Ingeborg of Denmark, Queen of France
| Ingeborg of Denmark | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Queen consort of France | |
| Tenure | 1193 & 1200-1223 |
| Born | 1175 |
| Died | 29 July 1236 (aged 60–61) priory of Saint-Jean-de-l’Ile |
| Burial | church of Saint-Jean-de-l’Ile |
| Spouse | Philip II of France |
| House | House of Estridsen |
| Father | Valdemar I of Denmark |
| Mother | Sofia of Minsk |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Ingeborg of Denmark (also known as Isambour, Ingeburge, Ingelburge, Ingelborg, or Isemburge) (1175 – 29 July 1236) was a French queen. She was a daughter of Valdemar I of Denmark and Sofia of Minsk, and wife of Philip II of France.
Ingeborg was married to Philip II Augustus of France on 15 August 1193 after the death of Philip's first wife Isabelle of Hainaut (d. 1190). Her marriage brought a large dowry from her brother Knut VI, king of Denmark.Stephen of Tournai described her as "very kind, young of age but old of wisdom." At the marriage, she was renamed Isambour.
On the day after his marriage to Ingeborg, King Philip changed his mind, and attempted to send her back to Denmark. Outraged, Ingeborg fled to a convent in Soissons, from where she protested to Pope Celestine III.
Three months after the wedding, Philip summoned an ecclesiastical council in Compiègne and had it draw a false family tree to show that he and Ingeborg would have been related through Philip's first wife. Contemporary Canon law stated that a man and a woman could not marry if they shared an ancestor within the last seven generations. The council therefore declared the marriage void.
Ingeborg protested again and the Danes sent a delegation to meet Pope Celestine. They convinced him that the spurious family tree was false but the pope merely declared the annulment invalid and prohibited Philip from marrying again. Philip ignored the Pope's verdict.
Ingeborg spent the next 20 years in virtual imprisonment in various French castles. In one stage she spent more than a decade in the castle of Étampes southwest of Paris. Her brother Knud VI and his advisers continually worked against the annulment. Contemporary sources also indicate that many of Philip's advisers in France supported Ingeborg.
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