A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Philippa of Hainault
PHILIPPA OF HAINAULT, Queen of England.
Was betrothed to Edward (when prince of Wales and aged 14) in 1325, through the mediation of Isabella, his mother, who sojourned for a short time at the court of the earl of Hainault, when preparing to pass over into England with her son (both of whom had been declared traitors) and force by hostile measures, the king to give up the Spencers, his worthless favourites. After his death and the coronation of Edward III. certain ambassadors were sent to demand the lady Philippa, who was conveyed over to England in great state, and on the day of the Conversion of St. Paul, the marriage and coronation of the queen was solemnized, the rejoicings, &c. lasted three weeks.
In 1346, when, after the victorious battle of Cressy, Edward lay before Calais, David Bruce, king of Scotland, invaded the northern counties of England, with a great army, and carried his ravages as far as Durham. He was there met by queen Philippa, at the head of a body of twelve thousand men, which she committed to the command of lord Percy. A fierce engagement ensued; and the Scots were broken, and chased off the field with great slaughter. Fifteen thousand were slain, amongst whom were the chancellor and earl marshal. The king himself was taken prisoner, together with many of his principal nobility.
As soon as Philippa had secured her royal captive, she crossed the sea at Dover, and was received in the English camp, before Calais, with all the eclat due to her rank, her merit, and her success. This was the age of chivalry and gallantry. Edward's courtiers excelled in these accomplishments no less than in policy and war; and the extraordinary qualities of the women of those times, the necessary consequence of respectful admiration, form the best apology for the superstitious devotion which was then paid to the fair sex.
Whether the story of her interceding for the prisoners of Calais, doomed to death by Edward, which is with good grounds doubted by Gifford, be true, we cannot determine; but it appears, that Edward was a faithful and affectionate husband, and undertook nothing without her advice; and that Phillippa always conducted herself with wisdom and generosity.
She founded Queen's College, at Oxford, about 1360.