Margaret of England (15 March 1275 – after 1333) was the tenth child and seventh daughter of King
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
and his first wife,
Eleanor of Castile. Her husband was
John II, Duke of Brabant
John II (27 September 1275 – 27 October 1312), also called John the Peaceful, was Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg (1294–1312). He was the son of John I of Brabant and Margaret of Flanders.
John II succeeded his father in 1294 ...
, whom she married in 1290, the year of her mother's death. Margaret and John had one child,
John III, Duke of Brabant
John III ( nl, Jan; 1300 – 5 December 1355) was Duke of Brabant, Duke of Lothier, Lothier (1312–1355) and List of rulers of Limburg, Limburg (1312–1347 then 1349–1355). He was the son of John II, Duke of Brabant, and Margaret of England, ...
.
Early life
Margaret was born on 15 March 1275, at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
, the tenth child of King Edward I and his cousin
Eleanor of Castile.
Margaret's fifteen siblings included
Joan of Acre
Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade.
She was married twi ...
,
Eleanor, Countess of Bar,
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316) was the eighth and youngest daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. Of all of her siblings, she was closest to her younger brother King Edward II, as they were only ...
and her father's successor,
Edward II of England
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...
.
Duchess of Brabant
On 8 July 1290 Margaret married
John II, Duke of Brabant
John II (27 September 1275 – 27 October 1312), also called John the Peaceful, was Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg (1294–1312). He was the son of John I of Brabant and Margaret of Flanders.
John II succeeded his father in 1294 ...
in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, becoming
Duchess of Brabant
The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I, Duke of Brabant, Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Le ...
less than four years later on 3 May 1294. She had been acquainted with her groom since childhood,
[Costain, Thomas B. (1958). ''The Three Edwards''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. p.39] as they had been betrothed in 1278 when she was three years old. Margaret's wedding festivities were splendidly extravagant; they included a procession of knights in full body armour and richly dressed ladies singing as they paraded through the streets of London to the music provided by harpers, minstrels and violinists, while fools danced.
[Costain, p.39] Their only child was
John III, Duke of Brabant
John III ( nl, Jan; 1300 – 5 December 1355) was Duke of Brabant, Duke of Lothier, Lothier (1312–1355) and List of rulers of Limburg, Limburg (1312–1347 then 1349–1355). He was the son of John II, Duke of Brabant, and Margaret of England, ...
, successor to his father.
Margaret, described as having been a good-natured, merry child in her youth,
was unhappy at the Brabant court, as she was forced to accept her husband's perennial succession of mistresses and the illegitimate children they bore him,
all of whom were raised at court alongside her own son John. The latter was her only child, born 10 years into her marriage to the Duke.
During the reign of John II,
Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
continued supporting a coalition to stop French expansion. He tried to conquer South
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
from the pro-French count
John II John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499)
* John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672)
* John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302)
* John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318)
* John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...
of Holland, but was not successful. John, who suffered from
kidney stone
Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...
s and wanted his duchy to be peacefully handed over to his son upon his death, in 1312 signed the famous
Charter of Kortenberg
On September 27, 1312, the Duke of Brabant signed the Charter of Kortenberg that should better be referred to as a constitution. It was valid for the entire duchy of Brabant. From this charter originated a kind of "Parliament of Kortenberg" or a "C ...
.
Margaret and John attended the wedding of her brother Edward to
Isabella of France
Isabella of France ( – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France (), was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II, and regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving ...
in
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
on 25 January 1308. They accompanied the royal pair to England for their joint coronation at Westminster Abbey the following month.
Death
Margaret died twenty-two years after her husband. She died in
Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
and was buried at the
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
nl, Kathedraal van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele
, native_name_lang =
, image = Saints-Michel-et-Gudule Luc Viatour.jpg
, imagesize = 200px
, imagelink =
, imagealt =
, landscape ...
,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. She was the longest-living and last surviving of Edward I's nineteen children, dying in the reign of her nephew
Edward III of England
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ro ...
. Her tomb and that of her husband have been destroyed.
Ancestry
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret of England
1275 births
14th-century deaths
13th-century English people
14th-century English people
13th-century English women
14th-century English women
English princesses
Margaret Plantagenet
Burials at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
Duchesses of Brabant
Duchesses of Limburg
Daughters of kings
Children of Edward I of England