A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Ingeborge, or Ingelburga
INGEBORGE, or INGELBURGA
Wife of Philip Augustus, King of France, was born in 1175, and was the daughter of Waldemar, King of Denmark, and of his wife Sophia, a Russian princess. In 1193, she was selected, from motives of policy, by Philip Augustus, then a widower of twenty-eight, as his wife. She is represented as very beautiful and discreet, but the king, almost from the first interview, conceived a strong aversion to her, and on a frivolous pretext of Ingeborge's just discovered relationship to his first wife, he assembled the nobles of the kingdom at Compiegne, November 5th., 1193, who declared the marriage null and void. Ingeborge was present on this occasion, but having no counsellor, and not understanding the language, knew nothing of the business that the nobles were transacting, till she was informed of their decision by her interpreter, when she burst into tears, and appealed unto Rome. She was taken to an abbey, where she was kept in confinement, and almost without the necessaries of life. The pope, urged by the King of Denmark as well as by Ingeborge, refused to sanction the divorce; but Philip Augustus imprisoned the legates, and married Agnes, daughter of Berthod, Duke of Merania, a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne. Ingeborge appealed in rain to Pope Celestine the Third; but, on his death, he was succeeded by Innocent the Third, who immediately took very severe measures, and in 1199 Philip Augustus was excommunicated, and his kingdom declared under an interdict. All the churches were closed, no baptisms, marriages, or burials were allowed to be performed, the dying were refused the benefit of the priest's services, and all the religious duties were suspended. In those days of superstition, this terrible sentence fell with tenfold weight on the people; and moved by their distress, after having resisted the papal authority for eight months, Philip at length sent Agnes to the royal castle of St. Leger, and allowed Ingeborge to return to him. But she still complained, and justly, that she had only exchanged one prison for another, and was treated with no respect. Meanwhile there was a solemn assembly held at Soissons, to give a final judgment on the demand the king made for a legal separation. The king was surrounded by a crowd of lawyers who vied with each other in urging the justice of his claim. Ingeborge was alone and defenceless; after waiting a few moments for her advocate, the judges were about to pronounce their decision, when a young and unknown lawyer came forward and argued her cause so eloquently, that the judges dared not utter the wished-for sentence. The king, leaving the assembly, went to the abbey where Ingeborge had taken refuge, and taking her behind him, on horseback, left the city without any of his usual train. When this was told to Agnes de Merania, it affected her so deeply that she died a few days after.
Philip Augustus, still more irritated against his queen, confined her in the tower of the castle of Etampes, where no one was allowed to converse with her without his permission; her food was insufficient and coarse, her clothes hung about her in rags, and the servants who attended her were so brutal, that they were accused of wishing to cause her death by their ill-treatment. Philip endeavoured to induce his wife to take the veil, but in vain; and in 1213, after a separation of twenty years, he allowed her to reside under the same roof with him, where the sweetness of her temper, the goodness and purity of her soul, at length conquered his aversion. After the death of Philip, in 1223, Ingeborge was treated with the greatest respect by his successor; while she devoted herself chiefly to her religious duties. She died in 1236.