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- From Leo van de Pas:
Mahaut was born in the mid to late 1160s, the only child of Archambaud VIII de Bourbon and Alix 'Ducissa' de Bourgogne. Her father, the heir apparent to Bourbon, died in 1169 without ever inheriting the lordship. Her grandfather Archambaud VII, sire de Bourbon, died in 1173. Since Mahaut was his only surviving grandchild, she inherited Bourbon in her own right.
Before 1183 Mahaut married Gaucher IV de Vienne, sire de Salins et de Bracon, son of Gérard I, comte de Mâcon et de Vienne, and Guyonne de Salins. After he returned from the Third Crusade, they frequently quarrelled. In the end he became violent and had her locked up. She fled to her grandmother's estate in Champagne. During her escape she allegedly also used violence, and for this she was excommunicated by Archbishop Henri de Sully of Bourges. After she arrived in Champagne, she asked Pope Celestine III for a divorce from her husband, arguing that Gaucher IV and she were close relatives and that the marriage therefore had been inadmissible. The pope charged the bishops of Autun and Troyes and the abbot of Monthiers-en-Argonne with investigating her claim. These men found that Mahaut and her husband were third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandchildren of Guillaume I, comte de Bourgogne, and that therefore her claim that they were too closely related was justified. The pope granted the divorce and also lifted the excommunication. Mahaut and Gaucher had a daughter Marguerite who became the second wife of Guillaume I, comte de Forcalquier, and then married Josserand, sire de Brancion, but did not have progeny.
In September 1196, only a few months after her divorce, Mahaut married Guy II de Dampierre, seigneur de Montluçon, son of Guillaume I de Dampierre and Ermengarde (Basilie) de Mouchy. Thus the Bourbonnais fell to the house of Dampierre. Mahaut and Guy had six children, of whom Archambaud VIII, Guillaume, Philippe (Mahaut) and Marie would have progeny.
The marriage lasted 20 years, Guy dying in 1216. Mahaut died on 18 June 1228, twelve years after her husband. After her death, her daughter Marguerite from her first marriage claimed the lordship of Bourbon. Guy had initially recognised Marguerite as heir to Bourbon, but he later claimed the lordship for his oldest son Archambaud VIII. In the end Archambaud prevailed.
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