With no trace of her father Baldwin VI since the year 1205 his eldest daughter, Joan of Flanders (also known as Joan de Constantinople), heiress of Flanders and Hainaut, took the reins of both states: in 1211 she married her cousin Ferdinand of Portugal (choice proposed by the King of France, her uncle) why became through her "Count of Flanders". But Flanders was allied with the English and the Germans: there followed a war with the King of France and Joan's husband was taken prisoner until 1227. Joan, who lived in Le Quesnoy castle since her marriage, held various meetings with key figures in the town. However she left the town in 1225, as a minstrel-adventurer, Bertrand de Rays, living in the woods of Glançon, pretended to be her father and intended to retake his land. In 1233, she returned and did improve the hospital in the town founded by Peter Pitens, enlarged the castle (the high Watchtower). Under the castle, extended the cellars and passages that still exist today. Her husband died in 1233 and in 1237 she married a second husband, Thomas of Savoy, who became a benefactor of Le Quesnoy. This served incidentally to improve the breeds of the country by bringing in bulls of Savoy and of Messin. He also brought horses from Italy and Spain, sheep from Catalonia, which yielded fine highly regarded wool, imbuing the drapers of Le Quesnoy with great renown: they mixed them with silk to make fabrics called Sayette. The cloth industry, widespread in Flanders, was also located in the town of Le Quesnoy.