A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Philippa of Hainault
PHILIPPA OF HAINAULT.
Daughter of the Earl of Hainault, married Edward the Third, of England, in 1327. In 1346, when, after the victorious battle of Cressy, Edward lay before Calais, David Bruce, King of Scotland, invaded the north of England, and ravaged the country as far as Durham. He was there met by Queen Philippa, at the head of twelve thousand men, commanded by Lord Percy; after a fierce engagement, the Scots were entirely defeated, and their king and many of the nobility taken prisoners. As soon as Philippa had secured her royal captive, she crossed the sea at Dover, and was received in the English camp, before Calais, with all the eclât due to her rank and her victory. Here her intercession is said to have saved the lives of the six citizens of Calais, who were condemned to death by Edward.
Philippa's conduct was always marked by wisdom and generosity, and she was on all occasions the confidant and adviser of her husband. She died before Edward, leaving several children, the eldest of whom was the celebrated Black Prince. Philippa is said to have founded Queen's College, Oxford; but her agency in establishing a manufacturing colony of Flemings at Norwich, in the year 1335, was of for greater importance to the prosperity of the nation. "Blessed be the memory of Edward the Third and Philippa of Hainault, his queen, who first invented clothes," says a monastic chronicler. He meant that by the advice of the queen, the English first manufactured cloth.
Philippa was also the Mend and patroness of Chaucer and Froissart.