Robert III of Artois

Robert III of Artois was a French nobleman whose failed claim to the county of Artois became a notorious legal and political dispute. Robert III of Artois served as count.

His exile and support for Edward III helped feed the tensions that preceded the Hundred Years’ War. Robert III of Artois belonged to the House of Artois. Robert III of Artois died in London.

Maurice Druon makes Robert III’s feud with Mahaut of Artois a recurring political engine of The Iron King, The Strangled Queen and The Poisoned Crown, where his determination to recover the county keeps him inside the factional struggles of the last Capetians. The Royal Succession carries that dispute into the contested regencies and successions following Louis X’s death. In The Lily and the Lion, Robert helps Philip of Valois obtain the French crown, loses royal favour after relying on forged evidence in his Artois case and takes his grievance to Edward III in England. Jean Plaidy’s Vow on the Heron similarly uses Robert’s exile and hostility to Philip VI as the pressure that encourages Edward to press his claim to France, linking Robert’s private quarrel to the opening of the Hundred Years’ War.