Baudouin de Béthune

Baldwin of Béthune or Baldwin de Béthune (French: Baudouin de Béthune Dutch: Boudewijn van Béthune) (c. 1158–1212), a French knight from the House of Béthune in Artois and a crusader, was close companion to successive English kings and on marriage to Hawise of Aumale became Count of Aumale with extensive estates in England.

Origins Baldwin was the third son of Robert V of Béthune, hereditary Lord of Béthune and advocate of the Abbey of Saint Vaast at Arras, and his wife Alice, daughter of Hugh III, Count of Saint-Pol. His brothers included: Robert VI of Béthune, Advocate of Arras and Lord of Béthune; William II of Béthune, who succeeded his brother as Advocate of Arras and Lord of Béthune; John of Béthune, Bishop of Cambrai; and Conon of Béthune, poet, crusader and Regent of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.

His date of birth is unknown but would have been shortly before 1160, probably at Béthune.

Career His career was as a knight in royal service, though not with the kings of his native France but with their English opponents.

In 1170, still in his teens, he was with his lifelong friend, William Marshal in the court of Henry the Young King. In 1180 at the great international tournament of Lagny-sur-Marne, he was a knight banneret, leading the Flemish team while William headed the English team.

Not long after, Baldwin and Hawise had a daughter Alice, no doubt named after his mother. While still a child, she was engaged in 1203 to William Marshal the younger, son of William Marshal and Isabel of Pembroke. As Baldwin's heiress, it was specified in the contract that she would bring all his lands in England to her husband. (Hawise's lands were to go to her son William de Forz.) Alice did not long outlive her father, dying in her teens without having any children. though the manor was held by his cousin Robert VII, Lord of Béthune. He married a woman called Joan de Traily but nothing is known of any children. He did not inherit the seigneurie of Chocques, which was in the hands of Baldwin's younger brother John in 1219.

Landholdings A list of lands held in his own right, rather than through his wife, by Baldwin of Béthune.

In England, using county boundaries in force at the time: In Bedfordshire : Luton. In Berkshire : Wantage. In Hampshire : Ovington, Polhampton near Overton, Upper Clatford In Hertfordshire : Rushden In Kent : Brabourne, Kemsing, Sutton Valence. In Norfolk : Foulsham, an unidentified place written as Roltesham.In Northamptonshire : Greens Norton, Wollaston. In Somerset : Haselbury Plucknett.In Worcestershire : Severn Stoke. In Yorkshire : Hedon, which may have been held jointly with his wife.

In France:Chocques, Westrozebeke St Pierre Mesnil and St Sauveur.