Marguerite of Soissons (died before 4 July 1381) was a
Queen consort of Armenia by marriage to
Leo V, King of Armenia
Leo V or Levon V (occasionally Levon VI; hy, Լևոն, ''Levon V''; 1342 – 29 November 1393), of the Lusignan dynasty, House of Lusignan, was the last Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. He ruled from 1374 to 1375.
Leo was described ...
. She was a daughter of John of Soissons and Marie de Milmars.
Life
Marguerite's first husband was Honfroy de Scandelion, this marriage was only short and bore no children, her husband presumably died.
Marguerite's second marriage was to
Leo V, King of Armenia
Leo V or Levon V (occasionally Levon VI; hy, Լևոն, ''Levon V''; 1342 – 29 November 1393), of the Lusignan dynasty, House of Lusignan, was the last Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. He ruled from 1374 to 1375.
Leo was described ...
. He was an illegitimate son of
Jean de Lusignan, Constable of Armenia and Soldane of Georgia, daughter of
George V of Georgia. They married at
Cyprus in May, 1369.
In 1374 Leo was invited to the Armenian throne. Margaret and Leo were crowned King and Queen of Armenia on September 14 at
Sis.
Margaret and Leo had a daughter, Marie. Leo and his family sent into captivity in
Egypt after the Egyptian troops occupied the Armenian capital in 1375. The royal family was relatively well treated. In August 1377, Leo met with
Jean Dardel Jean Dardel was a Friar Minor of the French province of the Franciscan order, chronicler of Armenia in the fourteenth century, and adviser and confessor to King Leo V (or VI) of Armenia. Nothing is known regarding him except what he himself tells u ...
, a Franciscan who was on his way for a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. Leo befriended him and employed him as his secretary. Dardel returned to Europe to plead the case of Leo and his family, and managed to convince King
John I of Castile to pay a ransom of precious stones, silks, and birds of prey in 1382.
However, this came too late for Margaret and Marie. Margaret was with her young daughter in
Cairo when the princess died in 1381. Margaret probably died soon afterwards. Margaret and her daughter were buried together in the Church of St. Martin's,
Cairo.
[Rudt de Collenberg ( 1980:236 ).]
Leo went to live in
Spain where he was made Lord of
Madrid by King John. He died in 1393.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret of Soissons, Queen of Armenia
Armenian queens consort
House of Lusignan
14th-century deaths
14th-century Armenian people
14th-century Armenian women