Mahaut or Matilda II of Boulogne (also known as ''Mathilde'', ''Maud de Dammartin''; 1202 – January 1259) was

Countess of Boulogne Count of Boulogne was a historical title in the Kingdom of France. The city of Boulogne-sur-Mer became the centre of the County of Boulogne during the ninth century. Little is known of the early counts, but the first holder of the title is rec ...

in her own right and

Queen of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Thro ...

by marriage to King Afonso III from 1248 until their divorce in 1253. She was the daughter of

Ida, Countess of Boulogne Ida of Boulogne (c. 1160 – 1216) was suo jure Countess of Boulogne from 1173 until her death. Life Ida was the elder daughter of Matthew of Alsace and Marie I, Countess of Boulogne. Her maternal grandparents were King Stephen of England ...

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

King Stephen of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 un ...

First marriage

In 1223, Matilda married her first husband,

Philippe Hurepel Philip I of Boulogne (Philip Hurepel) (1200–1235) was a French prince, Counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis in his own right, and Count of Boulogne, Count of Mortain, Mortain, Count of Aumale, Aumale, and Dammartin-en ...

, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvais, a younger, arguably illegitimate son of King

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

. 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 1234, 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 Sancho II (; 8 September 1207 – 4 January 1248), nicknamed Afonso the Cowled or Afonso the Capuched (), alternatively, Afonso the Pious (), was King of Portugal from 1223 to 1248. Sancho was born in Coimbra, the eldest son of Afonso II of ...

. He became King

Afonso III of Portugal Afonso IIIrare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 5 May 121016 February 1279), ca ...

on 4 January 1248. At that time he renounced Boulogne. In 1258, Matilda charged Afonso with bigamy, following his marriage to Beatrice of Castile. Pope Alexander in response, imposed interdict upon any place the couple stayed. At the time of Matilda's death, Afonso and Beatriz were still together, despite the Pope's protests.

Later life

She had a son and a daughter with Count Philippe, but no surviving issue with Afonso. Matilda's then apparent

barrenness In biology, infertility is the inability of a male and female organism to reproduce. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy organism that has reached sexual maturity, so children who have not undergone puberty, which is the body's star ...

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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Matilda's daughter, having married a lord de Châtillon-Montjay, predeceased her, and presumably left no surviving issue. 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. She was probably buried at the Cistercian Abbey of Gomerfontaine (nowadays in the French commune of

Trie-la-Ville Trie-la-Ville () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of France, department of France. Th ...

, in the

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

department).

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulogne, Matilda II, Countess of 1202 births 1259 deaths Queens consort of Portugal Counts of Boulogne

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...

Counts of Aumale

Counts of Mortain 13th-century queens consort 13th-century countesses consort 13th-century countesses regnant 13th-century French women 13th-century Portuguese women