Tenure 1196–1200 Name Agnes Merania Religion Roman Catholicism | House House of Andechs Siblings Gertrude of Merania | |
Issue Philip I, Count of BoulogneMarie of France, Duchess of Brabant Children Philip I, Count of Boulogne, Marie of France, Duchess of Brabant Parents Agnes of Rochlitz, Berthold, Duke of Merania Similar People Philip II of France, Ingeborg of Denmark - Queen of, Isabella of Hainault, Adela of Champagne, Philip I - Count of Boulogne | ||
Agnes Maria of Andechs-Merania (died 1201) was a Queen of France. She is called Marie by some of the French chroniclers.
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Biography
Agnes Maria was the daughter of Berthold, Duke of Merania, who was Count of Andechs, a castle and territory near Ammersee, Bavaria. Her mother was Agnes of Rochlitz.
In June 1196 Agnes married Philip II of France, who had repudiated his second wife Ingeborg of Denmark in 1193. Pope Innocent III espoused the cause of Ingeborg; but Philip did not submit until 1200, when, nine months after interdict had been added to excommunication, he consented to a separation from Agnes.
Agnes died broken-hearted in July of the next year, at the castle of Poissy, and was buried in the Convent of St Corentin, near Nantes.
Family
Agnes and Philip had two children: Philip I, Count of Boulogne and Mary, were legitimized by the Pope in 1201 at the request of the King. Little is known of the personality of Agnes, beyond the remarkable influence which she seems to have exercised over Philip.
Artistic representation
She has been made the heroine of a tragedy by François Ponsard, Agnès de Méranie, and of an opera by Vincenzo Bellini, La straniera.