Margaret of York

Margaret of York, c. 1468, anonymous artist, on display in the Louvre

Margaret of York (English Margaret of York ) (born May 3, 1446 in Fotheringhay Castle , Northamptonshire , England , † November 23, 1503 in Mechelen , Burgundian Netherlands ) was the third wife of Charles the Bold Duchess of Burgundy .

Descent and youth

Margaret of York was the third (reaching adulthood) daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York , and his wife Cecily Neville . She had twelve siblings, including the later English kings Edward IV and Richard III.

Little is known about Margareta's childhood. She received a good education and was influenced religiously by her very pious mother. When her father, who was deeply involved in the inner English power struggles, was due to a temporary mental illness of King Henry VI in the summer of 1453 . briefly rose to the position of protector and de facto regent of the island, he negotiated with Isabella of Burgundy about the marriage of one of his unmarried daughters - among them the youngest Margareta - to Charles the Bold, the son of the Burgundian duchess. This plan failed, however, and in October 1454 Charles the Bold married Isabelle de Bourbon , who gave birth to his daughter Maria of Burgundy in 1457 .

At the end of 1460 Richard of York fell while trying to gain the crown, but a few months later his eldest living son succeeded, who ascended the throne as Edward IV. The wealthy nobleman Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, played a major role in Edward's victory . But this disapproved of Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in May 1464 and in the following time the two men fell apart more and more. Margareta took part in the coronation of the new queen in May 1465 and was often part of her entourage.

Marriage negotiations

Isabelle de Bourbon died in September 1465, and soon afterwards her widower, Charles the Bold, began negotiations about his marriage to the now 19-year-old Margareta, who, as the unmarried sister of the English king, was a sought-after bride. For this purpose he sent his confidante Guillaume de Clugny to London. Edward IV showed interest in the marriage project, but this was delayed due to various obstacles. Charles the Bold, for example, did not want to meet the demand of the English king to marry his only daughter, Mary of Burgundy, to George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence , the younger brother of Edward IV; Warwick tried to work towards an Anglo-French alliance; and the French King Louis XI. did everything possible to thwart a marriage alliance between the two hostile states of Burgundy and England. Louis XI. suggested his eldest daughter Anne as the wife of Charles the Bold and in 1466/67 offered - albeit in vain - a total of four candidates for a wedding with Margaret.

The Condestável of Portugal , Peter of Coimbra , King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, ​​who had fought against John II for the Aragonese crown from 1464 and was a nephew of the Burgundian Duchess Isabella, negotiated in the spring of 1466 about his marriage to Margareta. The engagement ring cost Peter the proud price of 200 livres. His death in June 1466, however, thwarted this marriage option for the English princess.

After the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good , the father of Charles the Bold, died on June 15, 1467, the Burgundian-English marriage negotiations were resumed, which the French king torpedoed with all his might over the next few months. So he tried to prevent Pope Paul II from granting the necessary dispensation because of close relatives, and tried to undermine the creditworthiness of the English king with international bankers so that he could not find the promised dowry of 200,000 Écus (in fact, only half of this dowry will be paid).

Ultimately, however, Ludwig XI's attempts to interfere. crowned with no success. On October 1, 1467, before a meeting in Kingston-upon-Thames , Margaret gave her formal consent to the proposed marriage and serious negotiations began. In January 1468 an English delegation traveled to Flanders to hold further discussions in this regard and in February the marriage contract was finalized. It was agreed that Margareta would keep her rights to the English crown, while Charles the Bold transferred the cities of Mechelen , Oudenaarde and Dendermonde to his bride . The papal dispensation arrived in May. In the same month the English Chancellor announced that his country with Burgundy and Brittany would take joint action against Louis XI. have decided; however, he was able to ward off this plan relatively easily.

Marriage to Charles the Bold

On June 18, 1468, Margareta left the English capital for the home of her bridegroom. She made an offering at St Paul's Cathedral , then rode a horse with Warwick through Cheapside and stayed at Stratford Abbey with her royal brother and his wife. After she made the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas Becket , Archbishop of Canterbury, she embarked with a large retinue in Margate on June 24th for the crossing to the European continent. Although Louis XI. Having threatened to intercept her fleet, Margareta reached Sluys unmolested the evening of the next day , where she stayed for a week. On June 26, she was visited by Isabella, the mother of her bridegroom, and his daughter Maria, and the next day by Karl himself. The Bishop of Salisbury made the couple's engagement.

Crown of Margaret of York, Aachen Cathedral Treasury

The wedding of Charles the Bold and Margareta took place on July 3, 1468 at five o'clock in the morning in Damme . Then the groom first traveled to Bruges, about 6 km away . A little later, around ten o'clock, Margareta, clad in a silver, gem-studded gown, who also wore a pearl-studded crown, made her own splendid entry in a sedan chair drawn by white horses with an entourage of about sixty noble Burgundian and English ladies City. The subsequent festivities, banquets, theater performances and tournaments lasted ten days and were splendid even by Burgundian standards. They were described in detail by their organizer, court official and historian Olivier de la Marche , in his memoirs. The richly decorated crown, made around 1461, that Margareta wore at her wedding celebration, was given to Aachen during a visit in 1474 , in whose treasury it can still be viewed. It is the only English royal crown from the Middle Ages that has been preserved.

Duchess of Burgundy

The duke couple initially spent a relatively long time together, but after two years of marriage, Margareta saw her husband very rarely, mainly because of his warlike activities, around 1473 and 1474 for a maximum of two weeks a year. Their relationship remained childless. After all, Margareta had a very friendly relationship with her mother-in-law until her death in 1471, and through Isabella's will she received her favorite residence, La Motte-au-Bois. Margareta took special care of her stepdaughter Maria of Burgundy, who was only eleven years her junior. The two women therefore soon became close friends and they both enjoyed taking part in hunts and riding excursions.

In the spring of 1470 Edward IV's opponents fled, namely his brother George, Duke of Clarence, and Warwick to Louis XI, who was able to persuade the refugees to form an alliance with Margaret of Anjou , wife of the overthrown King Henry VI. With French help, Warwick returned to England and Edward IV had to seek refuge with his brother-in-law in Holland at the beginning of October 1470. Henry VI. was proclaimed king again. The Burgundian duchess urged her husband to support her brother in vain. Charles the Bold was only prepared to do this at the beginning of January 1471, when he was convinced that it was in his interest. After the renewal of the alliance between the two men, Edward IV visited his sister Margareta in Hesdin until January 13th and sailed back to England in March with Burgundian support. All the while Margareta had been working on a reconciliation between the exiled king and his brother George. The latter actually rejoined Edward IV after his landing in England. In April / May 1471 Edward IV was able to recapture the throne permanently.

When Edward IV translated to France with around 13,000 soldiers in July 1475, to join Louis XI in a joint, previously agreed military campaign with Charles the Bold. to overthrow, Margareta acted again as a mediator between her brother and husband. The armed forces of the Burgundian duke were mainly tied to the east of his empire and the English king, angry about the lack of help from his ally, quickly reached a settlement with Louis XI, while his alliance with his brother-in-law was finally over.

After Margareta had seen her husband for the last time in July 1475, he lost two battles against the Confederates the next year. So while the power of the increasingly tyrannical Charles the Bold sank from 1475, Margareta had an increasing share in the politics of Burgundy from then on, for example in the Artois, leading the defense against France and in 1476 the Dutch estates the urgent demands of her husband for military and presented financial reinforcements. During the attempt to recapture Nancy , the Burgundian duke fell on January 5, 1477. Margareta paid her last respects and quickly paid off his private debts.

Widowhood

Supporter of Mary of Burgundy

After the death of Charles the Bold, his widow Margareta stayed mainly in her palace in Mechelen , which was part of their extensive Wittum . The new duchess was Mary of Burgundy. The only 20-year-old daughter of Charles the Bold had a difficult inheritance to take on. She received eager support for the major problems that had to be overcome, especially from her stepmother Margareta, who was considered a capable and intelligent politician. The chancellor Hugonet and the Count d'Humbercourt also assisted the young duchess.

Louis XI. immediately after the death of the Burgundian duke, he occupied the southern part of his empire, especially the Burgundy, Picardy and large parts of the Artois. This meant that Mary of Burgundy was essentially limited to the Netherlands. The riots that broke out there were of Louis XI. supported. In February 1477 Maria had to accept the reintroduction of the old class rights of the Netherlands. She was practically placed under house arrest in Ghent , while Margareta was expelled from Ghent. Nevertheless, the Duchess and Dowager Duchess were able to have a secret correspondence about an old lady-in-waiting of Mary, Frau von Hallewyn. Despite her personal efforts, Maria did not succeed in preventing the execution of her confidants Hugonet and d'Humbercourt on April 3, 1477.

There were several suitors for Maria's hand. So the French king proposed her marriage to the Dauphin . Margareta first offered her brother George, Duke of Clarence, as a candidate for marriage in order to obtain the help of his brother, the English King Edward IV. But this plan was rejected. Supported by Margareta, Maria now favored her father's marriage to the emperor's son Maximilian, initiated by her father in 1476, and urgently asked him in a secretly sent letter to come quickly. Margareta also wrote a similar letter. When Maximilian set out on his way, he had to stop in Cologne for lack of money . The Dowager Duchess had 100,000 thalers sent to him, which enabled him to continue his journey. In the meantime, the mood in the Netherlands had turned in favor of the emperor's son, as a French invasion was feared.

On his arrival in Ghent, Maximilian was greeted with joy, met his bride and gave her a diamond. Margareta took part in the usual courtly love games and indicated to Maximilian in front of the assembled court society that he should look for a flower hidden on the lady of his choice. When he did not see it at once, he hesitated to look for it in Maria's bodice, and only did so at the cheerful request of the Archbishop of Trier. The pink carnation he found symbolized conjugal love and fidelity. On August 19, 1477 Maximilian and Maria celebrated their wedding.

The emperor's son took on the safeguarding of the Burgundian heritage and thus the fight against the French, which lasted several years. Margareta got on very well with Maximilian and supported him as best she could in the war against Louis XI. When the French king let it be known through numerous agents that Philip , the first son of Maria and Maximilian born on July 22nd, 1478, was actually a girl, Margareta belied this rumor by taking the baby out of the diaper after the baptism wrapped and showed naked to the people.

The Dowager Duchess tried to get Edward IV, who had previously been neutral, to the side of the Habsburgs. After fruitless efforts, she traveled to her English homeland for the first and only time since her marriage to Charles the Bold in July 1480 to negotiate personally with her royal brother, but the latter stuck to his peace with France. In addition, Margareta tried to revive the Burgundian-English trade and received, for example, export permits for oxen and sheep to Flanders. At the end of September 1480 she returned to the Netherlands.

When Maria of Burgundy, who was only 25 years old, died on March 27, 1482 as a result of a riding accident, she left behind a daughter, Margareta , in addition to Philipp (called the Beautiful) . The two children were only four and two years old at the time. Their upbringing was partly taken over by the Dowager Duchess Margareta, for whom Maria's death meant a heavy loss. Maximilian's reign for his underage son Philip met resistance from the Estates-General. The Habsburgs had to go to Arras from the Dutch provinces on December 23, 1482 with Louis XI. accept a closed peace, but then tried to enforce the recognition of his reign by force.

Intrigues against Henry VII Tudor

Richard III usurped the English throne in 1483 after the death of his brother Edward IV, but in 1485 lost battle and life against the Duke of Richmond, who came from the House of Tudor and who became Henry VII's new king. Because the rule of her dynasty came to an end in England, Margareta became the bitter opponent of Heinrich Tudor. For a good decade she intrigued against him as best she could and gave refuge to supporters of the House of York who had fled at her widow's residence, for example in January 1487 to Viscount Francis Lovell and a little later to John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln . The Dowager Duchess also supported the conspiracy of the juvenile impostor Lambert Simnel , who pretended to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick , a nephew of Edward IV, who was thrown into the Tower of London by Henry VII , and who appeared as a pretender against the English king . To enforce Simnel's "claim to the throne", Francis Lovell and John de la Pole landed on the Irish coast in May 1487 with a force of 2,000 German mercenaries recruited by Margareta. However, the conspirators suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Stoke on June 16, 1487 ; Simnel was pardoned.

After an unfortunate war against France (1487) for Maximilian, resistance against him arose again in the Netherlands. The Habsburg, who had meanwhile risen to the rank of Roman king, was even imprisoned in Bruges in February 1488 and only released three months later in return for major concessions. Margareta's diplomatic steps in this regard can only be determined in rough outline. In the next few years Maximilian was able to restore control of the Netherlands by military means.

The Dowager Duchess helped at least since the beginning of 1492 another pretender to the English crown, Perkin Warbeck , which fraudulently as Duke Richard of York , who in 1483 of King Richard III. younger son of Edward IV imprisoned in the Tower. He was the murder attempt Richard III. escape and only demand his "right to the throne". At first he was warmly received by the guardianship government around Charles VIII , but had to leave France after the Treaty of Étaples (November 3, 1492) and now traveled to the court of Margaretas. This confirmed Warbeck's alleged identity with the younger son of Edward IV in a letter to Queen Isabella I of Castile in August 1493. King Maximilian also recognized him in 1493 as a legitimate English heir to the throne and in May 1495 Margareta even wrote to the Pope in Warbeck's favor. In July 1495 the adventurer sailed to Kent , but was defeated, could not assert himself in Ireland either, but was then hospitably received by the Scottish King James IV and continued to be supported by Margaret. After landing in Cornwall , Warbeck surrendered to Henry VII in October 1497, with whom Margareta only entered into a permanent agreement in September 1498.

Last years and death

When Philip the Fair and his wife were expecting a son (later Emperor Charles V ) in 1500 , Margareta of York and her step-granddaughter Margareta of Austria were appointed godmothers before his birth. The two women took part in the baby's baptism on March 7, 1500 in the church of St. Jean in Ghent . The Dowager Duchess played a part in the early upbringing of Charles and his siblings.

Deeply mourned, Margareta died in Mechelen in 1503 at the age of 57 and was buried there in the Cordeliers Church. Her grave was destroyed at the end of the 16th century.

Appearance, personal interests

Numerous portraits of Margareta have survived. Worth mentioning is a portrait, perhaps made by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes , which is exhibited today in the rooms of the Society of Antiquaries of London in Burlington House , London. Margareta is described as attractive, had a fair complexion, gray eyes and blonde hair. Because of her tall stature, she towered over her husband.

Even as Duchess of Burgundy, Margareta supported William Caxton , who entered her service around 1470 and was the first Englishman to learn the art of printing. During her widowhood, in particular, she emerged as a collector and client of illuminated manuscripts of primarily religious content. At that time, in her residence in Mechelen, she also supported a monastery reform based on strict observance. She distributed generous charitable donations, made numerous religious foundations and was the patroness of the Poor Clares , to whom she bequeathed an expensive, richly illuminated manuscript describing the life of St. Colette von Corbie .

Another Margaret of York

There was another Margaret of York who was a niece of those named. She was the fifth child of Edward IV and was only 8 months old.

literature

• WP Blockmans: Margareta 16). In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 6 (1993), Col. 239.
• Dagmar Eichberger: Women of Distinction. Margaret of York / Margaret of Austria , Turnhout: Brepols Publishers NV 2005, 367, ISBN 978-2-503-51917-3
• Michael Jones: Margaret . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). Volume 36 (2004), pp. 646f.

Fiction

• Anne Easter Smith: The White Rose of York (historical novel), Blanvalet, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-442-37267-6

Web links

• WP Blockmans: Margaretha van York. In: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland . As of April 15, 2012, viewed June 7, 2012.
• Margaret of York on BBC.com