Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland
| Margaret of Denmark | |
|---|---|
_by_Hugo_van_der_Goes.jpg) Margaret of Denmark | |
| Queen consort of Scotland | |
| Tenure | 1469–1486 |
| Born | 23 June 1456 Denmark |
| Died | 14 July 1486 (aged 30) Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | James III of Scotland |
| Issue | James IV of Scotland James, Duke of Ross John, Earl of Mar |
| House | House of Oldenburg |
| Father | Christian I of Denmark |
| Mother | Dorothea of Brandenburg |
Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – before 14 July 1486) was the Queen Consort of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 as the wife of King James III of Scotland. She was the daughter of King Christian I of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481), and Sweden (1457–1464), and his wife Dorothea of Brandenburg. The future King James IV of Scotland was her eldest son.
Life
Margaret was betrothed to James of Scotland in 1460. The marriage was arranged by recommendation of the king of France to end the feud between Denmark and Scotland about the taxation of the Hebrides islands, a conflict that raged between 1426 and 1460. In July 1469 (at age 13), at Holyrood Abbey, she married James III, King of Scots (1460–88). Her father, King Christian I of Denmark and Norway, agreed to a considerable dowry. He was in need of cash, however, so the islands of Orkney and Shetland, possessions of the Norwegian crown, were pledged as security until the dowry was to be paid.
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, was at that time the Norse Earl of Orkney. In 1472 he was made to exchange his Orkney fief to Castle Ravenscraig, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights in the islands too.
This marriage produced three children:
- James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513)
- James Stewart, Duke of Ross (March 1476 - January 1504), and
- John Stewart, Earl of Mar (December 1479 - 1503).
Margaret became a popular queen in Scotland and was described as beautiful, gentle, and sensible[1] A story given by her son claims that Margaret was killed by poison given to her by Ramsay, leader of one of the political factions[1] However, as Ramsay was favoured by the royal family also after the death of the queen, this is considered doubtful and may have been slander [1]
She died at Stirling Castle and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey.
Legacy
Her great-great-grandson James VI of Scotland married another princess of her dynasty, Anne of Denmark. They became ancestors of all the future monarchs of England and Scotland.
She was responsible for introducing the bloodline of England's first Danish monarch King Sweyn Forkbeard into the Scottish Royal blood line, and after James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne in 1603, into the English royal bloodline as well.
Ancestry
References
- ^ a b c "121 (Dansk biografisk Lexikon / XI. Bind. Maar - Müllner)". Runeberg.org. Retrieved 2011-01-05.