Ida, Countess of Boulogne, Queen of England

[kasumigenx]

On 1186, after learning that Ida, Countess of Boulogne is widowed twice, Henry II would want his youngest son to marry Ida, Countess of Boulogne in order to give England closer ties with the county of Boulogne, the marriage would have angered the King of France, Philip II but the King of France would accept the marriage as it would cause John to be more closer to the French as Richard is no longer interested in marrying Alix, Countess of Vexin and the French would convince to Pope to accept the marriage of John to Ida.

The first decades of the marriage between Ida and her husband John before her husband became the King of England were happy as the two would have five children.

Children of Ida of Boulogne and John of England
Henry 1187
Richard b. 1189
Joan b. 1190
Ida b. 1194
Eleanor b. 1198
Marie b. 1200

 

[kasumigenx]

On 1189, Richard I of England would decide to marry Berengaria of Navarre who he married in 1191 who would not give him any issue, and he in love with his liege, Philip II which would cost the welfare of his own domains and he would decide initially that his own heir would be his nephew, Arthur but he would change his mind a lot between John and Arthur according to scholars until he finally decided to give his domains to John in his death bed, it is him that would make Philip II be more happy with the marriage of Ida of Boulogne to John of England, and it is him that also caused the deadly clash between Arthur and John years after his death.

Richard I would decide against marrying his niece, Matilda of Saxony in 1189 to any of the local princes in his domains and instead decided to wait for a better opportunity for his niece and instead had his other niece, Isabella of Blois married to Geoffrey of Perche on the insistence of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

On the death of Philip II’s wife, Isabella, Count of Artois, he would offer his niece, Matilda of Saxony as his second wife which he would readily accept, she is beautiful and has a good pedigree and does not have direct affinity issues due to Eleanor of Aquitaine and the two would wed in 1191 just before the crusade, Matilda of Saxony would provide Philip II of two children, namely, Marie(1196) and Philippe(1200) which would mean that their marriage would be happy in the long run and Matilda would die in 1210 but she would be able to witness the marriage between Joan of England and Louis VIII and the treaty of Le Goulet.

 

[kasumigenx]

On 1199, Richard I of England died and willed his domains to his brother John instead of his more senior relative, Arthur I of Brittany, Constance of Brittany was enraged of this development and she was already excommunicated due to her objection to the pope making Brittany under Tours ecclesiastically.

The first thing that King John did was to make the treaty of Le Goulet and have his daughter, Joanna married to Prince Louis of France and resolve the issues of Norman Vexin completely, after that he had his son Richard married to Isabella of Angouleme and had his niece, Matilda of Brittany marry Peter II of Aragon to resolve the issue of the borders of Gascony, he also desired a marriage between his niece, Eleanor of Brittany and his son, Henry, but he would wait until his nephew, Arthur and niece Eleanor herself would accept it.

The marriage of Richard of England and Isabella of Angouleme and the refusal of summons would anger Philip II of France and the Lusignans which would cause the French to confiscate Normandy from John of England excluding Aumale which is under John’s wife, the confiscation of Normandy would cause the relations of Joan of England with Philip II to be quite hostile as well until 1205 when she would start to give her husband a child.

 

[kasumigenx]

Following the ratification of the Treaty of Le Goulet, Arthur, offended by Philip, sought refuge with his uncle John. Initially treated kindly, Arthur later grew suspicious and returned to Angers. An undisclosed source mentioned that in April 1202, Arthur was once again engaged, this time to Marie of France, the daughter of Philip II and Matilda of Saxony.

Eleanor of Brittany was engaged with her cousin Henry after the betrayal of Philip II in favor of King John.

Upon his return to France, supported by Philip II, Arthur initiated a campaign in Normandy against John in 1202. Poitou rose in support of Arthur, leading to a revolt. The Duke of Brittany besieged Eleanor of Aquitaine, John's mother, in the Château de Mirebeau. On July 31, 1202, John surprised Arthur by marching on Mirebeau. Subsequently, on August 1, 1202, Arthur was captured by John's barons and confined in the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Normandy.

Hubert de Burgh, under whose guard Arthur resided at the Chateau de Falaise, faced a harrowing decision. According to the contemporary chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall, John issued a command for two servants to blind and castrate the duke. However, de Burgh, unable to allow such mutilation, chose an alternative course of action. Fearing John's wrath, de Burgh discreetly spread word that Arthur had succumbed to natural causes. This announcement incited anger in Brittany, fueling suspicions of Arthur's potential murder.

In the subsequent year, Arthur was transferred to Rouen, entrusted to the care of William de Braose. His disappearance in April 1203 coincided with a backdrop of several triumphant military successes by Philip II of France against King John.

Eleanor of Brittany would establish her rule in Brittany and would wait before she would marry Henry of England and she is convinced that her brother’s foolishness is what killed her brother, she would wait for the situation with her stepfather to be stable before she would marry to Henry of England.

Meanwhile in France, Philip II would petition the Pope to annul the marriage of Joan of England with Prince Louis in 1203 but this would not happen as King John would message the Pope about the intentions of Philip II to marry Eleanor of Brittany to his son after the annulment which would cause the annulment to not happen and Eleanor of Brittany would marry Prince Henry of England in the end of 1203, another supporter of Joan of England is Matilda of Saxony who petitioned Philip II about her, due to the consistent support of Matilda of Saxony to Joan of England, she would name her first child, a daughter born in 1206 as Matilde of France.

They knew that a marriage between Eleanor of Brittany and Louis of France would wipe out the Plantagenet rule in Normandy and Anjou but as Eleanor of Aquitaine is in John’s side he would inherit Aquitaine but he and his mother would choose Richard, his second son as the heir to Aquitaine but that would wait until her death in 1204 and after that, Richard and his wife, Isabel would go to rule Aquitaine.

 

[kasumigenx]

On 1208, Philip of Swabia would negotiate a marriage between Frederick I of Sicily and Ida of England, sending message to King John of England, the marriage would include the withdrawal of support of the English King to Otto III, his own rival.

The planned marriage of Ida to Frederick would seem happy to John but it would mean goodbye to his support to his nephew, Otto III but he would decide to accept the marriage, as he had seen its own merits and the future Hohenstauffen rulers of Sicily would be related to the English Kings if Ida married Frederick I of Sicily.

Ida would arrive in Rome in the end of 1208 where she would marry Frederick I of Sicily, she was quite shocked that Frederick I of Sicily knew French just like her once she had arrived and she expected that she would need to know Latin and German in Rome but it was not as she had expected to happen.