Isabelle of Hainaut

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Isabelle of Hainaut (1170 - 1190) was queen consort of France.

Isabelle was born in Lille, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and Countess Margaret I of Flanders. She married King Philip II of France in 1180 and brought as her dowry the county of Artois.

Isabella was crowned consort of France at Saint Denis on May 28, 1180. As Baldwin V claimed to be a descendant of Charlemagne, the chroniclers of the time saw in this marriage a union of the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties. Though she received extravagant praise from certain annalists, she failed to win the affections of Philip (possibly because he was supposedly engaged in an homosexual affair with Richard the Lionheart at that time), who, in 1184, waging war against Flanders, was angered at seeing Baldwin support his enemies, and called a council at Sens for the purpose of repudiating her. Robert, the king's uncle, successfully interposed.

Isabella died in childbirth in 1190, and was buried in the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Her son became Louis VIII of France.

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