; and as a widow she was
free to devote herself to the task of recouping the losses incurred
through the bad management of her domains by Otho. As the feudal ruler
of Artois and Bourgogne she would have much to occupy her time, even if
her affairs had been in the best order and she had been left to manage
them in peace; but this was not to be, for she had to contend for her
rights during the greater part of the years that remained to her.

Before we enter upon her career as Countess of Artois, let us conclude a
part of the more intimate life of Mahaut, a part full of shame and
sorrow for the mother. Her son, Robert, was the object of much
solicitude on the part of Mahaut, who sought in every way to give him an
education not only suited for the high station in life he would be
called upon to occupy, but calculated to make him a useful and a happy
man. As early as 1304, when he could have been no more than seven or
eight years of age, Mahaut provided him with a separate establishment,
or _hotel_, under the government of two worthy gentlemen, Thibaud de
Mauregard and Jean de Vellefaux. There was provided a little comrade for
Robert, Guillaume de Vienne, his playmate, who was treated with as much
consideration and kindness as was Robert himself. Then there was a
retinue of some seven or eight servants, and two knights, old servants
of Mahaut's father, to assist in the military training of the young
gentlemen; and there was also a certain Henri de Besson, the pedagogue
charged with the education of Robert. The child, of course, was not left
solely to these attendants by his mother, who passed a considerable part
of the time with him. Games and fashionable amusements were not
forbidden by the fond mother, and, as early as 1308, we find Robert
losing his money in play at the court, and spending his gold on horses
and tourneys like other young gentlemen of the day.

In 1314 he was already able to wear knightly panoply of war, and in the
following year he accompanied the royal army in an aimless expedition to
Flanders, while his mother stayed at home and had prayers recited for
the safety of her son. But that son, whom she loved so devotedly, and
whom she was doing so much to please and amuse, did not live to manhood,
for he died in the early part of September, 1317, before he had received
the final dignity of knighthood. From all the Church dignitaries of
Artois, from all the great relatives of Mahaut, came letters of
condolen