Editing Marie of France, Countess of Champagne

{{Redirect|Marie Capet|the Classicist painter|Marie-Gabrielle Capet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Marie of France
| consort      = yes
| image        = Marie Champagne.jpg
| caption      = Seal of Marie of France
| succession   = [[Countess consort of Champagne]]
| reign        = 1164 – 17 March 1181
| spouse       = [[Henry I, Count of Champagne]]
| issue        = [[Henry II, Count of Champagne]]<br/>[[Marie of Champagne|Marie, Latin Empress]]<br/>[[Theobald III, Count of Champagne]]<br/>[[Scholastique of Champagne|Scholastique, Countess of Mâcon]]
| house        = [[Capet]]
| father       = [[Louis VII of France]]
| mother       = [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]
| birth_date   = 1145
| birth_place  = [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1198|3|11|1145|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[County of Champagne]]
| place of burial = [[Meaux Cathedral]], [[Seine-et-Marne]]
}}
'''Marie of France''' (1145 – 11 March 1198) was a [[Capetian]] princess who became [[Countess of Champagne]] by her marriage to [[Henry I of Champagne]]. She ruled the [[County of Champagne]] as [[regent]] during Henry I's absence from 1179 to 1181; during the minority of their son [[Henry II of Champagne|Henry II]] from 1181 to 1187; and during Henry II's absence from 1190 to 1197. She was the daughter of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] and [[Louis VII of France]].

== Early life ==
Marie's birth was hailed as a "miracle" by [[Bernard of Clairvaux]],{{sfn|Seaman|2003|p=8}} an answer to his prayer to bless the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII.{{sfn|Kelly|1991|p=126}} Marie was just 2 years old when her parents joined the [[Second Crusade]] to the [[Holy Land]]. With the birth of her sister Alice in 1150 instead of the desperately needed son and heir the couple hoped for, the marriage broke down and was annulled on 21 March 1152; Marie was 7 and Alice was not yet 2.{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=?}} Custody of the girls was awarded to their father as they were at that time the only heirs to the French throne. Eleanor quickly moved on, marrying Henry, [[Duke of Normandy]], on 18 May. Louis married Constance of Castile in 1154. Just 5 weeks after Constance died while giving birth to their second child and daughter, he married Adele of Champagne on 13 November 1160, who gave birth to Philippe in 1165.

== Marriage ==
In 1153, Marie was betrothed to Henry of Champagne by her father Louis.{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=707}} These betrothals were arranged based on the intervention of Bernard of Clairvaux, as reported in the contemporary chronicle of [[Radulfus Niger]]. After her betrothal, Marie was sent to live with the Viscountess Elizabeth of Mareuil-sy-Aÿ and then to the abbey of [[Avenay]] in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] for her Latin-based education. In 1159, Marie married [[Henry I, Count of Champagne]].{{efn|An 1159 charter refers to Marie as ''Trecensis comitissa'' indicating the marriage had taken place. The marriage date of 1164 is from Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville based on "a late and unreliable document".{{sfn|McCash|2008|p=15}}}}{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=705}}

== Regencies ==
Marie became regent for Champagne when her husband Henry I went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 1179 until 1181. While her husband was away, Marie's father died and her half-brother, [[Philip Augustus]], became king of France. He confiscated his mother's dower lands and married [[Isabelle of Hainaut]], who was previously betrothed to Marie's eldest son. This prompted Marie to join a party of disgruntled nobles—including the queen mother [[Adela of Champagne]] and the [[William of the White Hands|archbishop of Reims]]—in plotting unsuccessfully against Philip. Eventually, relations between Marie and her royal brother improved. Marie's husband died soon after his return from the Holy Land in 1181, leaving her again as regent for their young son Henry.

Marie, who had retired to the nunnery of Château de Fontaines-les-Nonnes near Meaux (1187–1190), served again as regent for Champagne as her son Henry II joined the [[Third Crusade]] from 1190 to 1197. He remained in the Levant, marrying Queen [[Isabella I of Jerusalem]] in 1192. Over the course of her regencies, Champagne was transformed from a patchwork of territories into a significant principality.{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=?}}

== Literary patronage ==
[[File:MarieChampagne.jpg|alt=medieval illumination of sitting woman|thumb|Marie pictured as patroness in a medieval manuscript|160x160px]]
Marie was a patron of literature and her court became a sphere of influence on authors and poets{{sfn|Benton|1961|p=551}} such as [[Andreas Capellanus]], who served in her court and referred to her several times in his writing, [[Chrétien de Troyes]], who credits her with the idea for his ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart|Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart]]'', the [[troubadour]]s [[Bertran de Born]] and [[Bernart de Ventadorn]], [[Gautier d'Arras]] and [[Conon de Béthune|Conon de Bétune]].{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=700}}

Being literate in both French and Latin, she amassed and maintained her own extensive library.{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=?}} Marie's half-brother King [[Richard I of England|Richard]], mentions her in a stanza from his celebrated poem ''J'a nuns hons pris'', lamenting his captivity in Austria, was addressed to her.{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=704}}

==Death==
Marie died on 11 March 1198, not long after hearing the news of her son's death.{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=?}} She was buried in [[Meaux Cathedral]].

On 25 June 1562, rioting [[Huguenots]] devastated many edifices, including the Cathedral of Meaux; it was on this occasion that the tomb of Marie of Champagne, located in the choir, was destroyed.{{efn|McCash state Protestants during the reformation destroyed Marie's tomb. She gives no dates.{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=699}}}}

==Issue==
Marie and her husband Henri I of Champagne had:
*[[Henry II of Champagne]] (1166–1197),{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=109}} married [[Isabella I of Jerusalem|Isabelle of Jerusalem]] in 1192{{sfn|McCash|1979|p=704}} 
*[[Scholastique of Champagne]] (1172–1219), married William IV of Macon{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=109}}
*[[Marie of Champagne]] (c. 1174 – 1204), married [[Baldwin I of Constantinople]]{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=109}}
*[[Theobald III of Champagne]] (1179–1201), married Blanche of Navarre{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=109}}

==Genealogical table==
{{chart top|Selective genealogy of Countess Marie{{sfn|Evergates|2018|p=109}}}}
{{chart/start|align=center}}
{{tree chart |border=0| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}
{{tree chart |border=0| |Henry2|~|y|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|Eleanor|y|~|~|~|Louis|~|~|~|~|y|Adela| |Henry| |Robert| |Peter|Robert=[[Robert I of Dreux]]|Peter=[[Peter I of Courtenay]]|Henry=[[Henry of France, Archbishop of Reims|Henry]]|Theobald=[[Theobald V of Blois]]|Stephen=[[Stephen I of Sancerre]]|William=[[William White Hands]]|Adela=[[Adela of Champagne|Adela]]|Louis=[[Louis VII of France]]|Eleanor=[[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]|Henry2=[[Henry II of England]]}} 
{{tree chart |border=0| |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | | | | | |)|-|-|-|.|`|-|-|.| | |`|.| | | | | | | | | | | | |!|}}
{{tree chart |border=0 |HenryY| |Richard| |Geoffrey| |Henry|y|Marie| |Alice| |Margaret| |Philip| | | | | | | | | | |Peter|Marie=Marie of France|Philip=[[Philip II of France]]|Henry=[[Henry I of Champagne]]|Richard=[[Richard I of England]]|HenryY=[[Henry the Young King]]|Geoffrey=[[Geoffrey II of Brittany]]|Alice=[[Alice of France|Alice]]|Peter=[[Peter II of Courtenay]]|Margaret=[[Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary|Margaret]]}}
{{tree chart |border=0| | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|v|^|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}
{{tree chart |border=0| | | | | | | | | |Henry| |Theobald| |Marie| |Scholastica||Henry=[[Henry II of Champagne]]|Isabella=[[Isabella I of Jerusalem]]|Theobald=Theobald III of Champagne|Blanche=[[Blanche of Navarre, Countess of Champagne|Blanche of Navarre]]|Marie=[[Marie of Champagne|Marie]]|Scholastica=[[Scholastique of Champagne|Scholastique]]}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite journal |last=Benton |first=John F. |authorlink=John F. Benton |year=1961 |title=The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center |journal=Speculum |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=551–591 |doi=10.2307/2856785|jstor=2856785|s2cid=161184362 |issn=0038-7134}}
*{{Cite book |last=Evergates |first=Theodore |title=Marie of France: Countess of Champagne, 1145-1198 |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-8122-5077-0 |edition= 1st |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |oclc=1033578543}}
*{{cite book |first=Amy Ruth |last=Kelly |title=Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1991 }}
*{{cite journal|last=McCash |first=June Hall Martin |title=Marie de Champagne and Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Relationship Reexamined |journal=Speculum |volume=54.4 (Oct) |year=1979 |pages=698–711 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Chrétien's Patrons |first=June Hall |last=McCash |title=A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes |editor-first1=Joan Tasker |editor-last1=Grimbert |editor-first2=Norris J. |editor-last2=Lacy | editor-link2=Norris J. Lacy |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2008 }}
*{{cite journal |title=Reassessing Chretien's Elusive ''Vanz'' |first=Gerald |last=Seaman |journal=Arthurian Literature XX |editor-first1=Keith |editor-last1=Busby |editor-first2=Roger |editor-last2=Dalrymple |publisher=D.S. Brewer |year=2003 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie of France, Countess of Champagne}}
[[Category:1145 births]]
[[Category:1198 deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century French nobility]]
[[Category:12th-century women regents]]
[[Category:French princesses]]
[[Category:House of Capet]]
[[Category:French patrons of literature]]
[[Category:Countesses of Champagne]]
[[Category:12th-century French women]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]
[[Category:12th-century regents]]
[[Category:Mothers of monarchs of Jerusalem]]