Mahaut of Artois

Mahaut inherited Artois from her father, Count Robert II, killed in battle in 1302. Her nephew Robert, son of her brother, who died before the old count, claimed the county. The king's court ruled for Mahaut, and the two have hated each other ever since.

She runs her lands with a firm hand and has money, castles and loyal people. She married her two daughters well: Jeanne to Philip, Count of Poitiers, and Blanche to Charles, the king's two younger sons. If all goes to plan, Mahaut will be mother-in-law to kings.

The Tour de Nesle scandal hits both of Mahaut's daughters. Blanche, married to Charles, is jailed for adultery. Jeanne, married to Philip of Poitiers, is sent away for covering for her sisters-in-law.

Mahaut knows Robert set up their fall, and from then on she treats the court as a battlefield.

With help from her lady-in-waiting, Béatrice d'Hirson, Mahaut uses poison to clear anyone who threatens her family. Louis X is the best-known victim.

When her son-in-law, Philip of Poitiers, takes the regency, she sees her daughter Jeanne close to becoming queen and won't back off even from a newborn.

Louis X dies and leaves Queen Clémence pregnant. The boy is born, he is King John I, and he stands between Philip of Poitiers and the crown. At the christening, Mahaut makes her move.

What she doesn't know is that the wet nurse, Marie de Cressay, was holding her own son at that moment. The child who dies is not the king. The real John grows up far from court, and that secret will cause trouble yet.

Philip V becomes king and Jeanne becomes queen. Mahaut is at her peak, but Robert won't let go of the county and keeps coming at her in court and out of it.

Under Philip VI, Robert reopens the Artois case. Mahaut doesn't live to see the end of the fight: she dies before her nephew is exposed.

To the end, she is the one person at court Robert can never fool. The two spend their lives trying to destroy each other, and a good share of the saga's deaths come out of that family feud.

Hélène Duc played Mahaut in 1972 and Jeanne Moreau in 2005. The historical Mahaut (c. 1268–1329) ruled Artois for more than twenty years.