Hainaut
Hainaut was a French-speaking imperial county on the French frontier, named after the river Haine. In 1337 the Avesnes count William I also ruled Holland and Zeeland.
After his son William II fell in battle in 1345, the counties passed through Margaret II to the Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria-Straubing in 1356, and to Burgundy in 1432. Hainaut later passed to the Habsburgs; France took its south in 1659 and 1678, while French revolutionary armies annexed the Habsburg north in 1797.
Characters
- Isabella, Countess of Brienne
- Joanna, Duchess of Brabant
- Baldwin of Avesnes
- Bouchard IV of Avesnes
- Walter II of Avesnes
- William I, Count of Hainaut
- William II, Count of Hainaut
- Isabella of Hainaut
- James of Avesnes
- John I, Count of Hainaut
- John II, Count of Hainaut
- Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut
- Philippa of Luxembourg
- Yolande of Flanders
- Beatrice of Avesnes