Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne

Matilda II of Boulogne

Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne
Queen consort of Portugal and the Algarves
Tenure 4 January 1248 – 1253
Predecessor Mécia Lopes de Haro
Successor Beatrice of Castile
Countess of Boulogne
Tenure 1216–1260
Predecessor Ida and Renaud
Successor Adelaide
Spouse Philippe Hurepel, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvais
Afonso III of Portugal
Issue Joan, Countess of Nevers, Lady de Châtillon-Montjay
Alberic, Count of Clermont
House House of Dammartin (by birth)
House of Capet (by marriage)
House of Burgundy (by marriage)
Father Renaud, Count of Dammartin
Mother Ida, Countess of Boulogne
Born 1202
Died January 1259 (aged 56–57)

Mahaut or Matilda II of Boulogne (also known as Mathilde, Maud de Dammartin; 1202 - January 1259) was Countess of Boulogne in her own right and Queen of Portugal by marriage to King Afonso III from 1248 until their divorce in 1253. She was the daughter of Ida, Countess of Boulogne and her husband and co-ruler Renaud, Count of Dammartin. She succeeded her mother as Countess of Boulogne in 1216. She was the great-granddaughter of Stephen of England.

First marriage

In 1223, Matilda married her first husband, Philippe Hurepel, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvais, a younger, arguably illegitimate son of King Philip II of France. By marriage to her, Philippe became her co-ruler of Boulogne, Mortain, Aumale and Dammartin-en-Goële. Count Philippe revolted against his widowed sister-in-law, Blanche of Castile, when his half-brother King Louis VIII died in 1226.

Second marriage

Count Philippe died in 1235, and Matilda reigned independently for three years. To give the county a male head, she married again in 1238 to Infante Afonso, second in line to the Portuguese throne, younger brother of King Sancho II of Portugal. He became King Afonso III of Portugal on 4 January 1248. At that time he renounced Boulogne. In 1253, King Afonso divorced Matilda, probably due to her inability to provide him with a son owing to her advanced age.

Later life

She had a son and a daughter with Count Philippe, but no surviving issue with Afonso, who desperately needed heirs after ascending to the Portuguese throne. Matilda's then apparent barrenness was the true reason for their divorce. According to reports, Queen Matilda remained in Boulogne and was not allowed to follow her husband to Portugal.

Her son reportedly renounced his rights and went to England, for unknown reasons. Apparently he survived his mother the Countess, but presumably did not leave issue. Matilda's daughter, having married a lord de Châtillon-Montjay, predeceased her, and presumably left no surviving issue.

Aftermath

After Matilda II, the county of Boulogne passed to Adelaide of Brabant, Matilda's cousin, daughter of another Matilda of Boulogne (Matilda II's aunt, wife of Henry I, Duke of Brabant).

The then-widow Adelaide's husband had been William X, Count of Auvergne. Their son Robert of Auvergne succeeded also his mother in Boulogne and already in her lifetime acted as co-ruler. Their heirs continued to rule Auvergne and Boulogne together. The ultimate heiress was Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, but a couple of decades before her, the then Count of Auvergne, her great-grandfather, had sold Boulogne to the French throne, keeping just Auvergne.

Ancestry


Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matilda of Boulogne (1260).
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Ida and Renaud		 Countess of Boulogne
1216 – c. 1260
with Philip (1223-35)
Alphonse (1238-48) 		Succeeded by
Adelaide
Portuguese royalty
Preceded by
Mécia Lopes de Haro		 Queen consort of Portugal
4 January 1248 – 1253 		Succeeded by
Beatrice of Castile