biography
| name: |
Jacqueline of Bavaria
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1401–36)
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| biography:
| Countess of Holland, Zeeland and Hainault, born in Quesnoy, the only child of Count William VI of Holland and Margaret of Burgundy. She married (1) John of Touraine, crown prince of France (d.1417) and (2) John IV of Brabant, her cousin, with papal dispensation. On the death of her father in 1417 her uncle, John VI of Bavaria, supported by the Kabeljauwen and the Emperor Sigismund, claimed she should recognize him as her guardian. Sigismund persuaded the pope to withdraw his dispensation and gave Jacqueline's heritage to John of Bavaria. In 1419 the conflict was settled by Philip the Good. By the Treaty of Woudrichem John of Bavaria would inherit the sovereignty of a substantial part of South Holland, and would share the government of Holland, Zeeland, and Hainault for five years with John of Brabant in return for a money payment, and succeed Jacqueline if she died childless. John of Brabant could not pay up, and in 1420 pawned Holland and Zeeland for 12 years to John of Bavaria. Jacqueline objected and declared her marriage invalid, fled to England, and in 1422 married Humphrey of Gloucester (who had previously supported her against John IV and Philip the Good). Humphrey left her for his mistress, and she surrendered to Philip who imprisoned her in Ghent. John of Bavaria died and left his rights in The Netherlands to Philip, but John of Brabant still claimed Holland and Zeeland. He was opposed by the Hoeken, upon which he appointed Philip as steward of Holland and Zeeland. Jacqueline escaped and took up arms successfully for three years, but after Philip had defeated an English army coming to support her, she was forced to agree to the Truce of Delft in 1428. In 1432 she married, for the fourth time, Frank van Borsele, breaching the terms of the Truce, and had to relinquish her rights, except for a few minor lordships, to Philip. This was the beginning of the period of Burgundian rule over Holland, Zeeland and Hainault, and consequently of the Habsburgs, Austrian and Spanish. |
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