Margaret II, Countess of Flanders

Margaret II
Margaret II
	Margaret's seal
Countess of Flanders
Reign	1244–1278
Predecessor	Joan
Successor	Guy
Countess of Hainaut
Reign	1244–1280
Predecessor	Joan
Successor	John II
Born	1202
Died	10 February 1280 (aged 77); Ghent
Spouses	Bouchard of Avesnes (m. 1212; ann. 1215); William II of Dampierre (m. 1223; died 1231)
Issue	John I, Count of Hainaut; Baldwin of Avesnes; William II, Count of Flanders; Guy, Count of Flanders; John of Dampierre; Joan of Dampierre; Marie of Dampierre;
House	House of Flanders
Father	Baldwin I, Latin Emperor
Mother	Marie of Champagne

Margaret, often called Margaret of Constantinople (1202^[1] – 10 February 1280), ruled as Countess of Flanders during 1244–1278 and Countess of Hainaut during 1244–1253 and 1257–1280. She was the younger daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, and Marie of Champagne.^[2]

Called the Black (la Noire) due to her scandalous life, the children of both her marriages disputed the inheritance of her counties in the War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault.

^ Welkenhuysen 1975, p. 120.
^ Female Founders: Exercising authority in Thirteenth-century Flanders and Hainaut, Erin L. Jordan, Church History and Religious Culture. Vol. 88, No. 4, Secular Women in the Documents for Late Medieval Religious Women (2008), 538-539.

[FOOTNOTEWelkenhuysen1975120-1] Welkenhuysen 1975, p. 120.

[Jordan538-2] Female Founders: Exercising authority in Thirteenth-century Flanders and Hainaut, Erin L. Jordan, Church History and Religious Culture. Vol. 88, No. 4, Secular Women in the Documents for Late Medieval Religious Women (2008), 538-539.

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