Matilda of Hainaut was the Princess of Achaea

Princess of Achaea

This is a list of the princess consorts of Achaea, the consorts of the Princes of Achaea.The Principality of Achaea had three princesses by their own rights: Isabella, Matilda, and Joan. Their husbands were not consorts...

 from 1313 to 1318.

From 1307, when Philip of Savoy relinquished his claim, to 1312, when Isabella of Villehardouin

Isabella of Villehardouin

Isabella of Villehardouin was the elder daughter of William II of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, and of his second wife Anna, the third daughter of Michael II Komnenos Doukas, the despot of Epiros....

 died, Achaea was disputed between two claimants: Isabella and Philip I of Taranto

Philip I of Taranto

Philip I of Taranto : of the Angevin house, was titular Emperor of Constantinople , despot of Epirus, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto, and Lord of Durazzo....

. In 1313, Philip granted it to Matilda, daughter of Isabella and her first husband Florent of Hainaut

Florent of Hainaut

Florent of Hainaut was Prince of Achaea from 1289 to his death, in right of his wife, Isabella of Villehardouin. He was the son of John I of Avesnes and Adelaide of Holland...

. On Isabella's death, however, Ferdinand of Majorca

Ferdinand of Majorca

Ferdinand of Majorca , Infante of Majorca, was the third son of James II of Majorca, Viscount of Aumelas and Lord of Frontignan....

 laid claim to the principality in right of his wife, Isabella of Sabran, the daughter of Isabella's younger sister Margaret of Villehardouin.

In 1299, while still a child, she had been married to Guy II de la Roche

Guy II de la Roche

Guy II de la Roche was the Duke of Athens from 1287, the last duke of his family. He succeeded as a minor on the death of his father, William I, at a time when the duchy of Athens had exceeded the Principality of Achaea in wealth, power, and importance.Guy was originally under the tutorship and...

, Duke of Athens. Widowed in 1308, she remarried to Louis of Burgundy

Louis of Burgundy

Louis of Burgundy , Prince of Achaea and titular King of Thessalonica, was a younger son of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy and Agnes of France....

 (1313), who held the titular dignity of the long-extinct Kingdom of Thessalonica

Kingdom of Thessalonica

The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands.- Background :...

. The marriage was intended to unite the Angevin and Burgundian houses. So was the betrothal of the Empress Catherine II

Catherine II of Valois, Princess of Achaea

Catherine of Valois was titular Empress of Constantinople from 1308 to her death as Catherine II, Princess consort of Achaea from 1332 to 1341, and Governor of Cephalonia from 1341 to her death.-Life:...

 to Hugh V of Burgundy, Louis's elder brother. However, Charles of Valois

Charles of Valois

Charles of Valois was the fourth son of Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon. His mother was a daughter of James I of Aragon and Yolande of Hungary. He was a member of the House of Capet and founded the House of Valois...

, Catherine's father, nixed the marriage and instead married her to Philip of Taranto. It was in an effort to compensate the Burgundians that Philip renounced his claim to Achaea in favour of Matilda and gave her hand to Louis.

The new couple quickly left for Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 to take possession of their fief, which was then occupied by their rival Ferdinand. At the Battle of Manolada

Battle of Manolada

The Battle of Manolada was fought on July 5, 1316 at Manolada, on the plains of Elis in the Peloponnese. The two leaders were Louis of Burgundy and the Infante Ferdinand of Majorca, both of whom claimed the Principality of Achaea in right of their wives...

 on 5 July 1316, Ferdinand was vanquished and killed and Louis took control of the Elis

Elis

Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

. However, he was poisoned soon after, leaving a twice-widowed 23-year-old in charge of the Morea

Morea

The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...

. It was soon disputed by the varying claimants and Matilda was solidly dispossessed of her fief by 1318, in which year John, Duke of Durazzo

John, Duke of Durazzo

John of Gravina , Count of Gravina 1315–1336, Duke of Durazzo 1332–1336 and ruler of the Kingdom of Albania , was a younger son of Charles II of Naples and Maria of Hungary....

, an Angevin, abducted the princess and forced her to marry him. She did not give him children, however, and he repudiated her in 1321. Matilda married yet again to Hugh de La Palice and retired to Aversa

Aversa

Aversa is a town and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania southern Italy, about 15 kilometres north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the agro aversano, producing wine and cheese...

, where she died in 1331.