Margaret of England

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Margaret of England. Illumination from the 13th century

Margaret of England ( English Margaret of England ) (* about the 5. October 1240 in Windsor Castle ; † 27. February 1275 in Cupar Castle ) was an English princess. Through her marriage to King Alexander III. she was Queen of Scotland from 1251 .

origin

Margarete came from the Anglo-Norman family Plantagenet . She was the second child and eldest daughter of King Henry III of England . and his wife Eleanor of Provence . There is different information about your exact date of birth. As a toddler, she was raised with her brother, the heir to the throne Edward, who was about a year older, and with a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln , who died in 1240 . According to the English chronicler Matthew Paris , who until 1259 is the most complete source of Margaret's biography for the time she was named after her maternal aunt, the French Queen Margaret , and after the ancient martyr and patron saint of pregnant women, Margaret of Antioch , whose I asked her mother for help during the difficult birth.

Engagement to the Scottish heir to the throne

After nearly a war between England and Scotland in 1243, Henry III closed. and the Scottish King Alexander II signed a peace treaty in Newcastle on August 14, 1244 . In this contract, Margaret's marriage to the Scottish heir to the throne Alexander, who was one year younger than her, was agreed. The marriage should take place as soon as the children were old enough for it. Margarete continued to grow up in England and developed a close, lifelong bond with her family. Her fiancé became King of Scots after the death of his father in 1249. During his minority a Regency Council led the government, led by Baron Alan Durward . His position in Scotland was controversial, and in 1251 several Scottish prelates and barons asked the English king to marry the Scottish king with the English king's daughter soon.

Scottish Queen

Wedding in York

As a result, an elaborate wedding was prepared in York , Northern England, for Christmas 1251 . According to Matthäus Paris, 1000 English and 600 Scottish nobles and knights came to York for the celebration, who were lavishly entertained and fed. In order to avoid a crowd in the face of these crowds, Archbishop Walter de Gray secretly trusted Margarete and Alexander in the early morning of December 26th, 1251. The English king promised to give his daughter a dowry of 5000 marks . Shortly after the wedding, however , charges were made against him and the Scottish government by Durward's political rival Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith . With the approval of Heinrich III. the government led by Durward was overthrown in York and replaced by a government led by the Comyn family .

Unfortunate years during the Comyn-led reign

After the marriage, Margaret was brought to Scotland, where she lived under the supervision of officials sent by her father Robert le Norrey , Stephen Bauzan and Matilda de Cantilupe , the widow of William de Cantilupe . Also Geoffrey de Langley is said to be from Henry III. He was sent to Scotland, but according to the reports of Matthew Paris he had to return to England due to Scottish reservations. In addition, her father had appointed the Northern English barons Robert de Ros and John de Balliol as Guardians , who were responsible for the underage couple. Presumably, under this supervision, Margarete's life was unhappy and lonely. In 1253 her father requested that she go to England to visit her pregnant mother, but that visit did not take place. The teenage Margaret is said to have complained bitterly how closely her overseers monitored her life and her marriage to her husband. She lived in cramped conditions in Edinburgh Castle , although she was not allowed to live with her husband despite her marriage. In 1255 her mother sent the famous doctor Reginald of Bath to Scotland to check whether Margaret was healthy. The doctor is said to have found her pale and excited, and she is said to have made serious allegations against her Guardians. Reginald of Bath publicly declared his outrage at the treatment of Margaret. A little later he died suddenly; apparently he was poisoned.

Alan Durward coup d'état supported by Margaret's father

In the meantime, Alan Durward, ousted in 1251, had won the trust of the English king. Henry III. supported Durward in 1255 to overthrow the Comyn-led government with a coup. The English magnate Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester and the royal official John Mansel traveled to Scotland, seized Margaret and the Scottish King's castle with the help of a ruse in Edinburgh and brought them to Roxburgh, not far from the English border . Henry III. himself had come to Wark on the other side of the border with an army . The English and Scottish royal couple met both in Roxburgh and in Wark, and Margarete was allowed to stay with her mother in Wark for a short time. Faced with this situation, the Comyn-led government gave up and handed power to a new Regency Council dominated by Alan Durward. The two Guardians John de Balliol and John de Ros fell to Henry III. in disgrace. He even had their property confiscated at times, but he probably wronged them. Because of their unclear responsibilities, Balliol and Ros had had a difficult position in Scotland, and the English king now turned out to be an over-concerned father. Margarete was able to live with her husband instead of her previous de facto detention in Edinburgh Castle and was given her own court. Henry III. appointed Malise, 5th Earl of Strathearn , a member of the new Regency Council, to see to his daughter's safety.

Another coup by the Comyns

In early 1256 Margaret's brother Eduard was allowed to visit them in Scotland, and in August 1256 Alexander and Margaret went to England to visit. They celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary with the English royal couple in Woodstock . Then they traveled on to London, where John Mansel entertained them lavishly. They then returned to Scotland. But there was another coup in October 1257 when Walter Comyn seized the royal couple in Kinross . Alan Durward then had to settle with him, and the newly formed Regency Council consisted of both Comyn and Durward supporters.

Further course of the marriage with Alexander III.

In 1260 Alexander III took over. even the government, whereupon the Regency Council was dissolved. In November 1260, Alexander and the pregnant Margaret traveled to England again. Due to renewed tension between Scottish nobles, Alexander hastily returned to Scotland in December while Margaret celebrated Christmas with her parents at Windsor Castle. Her first child was born there in February 1261. At the beginning of 1267 Margarete and her husband met again the English heir to the throne Eduard in Roxburgh. In 1268 they traveled back to Margarete's father. According to the Lanercost Chronicle , Margaret was very concerned for Eduard when he set out on a crusade to the Holy Land in 1270 , and in deep sorrow when her father died in 1272. This made her brother Edward King of England. After returning from the crusade, he was crowned on August 19, 1274. Margaret and Alexander attended the ceremony at Westminster Abbey .

death

Margaret died a few months after her brother's coronation at the age of 34 in Cupar Castle, a castle in Fife that was under royal administration because of the minority of the heir Duncan, 8th Earl of Fife . The Franciscans from Carlisle , probably the Lanercost Chronicle wrote, his information has on their claims to be confessor obtained, which was also a Franciscan. After that Margarete was very beautiful, but also chaste and humble. She is said to have received the sacraments of death from her confessor, while she would have denied the Scottish bishops and abbots access to her death chamber. She was buried in Dunfermline Abbey .

progeny

With her husband Alexander III. Margarete had three children:

  • Margarete (February 28, 1261 - April 9, 1283) ⚭ King Erik II of Norway
  • Alexander (December 21, 1264 - January 28, 1284) ⚭ Margarete
  • David (* 1270 or 1273; † June 1281)

After her death, her children all died while Alexander III was still alive. The Scottish king then married Yolande de Dreux in 1285 in order to become the father of a new heir.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Margaret of England, Queen of Scotland  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 21 (1971), p. 10.
  2. ^ Alan Young: Noble Families and Political Factions in the Reign of Alexander III . In: Norman H. Reid (ed.): Scotland in the Reign of Alexander III, 1249-1286 . John Donald, Edinburgh 1990, ISBN 0-85976-218-1 , p. 17.
  3. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 21 (1971), p. 11.
  4. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 563.
  5. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 21 (1971), p. 13.
  6. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 148.
  7. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 21 (1971), p. 17.
  8. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Vol. 21 (1971), p. 22.
  9. ^ GWS Barrow: A Kingdom in Crisis. Scotland and the Maid of Norway . In: The Scottish Historical Review (69), 1990, p. 121.
  10. ↑ Norman H. Reid: Alexander III (1241-1286). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  11. ^ TF Tout, revised by Norman H. Reid: Margaret [Margaret of England] (1240-1275). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
personal data
SURNAME Margaret of England
BRIEF DESCRIPTION scottish queen
DATE OF BIRTH on October 5, 1240
PLACE OF BIRTH Windsor Castle
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1275
Place of death Cupar Castle