by Donna Cosmato

Created on: June 28, 2009

Only in fairy tales do beautiful princesses marry handsome princes and live happily ever after. Jacqueline, princess of Bavaria, is proof being a princess is more than parties, feasting, and frolic. She married four times in hopes of securing protection and financial support for her kingdom, but never succeeded.

The heroic princess of Hainaut defended her royal lands and titles for 19 years. As reigning Countess of Hainaut, she was the last European royal in the Wittelsbach line, whose reign ended when Jacqueline was forced to relinquish her holdings to the Duchy of Burgundy. The only child of William VI and Margaret of Burgundy, she was

married at 14 and led troops to battle at 16.

Jacqueline became Countess of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland on the death of her father. She held the sovereignty from 1417 to 1432; her life was spent fighting for the kingdom of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland.

Her father tried to ensure Jacqueline's claim to the throne before he died by demanding vows of allegiance from his nobles, but after his death many nobles refused to honor their oaths. Her uncle, John III, Bishop of Liege, opposed her succession and was her enemy for years. Although female succession was an accepted event in medieval times, John III craved Jacqueline's land, birthright, and sovereignty to increase his own assets as Bishop of Liege.

At 14, she wed John Dauphin of France (heir to the throne) to secure the union of France and the Netherlands. Her aristocratic title from 1415 to 1417 was Dauphine of France. This politically beneficial partnership should have guaranteed her security as princess, but John died in 1417, leaving her in a precarious situation.

Her second marriage occurred in 1418 - to her cousin John IV, Duke of Brabant. Her expectation that John IV would give immunity from the schemes of John III proved erroneous. John IV was powerless - he even mortgaged her hereditary lands to John III, and later to Philip the Good.

Overwhelmed by his betrayal, Jacqueline left him in 1420 and found security in England under King Henry IV. While in England, she fell in love with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and regent to the English throne. Their marriage was opposed by King Henry IV for political reasons, but the king's death eliminated that obstacle and they married.

In 1425, Humphrey became weary of the constant squabbling for his wife's meager possessions and returned to England and his role as regent to Henry V. Humphrey had an affair, and in 1428 Pope Martin V annulled his marriage to Jacqueline, leaving him free to marry his mistress.

The long battle for control of the Hainaut, Holland, and Zealand counties was settled on July 3, 1428, when the Reconciliation of Delft was ratified by Jacqueline and Philip the Good. Jacqueline retained her title, lands, and an income from her inheritance. Philip the Good gained authority, legal succession to the throne, and the concession that Jacqueline would never marry without obtaining permission from him, her mother, and the counties of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland. It was a major defeat for the brave Bavarian princess.

In 1432, Philip the Good discovered Jacqueline had violated the Reconciliation of Delft by covertly marrying Francis, Lord of Borselen. Her husband was imprisoned and she was forced to abdicate her lands as his ransom. Stripped of her royal inheritance, Philip the Good allowed her to keep the title Duchess of Bavaria, and Countess of Oostervant. Jacqueline and Francis were legally wed in 1434, and lived together happily until Jacqueline's death in 1436; though the majority of her life was filled with obstacles and war, Jacqueline did enjoy a few precious years of princess-like peace and joy.

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