Editing Baldwin I, Latin Emperor (section)

==Early life and family history==
Baldwin was the son of Count [[Baldwin V of Hainaut]] and Countess [[Margaret I of Flanders]].<ref name="Wolff281">{{Harvnb|Wolff|1952|p=281}}.</ref> When the childless Count [[Philip I of Flanders]] left on the last of his personal crusades in 1177, he designated Baldwin, his brother-in-law, as his heir. When Philip returned in 1179 after an unsuccessful siege of Harim during a joint campaign on behalf of the [[Principality of Antioch]], he was designated as the chief adviser of [[Philip Augustus]] by his sickly father, King [[Louis VII of France]].<ref name="Wolff281"/> One year later, Philip of Flanders had his protégé married to his niece, [[Isabelle of Hainaut]], offering the [[County of Artois]] and other Flemish territories as dowry, much to the dismay of Baldwin V.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wolff|1952|pp=281–282}}.</ref> In 1180, war broke out between King Philip and his mentor [[Philip I of Flanders]], resulting in the devastation of [[Picardy]] and [[Île-de-France]]; King Philip refused to give open battle and gained the upper hand, and [[Baldwin V of Hainaut]], at first allied with his brother-in-law [[Philip I of Flanders]], intervened on behalf of his son-in-law, King Philip, in 1184, in support of his daughter's interests.<ref name="Wolff282">{{Harvnb|Wolff|1952|p=282}}.</ref>

Count Philip's wife [[Elisabeth of Vermandois|Elisabeth]] died in 1183, and Philip Augustus seized the province of [[Vermandois]] on behalf of Elisabeth's sister, [[Eleonore of Vermandois|Eleonore]]. Philip then remarried, to [[Infanta Teresa, Countess of Flanders|Matilda of Portugal]]. Philip gave Matilda a dower of a number of major Flemish towns, in an apparent slight to Baldwin V. Fearing that he would be surrounded by the royal domain of France and the [[County of Hainaut]], Count Philip signed a peace treaty with Philip Augustus and Count Baldwin V on 10 March 1186, recognizing the cession of Vermandois to the king, although he was allowed to retain the title [[Count of Vermandois]] for the remainder of his life. Philip died without further issue of disease on the Third Crusade at the siege of Acre in 1191, he was succeeded in [[Flanders (county)|Flanders]] by Baldwin V of Hainaut, although the two had been on seemingly uncordial terms since the 1186 treaty.<ref name="Wolff282"/> Baldwin V thereupon ruled as Baldwin VIII of Flanders by right of marriage.<ref name="Wolff282"/> When Countess Margaret I died in 1194, Flanders descended to her eldest son, Baldwin IX.<ref name="Wolff282"/>

In 1186, the younger Baldwin had married [[Marie of Champagne|Marie]], daughter of Count [[Henry I of Champagne]], and [[Marie of France, Countess of Champagne|Marie of France]].<ref name="Evergates127">{{Harvnb|Evergates|1999|p=127}}.</ref> The chronicler [[Gislebert of Mons|Gislebert]] describes Baldwin as being infatuated with his young bride, who nevertheless preferred prayer to the marital bed.
{{blockquote|
Immediately after this arrangement, the count of Hainaut's son Baldwin, thirteen years old,<ref>Baldwin was in fact 14 years old when he married [[Marie of Champagne]] in 1186.</ref> received as wife Marie, the count of Champagne's sister, twelve years old, at [[Château-Thierry]]. This Marie began sufficiently young to devote herself to divine obedience in prayers, vigils, fasts and alms. Her husband Baldwin, a young knight, by chaste living, scorning all other women, began to love her alone with a fervent love, which is rarely found in any man, so that he devoted himself to his sole wife only and was content with her alone. The solemn rejoicing of the wedding was celebrated at [[Valenciennes]] with an abundance of knights and ladies and men of whatever status.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gislebert of Mons|Napran|2005|p=105}}.</ref>
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Through Marie, Baldwin had additional connections and obligations to the defenders of the Holy Land: her brother [[Henry II of Champagne]] had been [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|King of Jerusalem]] in the 1190s (leaving a widow and two daughters who needed help to keep and regain their territories in Palestine). Marie's uncles [[Richard I of England]] and [[Philip II of France]] had just been on the [[Third Crusade]].

Baldwin's own family had also been involved in the defence of Jerusalem: his uncle Philip had died on Crusade. Baldwin's maternal grandmother was a great-aunt of Queen [[Isabella I of Jerusalem]] and the Counts of Flanders had tried to help Jerusalem relatives in their struggle. Baldwin wanted to continue the tradition. Margaret died in 1194, and the younger Baldwin became Count of Flanders. His father died the next year, and he succeeded to [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]].