Matilda of Brabant, Countess of Artois

Matilda of Brabant (14 June 1224 – 29 September 1288) was the eldest daughter of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and his first wife Marie of Hohenstaufen.

On 14 June 1237, which was her 13th birthday, Matilda married her first husband Robert I of Artois. Robert was 21 years old and the fifth son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. They had two children:

• Blanche of Artois (1248 – 2 May 1302). Married first Henry I of Navarre and secondly Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster.
• Robert II, Count of Artois (1250 – 11 July 1302).

On 8 February 1250, Robert I was killed while participating in the Seventh Crusade. On 16 January 1255, Matilda married her second husband Guy III, Count of Saint-Pol. He was a younger son of Hugh I, Count of Blois and Mary, Countess of Blois. They had six children:

• Hugh II, Count of Blois (died 1307), Count of Saint Pol and later Count of Blois
• Guy IV, Count of Saint-Pol (died 1317), Count of Saint Pol
• Jacques I of Leuze-Châtillon (died 1302, Battle of the Golden Spurs), first of the lords of Leuze, married Catherine de Condé and had issue; his descendants brought Condé, Carency, etc. into the House of Bourbon.
• Beatrix (died 1304), married John I of Brienne, Count of Eu
• Jeanne, married Guillaume III de Chauvigny, Lord of Châteauroux
• Gertrude, married Florent, Lord of Mechelen (French: Malines).

• "Maude of Brabant (1224–1288)." Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. 2002. HighBeam Research. (October 14, 2012). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591306344.html