OF SIX MEDIAEVAL WOMEN 



joys and sorrows, real by very reason of this 

 union of contrasts, a woman trying to grapple 

 with difficulties forced upon her by her position, 

 and by an age when intrigue and cunning were 

 as freely resorted to, and as deftly handled, as 

 the sword and the lance. 



Mahaut was the daughter of Robert the 

 Second, Count of Artois, a valiant and chivalrous 

 man, and of Amicie de Courtenay, of whom it 

 was said that she was esteemed whilst she lived, 

 and mourned of all when she died. Her brother, 

 Philip, predeceased his father, leaving one son, 

 Robert. In accordance with local custom, 

 Mahaut, on the death of her father, inherited 

 Artois, but her nephew, Robert, on attaining 

 his majority at the age of fourteen, set up a 

 counter-claim. This family feud was a constant 

 source of trouble and vexation to her, since 

 Robert again and again returned to the attack, 

 not only appealing to the king to consider his 

 cause, and fabricating spurious documents as a 

 means of gaining his end, but also employing 

 unscrupulous agents to spread false charges 

 against her. He further took advantage of the 

 growing discontent amongst the nobles, who 

 were gradually realising that their power was 

 waning, to attach them to his cause, and to 

 induce them to join him in harassing Mahaut 

 by making raids upon her lands and her 

 castles. She, however, through her extra- 

 ordinary personality, was able to triumph over 

 all this opposition, which, far from marring, 



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