Philippa of Champagne

Philippa of Champagne, Lady of Ramerupt and of Venizy was the third daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Henry II, Count of Champagne. She was the wife of Erard de BrienneRamerupt who encouraged her in 1216 to claim the county of Champagne which belonged to her cousin Theobald IV, who was still a minor. This provoked the conflict with Theobalds mother, the Regent, Blanche of Navarre, which erupted into open warfare, and came to be known as the Champagne War of Succession. Blanches son Theobald, who had the support of King Philip II of France, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eudes III of Burgundy, eventually emerged the victor. Philippa renounced her claim in April 1222, but Theobald was constrained to pay Erard and Philippa a large monetary settlement for his rights to the county.

Philippa was born in about 1197 in the Holy Land, the youngest daughter of Henry II, Count of Champagne and Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem. Her paternal grandparents were Count Henry I of Champagne and Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her maternal grandparents were King Amalric I of Jerusalem and Maria Comnena. She had two older sisters, Marguerite of Champagne and Alice of Champagne, who was the wife of King Hugh I of Cyprus and by whom she had issue. Philippa had an older halfsister Maria of Montferrat from her mothers second marriage to Conrad of Montferrat. In the year of Philippas birth her father was killed after falling from a first floor window in Acre. The county of Champagne passed to his brother Theobald III. Following his death, Philippas mother married her fourth husband, King Amalric II of Jerusalem. The marriage produced three halfsiblings for Philippa Sybilla, Melisende, and Almaric. In 1205, her mothe

Source: Wikipedia