Margaret of York

For other uses, see Margaret of York (disambiguation).

Margaret of York
Anonymous portrait of Margaret of York, ca. 1468, Louvre
Duchess consort of Burgundy
Tenure	9 July 1468 – 5 January 1477
Born	(1446-05-03)3 May 1446 Fotheringhay Castle, England
Died	23 November 1503(1503-11-23) (aged 57) Mechlin, Flanders
Spouse	Charles the Bold
House	House of York
Father	Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Mother	Cecily Neville

Margaret of York (3 May 1446 – 23 November 1503) – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of two Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. She was born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England, and she died at Mechelen in the Low Countries.

Early life

Duchess Isabella of Burgundy, the mother of Charles the Bold, was through her blood-ties and her perception of Burgundian interests pro-English. As a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, she was consequently sympathetic to the House of Lancaster. She believed that Burgundian trade, from which the Duchy drew its vast wealth, depended upon friendly relations with England. For this reason she was prepared to favour any English faction which was willing to favour Burgundy. By 1454, she favoured the House of York, headed by Margaret's father, Richard, 3rd Duke of York. Although the King of England, Henry VI, was the head of the House of Lancaster, his wife, Margaret of Anjou, was a niece of Burgundy's bitter enemy, Charles VII of France, and was herself an enemy of the Burgundians; the Duke of York, by contrast, shared Burgundy's enmity towards the French, and preferred the Burgundians. Because of this, when the Duke of York came to power in 1453–54, during Henry VI's first period of insanity, negotiations were made between himself and Isabella for a marriage between Charles the Bold, then Count of Charolais, and one of York's unmarried daughters, of whom the 8-year old Margaret was the youngest. The negotiations petered out, however, due to power struggles in England, and the preference of Charles' father, Philip the Good, for a French alliance. Philip had Charles betrothed to Isabella of Bourbon, the daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes of Burgundy, in late March 1454, and the pair were married on 31 October 1454.

Margaret, being a useful bargaining tool to her family, was still unmarried at age 20, when Isabella of Bourbon died in September 1465. She had borne Charles only a daughter, Mary, which made it an imperative for him to remarry and father a son. The situation had changed since 1454: Charles was now highly respected by his father, who had in his old age entrusted the rule of Burgundy to his son; Charles was pro-English, and wished to make an English marriage and alliance against the French. For her own part, Margaret's family were far more powerful and secure than they had been in 1454: her father had been killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460, but her brother was now Edward IV, opposed ineffectively only by Margaret of Anjou and her son, Edward of Westminster; this made Margaret a far more valuable bride than she had been as the mere daughter of a Duke. Because of this, Charles sent his close advisor, Guillaume de Clugny, to London weeks after Isabella's death, to propose to Edward IV a marriage between Charles and Margaret. Edward responded warmly, and in the Spring of 1466 sent his brother-in-law, Lord Scales, to Burgundy, where Scales made a formal offer of Margaret's hand in marriage to Charles, and put forward Edward's own proposal of a reciprocal marriage between Charles' daughter Mary and Edward's brother, George, 1st Duke of Clarence.

Marriage

The marriage did not take place immediately, however. Continued talks were required, particularly since Charles was unwilling to marry his only child and potential heiress to Clarence, and these talks were undertaken by Anthony, Grand Bastard of Burgundy, Charles' half-brother. But added problems were introduced by the French: Louis XI did not want an alliance between Burgundy and England, his two greatest enemies. Louis accordingly tried to break the two apart, by offering the hand of his elder daughter, Anne, to Charles, that of his younger daughter, Joan, to Edward's youngest brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and that of his brother-in-law, Philip of Bresse, to Margaret. Edward showed interest in the latter two propositions, offending Charles the Bold, and delaying the Anglo-Burgundian relations.

Instead, in 1466, Margaret was betrothed to Peter, Constable of Portugal, whom the rebellious Catalans had invited to become their King. Peter was himself a nephew of Duchess Isabella of Burgundy, and the betrothal thus signified an attempt to placate Burgundy. It was not to be, however; worn out by illness, disappointments, sorrow and overwork, Peter died on 29 June 1466, leaving Margaret available once more.

By 1467, the situation had changed again. Philip the Good had died, and Charles the Bold had become Duke of Burgundy. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, had turned against Edward IV, and was plotting against him with French support. Edward in such circumstances needed the support of Charles, and provided no further obstacles to the marriage negotiations, formally agreeing to it in October 1467. Negotiations between the Duke's mother, Isabella, and the King of England's in-laws, Lords Scales and Rivers, then proceeded between December 1467 and June 1468. During this time, Louis XI did all he could to prevent the marriage, demanding that the Pope refuse to give a dispensation for the marriage (the pair were cousins in the fourth degree), promising trade favours to the English, undermining Edward's credit with the international bankers to prevent him being able to pay for Margaret's dowry, encouraging a Lancastrian invasion of Wales, and slandering Margaret, claiming that she was not a virgin and had borne a bastard son. He was ignored, however, a dispensation was secured after Burgundian bribes secured Papal acquiescence, and a complex agreement was drawn up between England and Burgundy, covering mutual defence, trade, currency exchange, fishing rights and freedom of travel, all based on the marriage between the Duke and Margaret. By the terms of the marriage contract, Margaret retained her rights to the English throne, and her dowry was promised to Burgundy even if she died within the first year (often, the dowry would return to the bride's family under such circumstances). For his own part, Charles dowered Margaret with the cities of Mechelen, Oudenaarde and Dendermonde.

The marriage contract was completed in February 1468, and signed by Edward IV in March. The Papal dispensation arrived in late May, and preparations to send Margaret to Burgundy began. There was little enthusiasm for it outside Burgundy - the French naturally detested this union between their two enemies, whilst the English merchants, who still suffered from restrictions on the sale of their cloth in England, showed their disapproval by attacking Dutch and Flemish merchants amongst them.

Margaret left Margate for Sluys on 23 June 1468. Lord Scales escorted her to meet her future bridegroom. Despite Louis XI having ordered his ships to seize her on her journey, her convoy crossed without incident, reaching Sluys on the evening of the 25th. The following day, she met with her bridegroom's mother, Isabella, and daughter, Mary; the meeting was a success, and the three of them would remain close friends for the rest of their mutual lives. On 27 June, she met Charles for the first time, and the pair were privately married between 5am and 6am on 3 July, in the house of a wealthy merchant of Damme. Charles then left for Bruges, allowing the new Duchess the honour of entering separately a few hours later.

The celebrations that followed were extravagant even by the standards of the Burgundians, who were already noted for their opulence and generous festivities. The bride made her Joyous Entry in a golden litter drawn by white horses, wearing upon her head a coronet. During this procession, she charmed the burghers of Bruges when she chose to wave to them rather than shut herself away from the wind and rain. In the city itself, wine spurted freely from sculpted archers and artificial pelicans in artificial trees; the canals were decorated with torches, and the bridges decked with flowers; the arms of the happy couple were displayed everywhere, accompanied by the mottoes of the pair: Charles' Je l'ay emprins ("I have undertaken it") and Margaret's Bien en aviengne ("May good come of it"). The celebrations also included the "Tournament of the Golden Tree" that was arranged around an elaborately detailed allegory, designed to honor the bride.

Crown of Margaret of York, Aachen Cathedral Treasury

When the Duke and Duchess appeared there, both wore magnificent crowns: Margaret's crown (made in about 1461) was adorned with pearls, and with enamelled white roses for the House of York set between red, green and white enamelled letters of her name, with gold Cs and Ms, entwined with lovers' knots (it can still be seen in the treasury at Aachen Cathedral). The removal of the crown to Aachen was significant, since it allowed its survival from the ravages of the later English Civil War which involved the destruction of all the main English Crown Jewels. It thus remains the only medieval royal British crown still surviving.

Of the many splendid manuscripts commissioned by Margaret when she was Duchess of Burgundy, the richest, most powerful and stylish Duchess of Europe, pride of place goes to the illuminated Visions of Tondal illuminated by Simon Marmion (now at the Getty Museum; a facsimile has been published).

A good-looking woman, but (rarely for the hyperbole of her age) never described as beautiful, Margaret had fine features, and was, at almost 6 feet, very tall, a feature accentuated by her slimness, and her straight and upright bearing. Her eyes were grey, and her mouth was small; her smile allowed her to demonstrate her wry humour, her wit, and her graciousness. In appearance, she was utterly unlike the dark and burly Duke Charles the Bold, who was shorter than her: when they met for the first time, she was forced to bend in order to receive his kiss. But her intelligence was keen, and her will strong; she made a worthy bride for the Duke in nature.

With her husband's family, she got on excellently: she became a mother-figure to her stepdaughter, Mary, who shared Margaret's interests in reading, riding, hunting, and falconry; her mother-in-law, Isabella of Portugal, said of Margaret that she was "well pleased with the sight of this lovely lady, and pleased with her manners and virtues". A capable ruler, she proved a masterful Duchess; she was a Yorkist in sympathies, but she was before that the Duchess of Burgundy. She bore no male heir to succeed to the Duchy, but she preserved it from ruin; to her actions can be ascribed the survival of the Burgundian state, and the prevention of French dominance in Europe.

In fiction and television

Margaret is the major character in the 2008 novel A Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith. The book begins with Margaret mourning her father and brother and continues through her marriage and the aftermath of her husband's death. She also features in Easter Smith's 2009 The King's Grace.

In the computer game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, there is a contract mission in London City, entitled "Pretenders", where the Assassins are to "naturally" kill Margaret of York on behalf of Henry VII.

In the 1972 BBC drama The Shadow of the Tower she was played by Rachel Kempson.

Ancestors

Family of Margaret of York

16. Edward III, King of England (=28) 8. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York 17. Philippa of Hainault (=29) 4. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge 18. Peter, King of Castile 9. Isabella of Castile 19. María de Padilla 2. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York 20. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March 10. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March 21. Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster 5. Anne de Mortimer 22. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent 11. Alianore Holland, Countess of March 23. Alice FitzAlan 1. Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy 24. Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby 12. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby 25. Alice de Audley 6. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland 26. Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy 13. Maud Percy 27. Idoine de Clifford 3. Cecily Neville 28. Edward III, King of England (=16) 14. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster 29. Philippa of Hainault (=17) 7. Joan Beaufort 30. Paen de Roet 15. Katherine Swynford

Sources

• Taylor, Aline S, Isabel of Burgundy
• Heer, Friedrich, The Holy Roman Empire
• Calmette, Joseph, The Golden Age of Burgundy
• Gairdner, James (1893). "Margaret (1446-1503)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

• Margaret of York
• Notes on the 1468 wedding, especially its music.
• Burgundian Netherlands court life, reflected in collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Daughter of York, by Anne Easter Smith. An historical novel about Margaret, set in England and Burgundy (now Belgium)
• Crown of Margaret of York