Background
She was the daughter of Florent of Hainaut and his wife Isabella of Villehardouin.
Duke of Athens Duke of Durazzo
She was the daughter of Florent of Hainaut and his wife Isabella of Villehardouin.
In 1299, while still a child, she had been married to Guy II de la Roche, Duke of Athens. Widowed in 1308, she was engaged to Charles of Taranto until 1313, when she remarried to Louis of Burgundy, who held the titular dignity of the long-extinct Kingdom of Thessalonica. The marriage was intended to unite the Angevin and Burgundian houses.
So was the betrothal of the Empress Catherine II to Hugh V of Burgundy, Louis"s elder brother.
lieutenant was in an effort to compensate the Burgundians that Philip renounced his claim to Achaea in favour of Matilda and gave her hand to Louis. From 1307, when Philip of Savoy relinquished his claim, to 1312, when Isabella of Villehardouin died, Achaea was disputed between two claimants: Isabella and Philip I of Taranto.
The new couple quickly left for Greece to take possession of their fief, which was then occupied by their rival Ferdinand. At the Battle of Manolada on 5 July 1316, Ferdinand was vanquished and killed and Louis took control of the Elis.
However, he was poisoned soon after, leaving a twice-widowed 23-year-old in charge of the Morea.
lieutenant was soon disputed by the varying claimants and Matilda was solidly dispossessed of her fief by 1318, in which year John, Duke of Durazzo, an Angevin, abducted the princess and forced her to marry him. Matilda married yet again to Hugh de Louisiana Palice and retired to Aversa, where she died in 1331.