by Carrie Eckles

Created on: June 19, 2009   Last Updated: June 21, 2009

Philippa of Hainault was born on June 24, 1314 to William I, Count of Hainault and Jeanne of Valois. Her complex genealogy included royal lineages of England, France, Hungary, and Kiev; she is credited as being the first person responsible for bringing Asian blood into the English royal family through her ancestor Kuthen, Khan of the Cumens.

Her childhood was spent in her father's court, which was then situated in Flanders. Her childhood was presumably filled with education and the standard upbringing expected for a girl of her social status. She was married to Edward III of England a few months before her fourteenth birthday in January of 1428. Roughly a year later, at the age of fifteen, she gave birth to their first child, Edward, who would be known to history as "The Black Prince".

Philippa was the opposite side of her husband's coin. Where he was militant and firm, she was soothing and gentle. In fact, it's said that she was the one who convinced him not to execute men he'd captured while on campaign on the continent, preserving their lives and winning the respect of the people of the area. Furthermore, she tolerated her husband's raucous infidelity with mild gentility.

The English people, as a whole, liked Philippa. Her plain features won their regard for her as a maternal person, who was gentle and down-to-earth. Her common appeal largely had to do with the fact that she declined taking her foreign retinue with her to England, instead taking domestic ladies for her company - a move which was rare in her time.

Philippa gave birth to a total of fourteen children, though roughly half survived infancy. Some daughters ended up succumbing to the plague. Her son Edward, the Black Prince, would go on to father the future king of England. One of her middle sons, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, would follow his father's example of extramarital liaisons and alienate his issue from the line of succession until his great-great-grandson, Henry VII, founded the Tudor dynasty over a century later.

Philippa was the patroness Jean Froissart. Upon Philippa's death, Froissart put his grief to pen, lamenting her. Robert Eglesfield, Philippa's chaplain, founded Queen's College at Oxford in her honor.

Philippa died on August 15, 1369. It's uncertain what the cause of death was, though it was most likely the result of the Black Plague, which was still ravaging Europe at the time. To this day, she's remembered for her faithfulness to a cheating husband, and her grass-roots nature.

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