Robert I, Count of Artois

Robert I (25 September 1216 – 8 February 1250), called the Good, was the first Count of Artois. He was the fifth (and second surviving) son of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile.[1]

Robert I
Count of Artois
Reign1237 - 1250
SuccessorRobert II
Born25 September 1216
Died8 February 1250(1250-02-08) (aged 33)
SpouseMatilda of Brabant
IssueBlanche, Queen of Navarre
Robert II of Artois
HouseCapet
FatherLouis VIII of France
MotherBlanche of Castile

Life

He received Artois as an appanage, in accordance with the will of his father (died 1226) on attaining his majority in 1237 (aged twenty-one).[2] In 1240 Pope Gregory IX, in conflict with Emperor Frederick II, offered to crown Robert as emperor in opposition to Frederick, but the French count refused to pretend to such a title.

Coat of Arms of Robert of Artois

Marriage

On 14 June 1237 Robert married Matilda, daughter of Henry II of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen.[3]

They had two children:

Death

While participating in the Seventh Crusade, Robert died while leading a reckless attack on Al Mansurah, without the knowledge of his brother King Louis IX.[6] After fording a river, he and a group of Knights Templars charged a Mamluk outpost, during which the Mamluk commander, Fakhr-ad-Din Yusuf, was killed.[6] Emboldened by his success, Robert, the Templar knights, and a contingent of English troops charged into the town and became trapped in the narrow streets.[6] According to Jean de Joinville, Robert defended himself for some time in a house there, but was at last overpowered and killed.

References
  1. Dunbabin 2014, p. 244.
  2. Wood 1966, p. 23.
  3. Nieus 2005, p. 166, 176.
  4. Gee 2002, p. 141.
  5. Nieus 2005, p. 166.
  6. Strayer 1969, p. 499-501.

Sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert I of Artois.
  • Dunbabin, Jean (2014). Charles I of Anjou: Power, Kingship and State-Making in Thirteenth-Century. Routledge.
  • Gee, Loveday Lewes (2002). Women, art, and patronage from Henry III to Edward III, 1216-1377. The Boydell Press.
  • Nieus, Jean-François (2005). Un pouvoir comtal entre Flandre et France: Saint-Pol, 1000-1300 (in French). De Boeck & Larcier.
  • Strayer, Joseph R. (1969). "Crusades of Louis IX". In Setton, Kenneth M. (ed.). A History of the Crusades. Vol. II. University of Wisconsin.
  • Wood, Charles T. (1966). The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy. Harvard University Press.
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