Margaret I (French: Marguerite; 1310 – 9 May 1382) was a Capetian princess who ruled as Countess of Burgundy and Artois from 1361 until her death. She was also countess of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel by marriage to Louis I of Flanders, and regent of Flanders during the minority of her son, Louis II, in 1346.
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Family
Margaret was born in 1310, the second daughter of Countess Joan II of Burgundy and Philip, Count of Poitiers. Her father ascended the French throne in 1316 as Philip V of France. In 1320, Margaret married Count Louis I of Flanders. Her husband was dependent on her father in suppressing the rebellion of Nicolaas Zannekin. King Philip died in 1322, and the crown was inherited by her uncle, King Charles IV.
Margaret's mother, Joan II, succeeded her own mother, Mahaut, as countess of Artois in 1329. Margaret's elder sister, Joan III, inherited the counties of Artois and Burgundy when their mother died in 1330.
Rule
Margaret's husband was killed in the Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346. He and Margaret had one son, Count Louis II of Flanders, who succeeded his father and for whom she acted as a regent in the beginning of his reign.
In 1357, Margaret's granddaughter, Margaret, then seven years old, was married to Duke Philip I of Burgundy, grandson and heir of Margaret's sister. They were childless and, upon his death in 1361, the elder Margaret succeeded to the comital thrones of Artois and Burgundy.