Louis I, Count of Flanders

Template:Short description Template:Infobox nobility Louis I (Template:Circa – 26 August 1346, ruled 1322–1346) was Count of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel.

Life

He was the son of Louis I, Count of Nevers, and Joan, Countess of Rethel, and grandson of Robert III of Flanders.Template:Sfn He succeeded his father as count of Nevers and his grandfather as count of Flanders in 1322.

In July 1320 Louis married Margaret, second daughter of King Philip V of France and Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, who would later inherit her mother's counties of Burgundy and Artois in 1361.Template:Sfn This marriage alliance made him break with the anti-French policy of his grandfather Robert III and great-grandfather Guy I.Template:Sfn

Count of Flanders

Louis's pro-French policies and excessive taxations caused an uprising in 1323. Beginning as a series of scattered rural riots, the peasant insurrection escalated into a full-scale rebellion that dominated public affairs in Flanders for nearly five years until 1328. The rebels, led by Nicolaas Zannekin, captured the towns of Nieuwpoort, Veurne, Ypres and Kortrijk. In Kortrijk, Zannekin was able to capture Louis himself.Template:Sfn On 30 November 1325 in the church of St. Basil, Louis swore amnesty to the rebels, investigation of John of Namur's actions as regent, and approval of all actions take by regent Robert of Cassel.Template:Sfn The following day, Louis was released and fled to Paris.Template:Sfn

On 26 April 1326, the King Charles IV of France, intervened and the Peace of Arques was sealed.Template:Sfn This treaty presented the King of France as the aggrieved party, leaving Louis as a bystander.Template:Sfn The treaty, not supported by rebel districts in Flanders, did not last long, and soon hostilities erupted again.Template:Sfn Philip VI of France was forced to come to Louis's aid while Zannekin and his adherents were decisively defeated by the French royal army in the Battle of Cassel.Template:Sfn Control of Flanders was returned to Louis, with a warning from Philip that if Louis needed to be rescued again, Flanders would be incorporated into the kingdom of France.Template:Sfn

When the Hundred Years War started, Louis remained steadfast in his French policy, even with the county being economically dependent on England.Template:Sfn His actions resulted in a boycott of the wool trade imposed by King Edward III of England,Template:Sfn which in turn sparked a new insurrection in 1337 under Jacob van Artevelde.Template:Sfn In 1339 the count had to flee his lands, never being able to return.Template:Sfn Louis was killed at the Battle of Crécy in 1346.Template:Sfn

Family

Louis and Margaret had:

• Louis II of Flanders (1330–1384),Template:Sfn who succeeded him.

He also had a natural son Guy de Rickenbourg.