Mathilde was the only child of Archambault of Bourbon and his wife Alix (or Adelaide) of Burgundy (daughter of
Odo II). She was born in the second half of the 1160s. Her father, the heir apparent of Bourbon, died in 1169, without ever inheriting the lordship. Her grandfather,
Archambault VII, died in 1171. Mathilde, as his only surviving grandchild, succeeded him. Before 1183, she married Gaucher IV of
Vienne, Lord of Salins. After he returned from the
Third Crusade, they frequently quarreled. 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 tasked the bishops of
Autun and
Troyes and the
abbot of
Monthiers-en-Argonne with investigating her claim. These men found that Mathilde and her husband were third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandchildren of
William II, Count of Burgundy, and that, therefore, her claim that they were too closely related was justified. The pope granted the divorce, and also lifted the excommunication. In September 1196, only a few months after her divorce, she married Lord
Guy II of Dampierre. Thus, the
Bourbonnais fell to the
House of Dampierre. This marriage lasted 20 years: he died in 1216. Mathilde died twelve years after her husband. After her death, Margaret, her daughter from her first marriage claimed the Lordship of Bourbon. Guy II had initially recognized Margaret as heir of Bourbon, however, he later claimed the Lordship for his oldest son, Archambault VIII. In the end, Archambault prevailed. == Marriages and issue ==