Margaret of Nevers (french: link=no, Marguerite; December 1393 – February 1442), also known as Margaret of Burgundy, was
Dauphine of France
The Dauphine of France (, also , ) was the wife of the Dauphin of France (the heir apparent to the French throne). The position was analogous to a Crown prince, crown princess (the wife of a crown prince and heir apparent to a throne).
List of Da ...
and Duchess of Guyenne as the daughter-in-law of
King Charles VI of France
Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...
. A pawn in the dynastic struggles between her family and in-laws during the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, Margaret was regarded as the future
Queen of France
This is a list of the women who were queens or empresses as wives of French monarchs from the 843 Treaty of Verdun, which gave rise to West Francia, until 1870, when the Third Republic was declared.
Living wives of reigning monarchs technica ...
at two separate times, as a result of her two marriages: first to the Dauphin and second to the Duke of Brittany.
Early life
Born in late 1393, Margaret was the eldest child and the first of six daughters of
John the Fearless
John I (french: Jean sans Peur; nl, Jan zonder Vrees; 28 May 137110 September 1419) was a scion of the French royal family who ruled the Burgundian State from 1404 until his death in 1419. He played a key role in French national affairs during ...
and
Margaret of Bavaria
Margaret of Bavaria (1363 – 23 January 1424, Dijon) was Duchess of Burgundy by marriage to John the Fearless. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low Countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy d ...
. Her father was, at the time,
Count of Nevers
The counts of Nevers were the rulers of the County of Nevers, which became a French duchy in 1539, with the rulers of the duchy calling themselves dukes.
History
The history of the County of Nevers is closely connected to the Duchy of Burgundy. ...
and
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
to the
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...
ruled by his father,
Philip the Bold
Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and '' jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg.
Philip II was ...
. On 9 July 1394, Duke Philip and his mentally unstable nephew,
King Charles VI of France
Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...
, agreed that the former's first grandchild would marry the latter's son and heir apparent,
Dauphin Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
. Following their formal betrothal in January 1396, Margaret was known as "''madame la dauphine''".
She and her sisters, described by a contemporary as "plain as owls",
grew up in an "affectionate family atmosphere" in the ducal residences of Burgundy, and were close to their paternal grandmother,
Countess Margaret III of Flanders.
First marriage
The death of her eight-year-old fiancé in early 1401 forced Margaret's grandfather and Charles' mother,
Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria (or Isabelle; also Elisabeth of Bavaria-Ingolstadt; c. 1370 – September 1435) was Queen of France from 1385 to 1422. She was born into the House of Wittelsbach as the only daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingol ...
, to
arrange
Arrange is a mythological figure from the Australian aboriginal creation myth of the Alyawarre people for Karlu Karlu. In the myth, the figure Arrange, who is also referred to as the devil man, comes from Ayleparrarntenhe. Arrange was making a ...
a new union in the wake of
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War
The Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War was a conflict between two cadet branches of the French royal family – the House of Orléans (Armagnac faction) and the House of Burgundy ( Burgundian faction) from 1407 to 1435. It began during a lull in the ...
. In Paris in May 1403, it was agreed that Margaret would marry the new Dauphin of France,
Duke Louis of Guyenne.
A double marriage took place at the end of August 1404,
as part of Philip the Bold's efforts to maintain a close relationship with France by ensuring that the next Queen of France would be his granddaughter.
Margaret married Dauphin Louis, while her only brother,
Philip the Good
Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
, married Louis' sister
Michelle.
Philip the Bold did not live long enough to see his grandchildren's marriages
consummated
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage t ...
. He died in 1404, and was succeeded by Margaret's father.
The French Italian author
Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes.
Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...
dedicated ''
The Treasure of the City of Ladies
''The Treasure of the City of Ladies'' (''Le trésor de la cité des dames'', also known ''The Book of the Three Virtues'') is a manual of education by medieval Italian-French author Christine de Pisan. Finished, like her previous ''The Book of ...
'' to the young Dauphine, in which she advised her about what she had to learn and how she should behave; the manuscript may have even been commissioned by the Dauphine's father.
It was not until June 1409 that the marriages were consummated, according to
Jean Juvénal des Ursins
Jean (II) Juvénal des Ursins (1388–1473), the son of the royal jurist and provost of the merchants of Paris Jean Juvénal, was a French cleric and historian. He is the author of several legal treatises and clerical publications and the ''Histoi ...
, after which Margaret moved to the court of her mother-in-law.
Margaret soon became a pawn in the struggle between two belligerent fractions, the Armagnacs and the Burgundians, who aspired to control her husband. Their childless marriage ended with Louis' death in 1415.
The young widow was rescued with some difficulty from Armagnac-controlled Paris.
She then returned to Burgundy, living there for a few years with her unmarried sisters alongside their mother. Upon their father's assassination in 1419, Philip the Good became Duke of Burgundy.
Second marriage
![Marguerite de Bourgogne (1393-1441)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Marguerite_de_Bourgogne_%281393-1441%29.jpg)
Margaret's father-in-law died in 1422, and the English occupied a part of France in the name of his infant grandson,
King Henry VI of England
Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at ...
, who was to succeed him according to the
Treaty of Troyes
The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the French throne upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was formally signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of ...
. At the same time, Margaret's brother-in-law
Charles VII claimed the crown for himself. In early 1423, Philip the Good entered into an alliance with
Duke John V of Brittany and Henry's regent,
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford KG (20 June 138914 September 1435) was a medieval English prince, general and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son of ...
. He intended to reinforce the alliance by arranging marriages of his sisters,
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
and Margaret, with the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Brittany's younger brother
Arthur, Count of Richmond, respectively.
Margaret was far from enthusiastic about remarrying and attempted to postpone or prevent the marriage by complaining that Arthur was still imprisoned by the English and that all her sisters had married dukes. As the former Dauphine of France who still used the title of Duchess of Guyenne, she claimed that a count was too far beneath her in rank.
Philip had to send his trusted servant, Renier Pot, as a special ambassador to Margaret. Pot explained to her the necessity of an alliance with Brittany and told her that Bedford had created Arthur
Duke of Touraine {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Duke of Touraine was a title in the Peerage of France, relating to Touraine.
It was first created in 1360 for Philip the Bold, youngest son of King John II of France. He returned the duchy to the Crown in 1363 on b ...
. Per Philip's instructions, Pot told Margaret that, still being a fairly young widow, she ought to marry and have children soon, more so because Philip himself was now a childless widower. She eventually yielded, and the marriage was celebrated on 10 October 1423.
Arthur soon became a very influential person at the royal court in Paris, and staunchly worked in the interests of Burgundy, especially during his marriage to Margaret. Burgundy and Brittany eventually changed sides, joining Charles VII in his fight against the English. Margaret proved to be a devoted wife, protecting her husband when he fell out with Charles VII and managing his estates while he was at the battlefield. She returned with him to Paris when the French regained control of the city in 1436. Little is known about her life after 1436. She died childless in Paris in February 1442. In her will, a copy of which is preserved in the archives of
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, she asked that her heart be buried at a
Picardy
Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France.
Hi ...
shrine called Notre-Dame de Liesse. Both her widower and brother, however, were too busy to carry out her final request. Arthur remarried within a year; both his subsequent marriages were also childless.
Ancestry
References
Further reading
*Autrand, Françoise. ''Charles VI le roi fou''.
{{Dauphines of France
1393 births
1442 deaths
House of Valois
Dauphines of Viennois
Dauphines of France
Duchesses of Aquitaine
Medieval French nobility
15th-century French people
15th-century French women
14th-century French people
14th-century French women