Philippa of Champagne

Overview

Title social-status

Princess of Jerusalem and Lady of Brienne and Ramerupt

Date of Birth

c.1197

Date of Death

1250

Biography

(See also Genealogical Table(s): 2.3, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 4.1, 7.)
Philippa was the daughter of Henry II, count of Champagne (a grandson of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France), and Isabella, queen of Jerusalem. Philippa was their third daughter: the first, Maria, died young, the second, Alicia married Hugh, King of Cyprus, and Philippa married Erard of Brienne, lord of Ramerupt. Erard, of a prominent Champagne family, whose cousin Jean of Brienne, was king of Jerusalem, married Philippa in 1213 in order to claim Champagne as her inheritance (Evergates, Aristocratic Women in Medieval France, 83). But when her father Henry II went on crusade in 1190, he left Champagne to his younger brother, Thibaut III. Henry died in 1197, Thibaut in 1201, and Thibaut’s widow, Blanche of Navarre, did everything to ensure that Champagne would go to her son, Thibaut IV, born after his father’s death. The arguments against Philippa’s claims were based on the assertions that her parents’ marriage was invalid because Isabella’s first husband was still alive, so their children were illegitimate, and that Erard and Philippa were related within the prohibited degrees. Honorius III refers to Philippa as “the illegitimate daughter of Henry, formerly count of Champagne” (illegitima filia Henrici quondam comitis Campaniae) in a bull repeating his excommunication of the couple, Layettes du Trésor, 1.458, #1276, dated February, 1218. Erard and Philippa had come back to Champagne in 1216 to make Philippa’s claim, but Blanche had powerful allies, and eventually, when Thibaut reached his maturity, Erard and Philippa had to concede defeat, though there was a substantial payoff of cash and annuity. Philippa is mentioned in many charters of homage to Blanche and Thibaut, in which the nobles promise to make war on Erard and Philippa if needed, and she and Erard are the subject of several documents about their excommunication and eventual absolution, but I have so far seen only one charter in her name.

Letters from Philippa of Champagne

A letter to Public (1218, July)
A letter to Public (1221, November 2)
A letter to Public (1222, May)