Clementia of Hungary - Biography

Biography

Clémence of Hungary was the daughter of Charles Martel of Anjou, titular King of Hungary, and Clementia of Habsburg, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I. Both of Clémence's parents died during her early childhood, and Mary of Hungary, Clementia's grandmother, raised her. The family claimed Hungary through Mary of Hungary, and so although Clémence was born and grew up in Naples, she used the title Clémence of Hungary.

Clémence is best known for the remarkable inventory that was made of her belongings. The ninety-nine-page document in French describes her works of art and material culture in great detail. We learn about her many crown jewels, her reliquaries, the textiles that decorated her domestic space and her chapel, the silver sculptures she owned, and even her clothing. More than forty manuscripts she held allow us to see what the queen read. The inventory is also valuable because we learn where she acquired many of her objects and who received them after her death. We can see the movement of her works of art to members of all classes.

When Philip IV of France died, his eldest son, Louis I of Navarre, became King of France. Louis' wife Margaret had been locked up in Château Gaillard since 1314 after being found guilty of adultery by King Philip, on the testimony of, amongst others, his daughter Isabelle. Since there had been no formal annulment, Margaret technically became queen consort when Louis acceded to the throne upon Philip's death, though she was kept locked up. In 1315, the queen died, allegedly strangled or otherwise murdered to clear the way for her husband to remarry. Louis chose Clémence, and they married on 19 August 1315; she was crowned queen at Reims on 24 August.

Louis died in June 1316, leaving Clémence several months pregnant. Louis' brother Philip became regent, denying the rights of Clémence's stepdaughter Joan, who was too young and whose paternity was doubtful; and of Clémence herself, who was considered unsuitable to be regent. She gave birth to a son named John in November 1316. King from the moment of his birth, he lived only four days, whereupon the throne was seized by his uncle, who now became Philip V. Clémence and Philip quarreled over this and he refused to pay her the income Louis had promised her. She wrote repeatedly to Pope John XXII and to her family for help.

Clémence then left the French court for Aix-en-Provence, where she stayed until 1321, when she returned to Paris. She actively participated in royal life in Paris, and owned thirteen estates around Paris and in Normandy. In 1326, she commissioned a tomb effigy for her great-grandfather, Charles I, who was the brother of Louis IX. She owned the Peterborough Psalter and she probably sent the Reliquary Shrine of Elizabeth of Hungary, now at The Cloisters, to her sister-in-law in Buda. Through her patronage and gift-giving she sought to enhance the reputation in Paris of her Angevin family and of her husband, Louis X.

Upon her death 12 October 1328, at age thirty-five, her possessions were sold. She was buried on 15 October in the Jacobin convent.