Philippa of Hainault - Legacy

Legacy

Through her children, Philippa reintroduced the bloodline of an earlier English king, Stephen, into the royal family. She was descended from Stephen through Matilda of Brabant, the wife of Floris IV, Count of Holland. Their daughter, Adelaide of Holland, married John I of Avesnes, Count of Hainaut, Philippa's paternal great-grandfather. Matilda of Brabant in turn was the great-granddaughter of Stephen through her mother Matilda of Boulogne, the wife of Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

Philippa was also a descendant of Harold II of England through his daughter Gytha of Wessex, married to Vladimir II Monomakh of Kiev. His bloodline, however, had been reintroduced to the English royal family by Philippa's mother-in-law, Isabella of France, who was a granddaughter of Isabella of Aragon, the wife of Philip III of France. Isabella of Aragon's mother, Violant of Hungary, was a daughter of Andrew II of Hungary, a grandson of Géza II by Euphrosyne of Kiev, herself a granddaughter of Gytha. She was matrilineally descended from Elizabeth the Cuman (born before 1241), a daughter of Kuthen, Khan of the Cumens, thus bringing Central Asian genes into the English royal line.

The Queen's College, Oxford is named after Philippa. It was founded in 1341 by one of her chaplains, Robert de Eglesfield, in her honour.

Philippa also is known to be the "most royal" Queen consort of England due to four of her great-great-grandfathers having been kings of France, Aragon, Naples, and Hungary.