Péronne.
Both Mathildis and Ferrand agreed to the additional conditions. The marriage could go through and was held with much splendour on 22 January 1212 in the royal chapel of Paris, in the presence of the French king, his son Lodewijk, the most important nobles of the French court, Mathildis herself and the viscounts of Lens, Brugge and Gent. The next day, after the consummation of the marriage, Ferrand also declared himself "homo ligius" (liege man) to the French king. It is notable that Johanna, as legal countess of Flanders, did not take the vow of allegiance to the French king. Apparently she was not happy with the slavish vow of allegiance of her husband, as she also refused to sign that vow.
After the wedding ceremonies, the young couple returned to Flanders with an escort of armourbearers, accompanied bij Lodewijk (the later Lodewijk VIII), son of Filips Augustus. All seemed fine until the group arrived at the castle of Péronne. Lodewijk made them stop, and when everybody had gathered on the inner courtyard of the castle, he ordered his soldiers to arrest the baffled couple without any explanation or accusation, and to place them under guard in one of the castle rooms.
Johanna and Ferrand are unlawfully arrested and detained in
Péronne
Policy of accomplished facts
The reason for the arrest of Johanna and Ferrand by the French crown prince by order of Filips Augustus, was that the French king wanted to prevent the couple, when arrived in the counties, to receive the vow of allegiance from their subjects, i.e. the nobility and the cities, before he himself got possession of the cities the couple promised him in exhange for his approval of their marriage. Filips Augustus had never been able to swallow the treaty of Péronne which had made him cede Aire, St. Omaars and Dowaai. He therefore did all that was possible to get the lost areas back, especially now that Boudewijn IX was no longer there.
Filips Augustus applied the policiy of what is called "the accomplished fact". And indeed, the couple had only just been detained or Lodewijk took his army to Aire and St. Omaars to besiege both cities. He demanded from Aire that the city would open its gates, in name of the French king, base on the fact that the area was part of the French crown as inheritance of his mother Isabella van Henegouwen. The citizens of Aire replied that they would only open the city gates if the crown prince succeeded in conquering the more fortified St. Omaars. He succeeded. St. Omaars was no match for Lodewijk's strong army and was easily taken. So Aire opened its gates and welcomed the prince with friendship and splendour. The southern part of the Flemish county had thus again become part of French territory, an accomplished fact.
This was confirmed by the treaty of Pont-à-Vendin of 25 Februar 1212, to which Johanna and Ferrand could only agree, and which stipulated that Johanna and Ferrand recognized the areas that were part of the dowry of Isabella van Henegouwen as solely and permanently possession of the French crown prince and his offspring.
Lodewijk now ordered the couple to be released and to allow them to go to their counties without any further delay. Ferrand has never been able to forgive the shameful treatment the king of France had given him and his young bride. From that moment forward Ferrand is an arch-enemy of the French king.
Treaty with John of England
Ferrand's first priority in Flanders was to have the Flemish recognize him as count of Flanders. He first went to leper and then to Brugge where he was recognized without argument. Then it was Gent's turn where he arrived in August 1212 with Johanna and followed by a well-equipped army. They stationed themselves at the city gates. When the citizens from Gent saw the count with their countess Johanna and the various Flemish knights accompanying Ferrand, they opened the gates and welcomed the couple with respect.
Meanwhile the treaty of Pont-à-Vendin, which he had to sign in very humiliating circumstances, was eating Ferrand's heart away. As the Flemish people had now recognized him as count of Flanders, he could spend all of his time on his revenge on Filips Augustus. He could count on the full support of all his subjects who saw the French king, with reason, as the most important enemy of the county.
John of England
As per a cotton manuscript (British Museum)
Yet, Ferrand needed allies to realise his plan, to
take back
the lost Flemish areas. He first turned to John of England, the English
king, as he was involved in a war against France and was the best ally
one could think of. Already by the end of summer 1212, both rulers
reached an agreement. The English king would assist the Flemish count
with soldiers and money, if need be.
Filips Augustus versus Ferrand
When Ferrand also learned that Filips Augustus was busy raising an army to conquer England for the French throne, he thought the moment of revenge had arrived. The conquest of England would require all available force from Filips Augustus so that he would not ba able to resist Ferrand's ambitions. Moreover it was far from certain that Filips Augustus would succeed in conquering England, taking into account that John of England ruled about one third of France, from Rouan to the Pyrenees.
Filips Augustus was well aware of this and called upon all his barons to gather in Soissons and confirm their participation to the planned conquest. All liegemen from Champagne, Blois and Bourgogne supportted him. Only Ferrand, who was also present at the gathering, refused all cooperation. Filips Augustus therefore declared he was prepared to return the disputed areas of Aire and St. Omaars if that would mean Ferrand would support him. Ferrand again refused all cooperation, after which the wrathful Filips Augustus let him go, but not without calling a new meeting in Arques to give Ferrand a last chance. Ferrand obstinately stuck to his decision. At a third meeting in Gravelines, it was now 22 May 1213, where Filips Augustus had gathered with his army to make the cross to England, Ferrand dit not even appear.
Something unexpected happened. Pope Innocentius III, who had supported Filips Augustus in his plans of conquest, convinced John of England, who was feeling cornered by Filip Augustus' formidable army, to donate land in property which he got back as liege. Immediately after, Filips Augustus, ready to cross the Channel, was suddenly prohibited by Innocentius to set foot on English ground, which now was papal property. The French king was inflamed with anger because he saw his dream end up in smoke, as Innocentius' power was great and Filips Augustus dared not challenge it. He subsequently left "Gravelinghes molt iries" (in great anger) and sought a victim for his wrath. He found a victim in the stubborn Ferrand.
War!
Filips Augustus will now use all of his force to try to get Ferrand on his knees, not only to learn the obstinate liegeman a lesson, but also to secure his back in case he would ever decide to attack England after all. This depended mainly on the future decisions of pope Innocentius III. One should know that the pope was extremely powerful. He interfered with all possible private and political affairs of worldly leaders, in accordance with the prevailing view that the pope, as Vicar of Christ, was the virtual leader of christianity to which all rulers were expected to look up with submissive respect.
In any case, in expectation of Innocentius changing his mind, Filips Augustus marched to Flanders. His invasion fleet left Gravelines for Damme and moored in the city's big harbour. At the same time Filips Augustus took his cavalry and ground troops from Gravelines to Kassel which he seizes without much effort on 23 May 1213. From there he went to Ieper which was also easily seized, followed by Brugge and later by Gent. The French soldiers swarmed over the Flemish land like grasshoopers. They committed arson, plundered, and turned the country into a war hell with death and destruction.
Ferrand was driven out of his county. He was shattered by such a catastrophe and quickly decided to sent a delegation to England to request military aid from the king against the French violence. The delegation, led by Boudewijn van Nieuwpoort, is immediately seen by the English king and his counsellors. There are negotiations with German emperor Otto IV and a might army is raised consisting of English, German and Flemish allies which will now march against Filips Augustus. What happens now can be read in the next chapter.
bibliography:
1. LEGLAY, Edward. "Histoire des comtes de Flandre", Librairie
de A. Vandale, Brussel 1843.
2. LUYCKX, Théo, Prof. Dr. "Johanna Van Constantinopel", Uitg.
NV Standaard-Boekhandel, Antwerpen 1946.
3. VAN BELLE, Juliaan. "Een andere Leeuw van Vlaanderen",
Uitg. Flandria Nostra, Torhout 1985.