Blanche was the elder child and only daughter of Robert I, Count of Artois, and Matilda of Brabant. A fraternal niece of King Louis IX of France, Blanche was probably born in 1248. By February 1269, having received a papal dispensation, she was married to Henry, the brother of King Theobald II of Navarre. The ceremony took place in Melun near Paris. Her brother-in-law, in turn, was married to her cousin, Isabella of France. Henry was governing his brother's realm when King Theobald and Queen Isabella left to join the Eighth Crusade. When the king died in December 1270, followed by his widow within a few months, Blanche's husband became King of Navarre and Count of Champagne.
