MARGARET

margaret, st (c. 1045-1093), the queen of malcolm iii. canmore king of scotland, was the daughter of the english prince edward, son of edmund ironside, and sister of edgar ætheling, and was probably born in hungary. in 1067 the widow and children of edward fled from northumberland with a large number of followers and sought the protection of the scottish king. the marriage of malcolm and margaret soon took place and was followed by several invasions of northumberland by the scottish king, probably in support of the claims of his brother-in-law edgar. these, however, had little result beyond the devastation of the province. far more important were the effects of this alliance upon the history of scotland. a considerable portion of the old northumbrian kingdom had been reduced by the scottish kings in the previous century, but up to this time the english population had little influence upon the ruling element of the kingdom. malcolm's marriage undoubtedly improved the condition of the english to a great extent, and under margaret's sons, edgar, alexander i. and david i., the scottish court practically became anglicized. margaret died on the 17th of november 1093, four days after her husband and her eldest son edward, who were slain in an invasion of northumberland. she rebuilt the monastery of iona, and was canonized in 1251 on account of her great benefactions to the church. see _chronicles of the picts and scots_ (edinburgh, 1867), edited 1876, by w. f. skene; and w. f. skene, _celtic scotland_ (edinburgh). margaret (1489-1541), queen of scotland, eldest daughter of henry vii., king of england, by his wife elizabeth, daughter of edward iv., was born at westminster on the 29th of november 1489. before she was six years old negotiations were opened, which dragged on for several years, for marrying the princess to james iv. of scotland, whose support of the pretender perkin warbeck it was hoped to avert by such an alliance. eventually the marriage was celebrated in edinburgh on the 8th of august 1503. the avaricious henry vii. gave his daughter a scanty dowry and quarrels on this head embittered the relations between the two kingdoms, which the marriage, although accompanied by a treaty of perpetual peace, did nothing to heal. the whole of margaret's life after her marriage with james iv. was an unending series of intrigues, first with one political faction then with another; at one time in favour of her native country, at another in hostility to it, her conduct being mainly influenced at all times by considerations affecting her pocket. margaret was crowned at edinburgh in march 1504. until 1507 she had no children; between that date and 1510 two sons and a daughter were born, all of whom died in infancy; in 1512 she gave birth to a son who succeeded his father as james v.; in 1514 she bore a posthumous son, alexander, created duke of ross, who died in the following year. a dispute with her brother henry viii. over a legacy claimed by margaret was a contributory cause of the war which ended at flodden, where james iv. was killed on the 9th of september 1513, having by his will appointed margaret sole guardian of her infant son, now king james v. scotland was divided mainly into two parties, one in favour of alliance with england, and the other with france. the leader of the latter was john stewart, duke of albany, next heir to the crown of scotland after margaret's sons; margaret herself for the most part inclined to the english faction; and when albany returned to scotland from france on the invitation of the scottish parliament in the spring of 1514, the conflict grew almost to civil war. various projects for margaret's remarriage had already been started, louis xii. of france and the emperor maximilian being proposed as suitable husbands for the young widow, when the queen privately married archibald douglas, earl of angus, on the 6th of august 1514. the consequences of this marriage were to alienate many of the most powerful of the nobility, especially the earls of arran and home, and to make margaret entirely dependent on the house of douglas; while it furnished the council with a pretext for removing her from the regency and guardianship of the king in favour of albany in july 1515. albany had to blockade margaret in stirling castle before she would surrender her sons. after being obliged to capitulate, margaret returned to edinburgh, and being no longer responsible for the custody of the king she fled to england in september, where a month later she bore to angus a daughter, margaret, who afterwards became countess of lennox, mother of lord darnley and grandmother of james i. of england. in the summer of 1516 margaret went to her brother's court in london, while angus, much to his wife's displeasure, returned to scotland, where he made his peace with albany and was restored to his estates. the rivalry between the french and english factions in scotland was complicated by private feuds of the hamiltons and douglases, the respective heads of which houses, arran and angus, were contending for the supreme power in the absence of albany in france, where at the instance of henry viii. he was detained by francis i. margaret, quarrelling with her husband over money matters, sided at first with arran and began to agitate for a divorce from angus. in this she was probably aided by albany, who had been in rome, and who found an unexpected ally in the queen-mother, margaret being temporarily alienated from the english party by her brother henry's opposition to her divorce. when albany returned to scotland in 1521 his association with margaret gave rise to the accusation that it was with the intention of marrying her himself that he favoured her divorce from angus, and it was even suggested that she was albany's mistress. as albany was strongly supported by the scottish parliament, angus found it necessary to withdraw to france till 1524. during these years there was constant warfare between the english and the scots on the border, but in may 1524 albany was obliged to retire to france. henry viii. continually aimed at securing the person of his nephew, the king of scots; while margaret veered from faction to faction without any settled policy, unless it were the "erection" of her son, i.e. his proclamation as a reigning sovereign, which she successfully brought about in july 1524. the queen-mother had at this time fallen in love with henry stewart, second son of lord avondale, whom she married immediately after obtaining her divorce from angus in 1527. margaret and her new husband, who was created lord methven, now became for a time the ruling influence in the counsels of james v. but when her desire to arrange a meeting between james and henry viii. in 1534 was frustrated by the opposition of the clergy and the council, margaret in her disappointment revealed certain secrets to henry which led to her being accused by her son of betraying him for money and of acting as an english spy. in 1537 she was anxious to obtain a divorce from methven, and her desire was on the point of being realized when it was defeated by the intervention of james. two years later she was reconciled to her husband, by whom she had no children; and, continuing to the end to intrigue both in scotland and england, she died at methven castle on the 18th of october 1541. see andrew lang, _history of scotland_, vol. i. (london, 1900); mary a. e. green, _lives of the princesses of england_ (6 vols., london, 1849-1855); _the hamilton papers_, ed. by j. bain (2 vols., edinburgh, 1890); john leslie, _history of scotland_, ed. by t. thompson (4 vols., edinburgh, 1830); sir h. ellis, _original letters illustrative of english history_ (london, 1825-1846). (r. j. m.) margaret (1283-1290), titular queen of scotland, and generally known as the "maid of norway," was the daughter of eric ii. king of norway, and margaret, daughter of alexander iii. king of scotland. her mother died soon after margaret's birth, and in 1284 the estates of scotland decided that if alexander died childless the crown should pass to his granddaughter. in march 1286 alexander was killed and margaret became queen. the english king edward i. was closely watching affairs in scotland, and in 1289 a marriage was arranged between the infant queen and edward's son, afterwards edward ii. margaret sailed from norway and reached the orkneys, where she died about the end of september 1290. the news of this occurrence was first made known in a letter dated the 7th of october 1290. some mystery, however, surrounded her death, and about 1300 a woman from leipzig declared she was queen margaret. the impostor, if she were such, was burned as a witch at bergen. see a. lang, _history of scotland_, vol. i. (edinburgh, 1904). margaret (1353-1412), queen of denmark, norway and sweden, the daughter of valdemar iv. of denmark, was born in 1353 and married ten years later to king haakon vi. of norway. her first act, after her father's death (1375), was to procure the election of her infant son olaf as king of denmark. olaf died in 1387, having in 1380 also succeeded his father; and in the following year margaret, who had ruled both kingdoms in his name, was chosen regent of norway and denmark. she had already given proofs of her superior statesmanship by recovering possession of schleswig from the holstein counts, who had held it absolutely for a generation, and who now received it back indeed as a fief (by the compact of nyborg 1386), but under such stringent conditions that the danish crown got all the advantage of the arrangement. by this compact, moreover, the chronically rebellious jutish nobility lost the support they had hitherto always found in schleswig-holstein, and margaret, free from all fear of domestic sedition, could now give her undivided attention to sweden, where the mutinous nobles were already in arms against their unpopular king, albert of mecklenburg. at a conference held at dalaborg castle, in march 1388, the swedes were compelled to accept all margaret's conditions, elected her "sovereign lady and ruler," and engaged to accept from her any king she chose to appoint. on the 24th of february 1389, albert, who had returned from mecklenburg with an army of mercenaries, was routed and taken prisoner at aasle near falkoping, and margaret was now the omnipotent mistress of three kingdoms. stockholm then almost entirely a german city, still held out; fear of margaret induced both the mecklenburg princes and the wendish towns to hasten to its assistance; and the baltic and the north sea speedily swarmed with the privateers of the _viktualien brodre or vitalianer_, so called because their professed object was to revictual stockholm. finally the hansa intervened, and by the compact of lindholm (1395) albert was released by margaret on promising to pay 60,000 marks within three years, the hansa in the meantime to hold stockholm in pawn. albert failing to pay his ransom within the stipulated time, the hansa surrendered stockholm to margaret in september 1398, in exchange for very considerable commercial privileges. it had been understood that margaret should, at the first convenient opportunity, provide the three kingdoms with a king who was to be her nearest kinsman, and in 1389 she proclaimed her infant cousin, eric of pomerania, king of norway. in 1396 homage was rendered to him in denmark and sweden likewise, margaret reserving to herself the office of regent during his minority. to weld the united kingdoms still more closely together, margaret summoned a congress of the three councils of state to kalmar in june 1397; and on trinity sunday, the 17th of june, eric was solemnly crowned king of denmark, norway and sweden. the proposed act of union divided the three _rigsraads_, but the actual deed embodying the terms of the union never got beyond the stage of an unratified draft. margaret revolted at the clauses which insisted that each country should retain exclusive possession of its own laws and customs, and be administered by its own dignitaries, as tending in her opinion to prevent the complete amalgamation of scandinavia. but with her usual prudence she avoided every appearance of an open rupture. a few years after the union of kalmar, eric, now in his eighteenth year, was declared of age and homage was rendered to him in all his three kingdoms, but during her lifetime margaret was the real ruler of scandinavia. so long as the union was insecure, margaret had tolerated the presence near the throne of "good men" from all three realms (the _rigsraad_, or council of state, as these councillors now began to be called); but their influence was always insignificant. in every direction the royal authority remained supreme. the offices of high constable and earl marshal were left vacant; the _danehoffer_ or national assemblies fell into desuetude, and the great queen, an ideal despot, ruled through her court officials acting as superior clerks. but law and order were well maintained; the licence of the nobility was sternly repressed; the kingdoms of sweden and norway were treated as integral parts of the danish state, and national aspirations were frowned upon or checked, though norway, as being more loyal, was treated more indulgently than sweden. margaret also recovered for the crown all the landed property which had been alienated during the troublous days of valdemar iv. this so-called "reduktion," or land-recovery, was carried out with the utmost rigour, and hundreds of estates fell into the crown. margaret also reformed the danish currency, substituting good silver coins for the old and worthless copper tokens, to the great advantage both of herself and the state. she had always large sums of money to dispose of, and a considerable proportion of this treasure was dispensed in works of charity. margaret's foreign policy was sagaciously circumspect, in sharp contrast with the venturesomeness of her father's. the most tempting offer of alliance, the most favourable conjunctures, could never move her from her system of neutrality. on the other hand she spared no pains to recover lost danish territory. gotland she purchased from its actual possessors, albert of mecklenburg and the livonian order, and the greater part of schleswig was regained in the same way. margaret died suddenly on board her ship in flensborg harbour on the 28th of october 1412. we know very little of her private character. contemporary records are both scanty and hostile to a sovereign who squeezed the utmost out of the people. craft and wiliness are the qualities most generally attributed to her, coupled with the cynical praise that "in temporal matters she was very lucky." see _danmarks riges historie, den senere middelalder_, pp. 358-412 (copenhagen, 1897-1905); erslev, _danmarks historie under dronning margrethe_ (copenhagen, 1882-1901); hill, _margaret of denmark_ (london, 1898). (r. n. b.) margaret of anjou (1430-1482), queen of england, daughter of rene of anjou, titular king of naples and jerusalem, was born on the 23rd of march 1430. when just fourteen she was betrothed to henry vi. king of england, and in the following year was brought to england and married at titchfield abbey, near southampton, on the 23rd of april 1445. on the 28th of may she was welcomed at london with a great pageant, and two days later crowned at westminster. margaret's marriage had been negotiated by william de la pole, duke of suffolk, and when she came to england, suffolk and his wife were her only friends. naturally she fell under suffolk's influence, and supported his policy. this, added to her french origin and sympathies, made her from the start unpopular. though clever and good-looking, she was self-willed and imperious, and without the conciliatory manners which her difficult position required. in almost everything she was the opposite of her gentle husband, but entered into his educational schemes, and gave her patronage to the foundation of queen's college, cambridge. margaret's really active share in politics began after suffolk's fall in 1450. she not only supported edmond beaufort, duke of somerset, in his opposition to richard of york, but concerned herself also in the details of government, seeking not over-wisely pecuniary benefits for herself and her friends. but as a childless queen her influence was limited; and when at last her only son, edward, was born on the 13th of october 1453, her husband was stricken with insanity. from this time she was the ardent champion of her husband's and son's rights; to her energy the cause of lancaster owed its endurance, but her implacable spirit contributed to its failure. when york's protectorate was ended by henry's recovery in january 1455, margaret, not content with the restoration of somerset and her other friends to liberty and office, pushed her politics to extremes. the result was the defeat of the lancastrians at st albans, and for a year margaret had to acquiesce in york's power. yet at this time one wrote of her: "the queen is a great and strong laboured woman, for she spareth no pain to sue her things to an intent and conclusion to her power" (_paston letters_, i. 378). all the while she was organizing her party; and ultimately, in october 1456 at coventry, procured some change in the government. though formally reconciled to york in march 1458, she continued to intrigue with her partisans in england, and even with friends in france, like pierre de breze, the seneschal of normandy. after the yorkist failure at ludlow in 1459, it was margaret's vindictiveness that embittered the struggle by a wholesale proscription of her opponents in the parliament at coventry. she was not present with her husband at northampton on the 10th of july 1460. after romantic adventures, in which she owed her safety to the loyalty of a boy of fourteen, her only companion, she escaped with her little son to harlech. thence after a while she made her way to scotland. from mary of gelderland, the queen regent, she purchased the promise of help at the price of surrendering berwick. margaret was still in scotland at the date of wakefield, so was not, as alleged by hostile writers, responsible for the barbarous treatment of york's body. but she at once joined her friends, and was with the northern army which defeated warwick at st albans on the 17th of february 1461; for the executions which followed she must bear the blame. after towton margaret with her husband and son once more took refuge in scotland. a year later she went to france, and with help from her father and louis xi. equipped an expedition under pierre de breze. she landed in northumberland in october, and achieved some slight success; but when on the way to seek further help from scotland the fleet was overwhelmed in a storm, and margaret herself barely escaped in an open boat to berwick. in the spring she was again trying to raid northumberland, meeting with many hardships and adventures. once she owed her escape from capture to the generosity of a yorkist squire, who carried her off on his own horse; finally she and her son were brought to bamburgh through the compassionate help of a robber, whom they had encountered in the forest. thence in august 1463 she crossed to sluys in flanders. she was almost destitute, but was courteously treated by charles the bold, then count of charolais, and so made her way to her father in france. for seven years she lived at saint-michel-en-barrois, educating her son with the help of sir john fortescue, who wrote at this time: "we be all in great poverty, but yet the queen sustaineth us in meat and drink. her highness may do no more than she doth" (_works_, ii. 72, ed. clermont). margaret never lost her hopes of her son's restoration. but when at last the quarrel between warwick and edward iv. brought her the opportunity, it was with difficulty that she could consent to be reconciled to so old and bitter an enemy. after warwick's success and henry's restoration margaret still remained in france. when at last she was ready to sail she was delayed by contrary winds. so it was only on the very day of warwick's defeat at barnet (14th of april) that margaret and edward landed at weymouth. three weeks later the lancastrians were defeated at tewkesbury, and edward was killed. margaret was not at the battle; she was captured a few days after, and brought to london on the 21st of may. for five years she remained a prisoner, but was treated honourably and for part at least of the time was in charge of her old friend the duchess of suffolk. finally louis xi. ransomed her under the treaty of pecquigny, and she returned to france on the 29th of january 1476. margaret lived for six years at different places in bar and anjou, in poverty and dependent for a pension on louis, who made her surrender in return her claims to her father's inheritance. she died on the 25th of april 1482 and was buried at angers cathedral. rene, whom she probably never saw after 1470, had died in the previous year. during her last years chastellain wrote for her consolation his _temple de bocace_ dealing with the misfortunes of contemporary princes. as the courageous champion of the rights of her son and her husband, margaret must command a certain sympathy. but she was politically unwise, and injured their cause by her readiness to purchase foreign help at the price of english interests. comines wrote well of her that she would have done more prudently if she had endeavoured to adjust the disputes of the rival factions instead of saying "i am of this party, and will maintain it" (_memoires_ vi. ch. 13). her fierce partisanship embittered her enemies, and the yorkists did not hesitate to allege that her son was a bastard. this, like the scandal concerning margaret and suffolk, is baseless; the tradition, however, continued and found expression in the _mirror for magistrates_ and in drayton's _heroical epistles_, as well as in shakespeare's _henry vi_. bibliography.--for contemporary english authorities see under henry vi. french authorities and especially the _chroniques_ of george de chastellain, and the _memoires_ of philippes de comines contain much that is of value. the _letters of margaret of anjou_ (camden soc., 1863) have small historical importance. there have been numerous biographies, the chief is mrs hookham's _life of margaret of anjou_ (1872). but the best modern accounts are to be found in g. du fresne de beaucourt's _histoire de charles vii._, dr gairdner's introductions to the _paston letters_, sir james ramsay's _lancaster and york_ (1892), and _the political history of england_, vol. iv. (1906), by professor c. oman. dr karl schmidt's _margareta von anjou, vor und bei shakespeare_ (palaestra, liv., berlin, 1906) is a useful digest of authorities. (c. l. k.) margaret of austria (1480-1530), duchess of savoy and regent of the netherlands from 1507 to 1530, daughter of the archduke maximilian of austria, afterwards the emperor maximilian i., was born at brussels on the 10th of january 1480. at two years of age she was betrothed to the dauphin charles, son of louis xi. of france, and was brought up at the french court. in 1489, however, charles, now king as charles viii., to prevent maximilian taking as his second wife the duchess anne of brittany, threw over margaret and married the breton heiress himself. her ambitious father now sought for margaret another throne, and in april 1497 she was married at burgos to the infant john, heir to the throne of castile and aragon. she was left a widow, however, a few months later. in 1501 margaret became the wife of philibert ii., duke of savoy, who only survived until 1504. the sudden death of her brother the archduke, philip the handsome (sept 25, 1506), opened out to her a new career. in 1507 she was appointed by her father regent of the netherlands and guardian of her nephew charles, afterwards the emperor charles v. charles came of age in 1515, but he entrusted margaret with the regency, as the vast extent of his dominions permitted him but seldom to visit the netherlands, and she continued to hold the post until her death in 1530. she was a wise and prudent ruler, of masculine temper and intrepidity, and very capable in affairs. see e. munch, _margaretha von osterreich_ (leipzig, 1883); th. juste, _charles-quint et marguerite d'autriche_ (brussels, 1858); a. le glay, _maximilien i. et marguerite d'autriche_ (with correspondence, paris, 1839); de quinsonas, _materiaux pour servir a l'histoire de marguerite d'autriche_ (paris, 1855), and e. e. tremayne, _the first governors of the netherlands: margaret of austria_ (1908). margaret of austria (1522-1586), duchess of parma and regent of the netherlands from 1559 to 1567, was a natural daughter of charles v. her mother, margaret van ghent, was a fleming. she was brought up by her aunts margaret of austria and maria of hungary, who were successively regents of the netherlands from 1507 to 1530 and from 1530 to 1555. in 1533 she was married to alexander de' medici, duke of florence, who was assassinated in 1537, after which she became the wife of ottavio farnese, duke of parma, in 1542. the union proved an unhappy one. like her aunts, who had trained her, she was a woman of masculine abilities, and philip ii., when he left the netherlands in 1559 for spain, acted wisely in appointing her regent. in ordinary times she would probably have proved as successful a ruler as her two predecessors in that post, but her task was very different from theirs. she had to face the rising storm of discontent against the inquisition and spanish despotism, and philip left her but nominal authority. he was determined to pursue his own arbitrary course, and the issue was the revolt of the netherlands. in 1567 margaret resigned her post into the hands of the duke of alva and retired to italy. she had the satisfaction of seeing her son alexander farnese appointed to the office she had laid down, and to watch his successful career as governor-general of the netherlands. she died at ortona in 1586. see l. p. gachard, _correspondance de marguerite d'autriche avec phillippe ii. 1554-1568_ (brussels, 1867-1887); r. fruin, _het voorspel van den tachtig jarigen vorlog_ (amsterdam, 1856); e. rachfahl, _margaretha von parma, statthalterin der niederlande, 1559-1567_ (munich, 1895); also bibliography in _cambridge modern history_, iii. 795-809 (1904). margaret of provence (1221-1295), queen of france, was the daughter of raymond berenger v., count of provence. she was married to saint louis at sens on the 27th of may 1234, and was crowned the next day. blanche of castile, the queen-mother, arranged the marriage to win over to the cause of france the powerful count of provence, but treated her daughter-in-law most unkindly, and her jealousy of the energetic young queen was naturally shared by louis, whose coldness towards and suspicion of his wife are well known. margaret did not lack courage, she followed the king on his crusade, and bore herself heroically at damietta. but her ambition and strong personal prejudices often led her to actions injurious to the realm. this is most noticeable in her hostility to her brother-in-law charles of anjou, who had married her sister beatrice, and her devotion to henry iii. of england, who had married her other sister eleanor. aspiring during the reign of her son to the same role which she had seen blanche of castile play, she induced, in 1263, the young philip, heir to the throne, to promise to obey her in everything up to the age of thirty; and saint louis was obliged to ask for a bull from urban iv. which would release the prince from his oath. after saint louis' death, margaret continued obstinately to claim her rights on the county of provence against charles of anjou. she sought to employ force of arms, calling upon her son, her nephew edward ii. of england, and the german king rudolph of habsburg. she did not give up her claim until after the death of charles of anjou (1285), when philip the bold succeeded in getting her to accept an income from the county of anjou in exchange for her rights in provence. she died on the 31st of december 1295. see e. boutaric, _marguerite de provence_, in _revue des questions historiques_ (1867), pp. 417-458. margaret maultasch (1318-1369), countess of tirol, who received the name of maultasch (pocket-mouth) on account of the shape of her mouth, was the daughter and heiress of henry, duke of carinthia and count of tirol. when henry died in 1335 carinthia passed to albert ii., duke of austria; but tirol was inherited by margaret and her young husband, john henry, son of john, king of bohemia, whom she had married in 1330. this union was not a happy one, and the tirolese disliked the government of charles, afterwards the emperor charles iv., who ruled the county for his brother. the result was that john henry was driven from tirol, and margaret's cause was espoused by the emperor louis iv., who was anxious to add the county to his possessions. declaring her marriage dissolved on the ground that it had not been consummated, louis married margaret in 1342 to his own son louis, margrave of brandenburg. but as this action on the emperor's part entrenched on the privileges of the church, pope clement vi. placed father and son under the ban, from which they were not released until 1359. in 1361 margaret's husband died, followed two years later by her only son, meinhard, when she handed over tirol to rudolph iv., duke of austria, and retired to vienna, where she died on the 3rd of october 1369. she lived long in the memory of the people of carinthia, who regarded her as an amazon, and called her the _wicked gretl_. see a. huber, _geschichte der vereinigung tirols mit oesterreich_ (innsbruck, 1864).