Louis II, Count of Flanders | |
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Contemporary portrait
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Spouse(s) | Margaret of Brabant |
Issue | |
Noble family | House of Dampierre |
Father | Louis I of Flanders |
Mother | Margaret I of Burgundy |
Born |
Male Castle, Flanders, France |
25 October 1330
Died | 30 January 1384 Lille, Flanders |
(aged 53)
Louis II of Flanders (Dutch: Lodewijk van Male; French: Louis II de Flandre) (25 October 1330, Male – 30 January 1384, Lille), also known as Louis of Male, a member of the House of Dampierre, was Count of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel from 1346 as well as Count of Artois and Burgundy from 1382 until his death.
The son of Louis I of Flanders and Margaret I of Burgundy, daughter of king Philip V of France, he was baptised by Bishop Pierre Roger of Arras, the later Pope Clement VI. His father arranged his marriage with Margaret of Brabant, daughter of Duke John III, in the course of the rapprochement to the Imperial Duchy of Brabant.
When his father was killed at the Battle of Crécy against the troops of King Edward III of England in 1346, he inherited the French counties of Flanders, Nevers, and Rethel (as Louis III). In the Anglo-French conflict, the Flanders guilds, depending on the English wool trade, forced Louis to recognize King Edward III as his overlord and arranged an engagement to the daughter of the English king, Isabella. Louis managed to avoid this by fleeing to the court of King Philip VI of France. In 1347 he married Margaret of Brabant, which sparked a revolt in Ghent. Nevertheless, while the Black Death devastated the county and after Louis came to terms with the English king and in 1349 he could return to Flanders to succeed his father.