:''See also Margaret Stewart.'' Margaret Stewart (french: Marguerite; 25 December 1424 – 16 August 1445) was a

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and the dauphine of France. She was the firstborn child of King

James I of Scotland James I (late July 139421 February 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of ...

and Joan Beaufort. She married the eldest son of the king of France, Louis, Dauphin of France, at the age of eleven. Their marriage was unhappy, and she died childless at the age of 20, apparently of a fever.

Early life

She was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, to

and Joan Beaufort, a cousin of Henry V of England. Margaret was the first of six daughters and twin sons born to her parents. Her surviving brother James would become James II of Scotland at the age of six.

Marriage

Margaret was Charles VII of France's diplomatic choice for daughter-in-law. The marriage was forced upon Charles's twelve-year-old son, Louis, which did not help their relationship. However, royal marriages in the 15th century were always political.Tyrell, Joseph M. Louis XI. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980. There are no direct accounts from Louis or Margaret of their first impressions of each other, and it is mere speculation to say whether or not they actually had negative feelings for each other. Several historians think that Louis had a predetermined attitude to hate his wife because she was his father's choice of bride. But it is universally agreed that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting on 24 June 1436, the day before their wedding. Margaret and Louis' marriage shows both the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy. The marriage took place 25 June 1436 in the afternoon in the chapel of the castle of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

and was presided by the Archbishop of Reims. By the standards of the time, it was a very plain wedding.Cleugh,James. Chant Royal The Life of King Louis XI of France (1423-1483). Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. Louis, nearly thirteen, looked clearly more mature than his bride, eleven. Margaret looked like a beautiful "doll", perhaps because she was treated as such by her in-laws. Charles wore "grey riding pants" and "did not even bother to remove his spurs". The Scottish guests were quickly hustled out after the wedding reception. This was seen as something of a scandal by the Scots. King Charles' attire and the speed with which the guests were hustled out was considered an insult to Scotland, which was an important ally in France's war with the English. However, this spoke to the impoverished nature of the French court at this time. They simply could not afford an extravagant ceremony or to host their Scottish guests for any longer than they did. Following the ceremony, "doctors advised against consummation" because of the relative immaturity of the bride and bridegroom. Margaret continued her studies and Louis went on tour with Charles to loyal areas of the kingdom. Even at this time, Charles was taken aback by the intelligence and temper of his son. During this tour, Louis was named dauphin by Charles, as was traditional for the eldest son of the king. Margaret was considered lovely, gracious and very beautiful, with a certain ability to write poetry and rhymes, though no example of her compositions survived destruction at her husband's hands after her death. She was also very interested in the French

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

's social and gallant life. She was a

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

of her father-in-law Charles VII of France and popular among the courtiers. However, she felt herself alien amongst the French court and became depressed. She had a strained relationship with her husband, the future

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of France, mainly because of Louis' hatred of his father. Charles VII ordered the marriage, and Margaret frequently supported the king against her husband. It is said that she wore a strongly-tied corset because of her fear of pregnancies, ate green apples and drank apple vinegar. Her unhappy marriage furthered her depression, as did the gossip regarding her by supporters of Louis.

Death

On 16 August 1445, between ten and eleven at night, she died in Châlons-sur-Marne, Marne,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the age of 20. On Saturday, 7 August, she and her ladies had joined the court on a short pilgrimage. It was very hot, and when she returned, she undressed in her stone chamber. The next morning she was feverish, the doctor diagnosed the inflammation of the lungs. She died, raving against a Jamet de Tillay, a Breton soldier, in favour of her father-in-law, King Charles (Jamet surprised Margaret at her habitual poetry reading, when there were no candles, only a good fire in the mantelpiece; he stuck a candle into her face, sniggered and afterwards went around, talking about "wanton princesses". Louis was cold to Margaret, and she attributed his coldness to the gossip spread by Jamet. She died, protesting her faithfulness to her husband, and accused Jamet of killing her with his words). ¹ Melancholic and distressed by slander against her, she sank into a final languor before dying. Her last words, in response to others' urgings to rouse herself and live, were supposedly ''Fi de la vie! qu'on ne m'en parle plus'' ("Fie on life! Speak no more of it to me"). She was buried in the Saint-Laon church (French) in

Thouars Thouars () is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. On 1 January 2019, the former communes Mauzé-Thouarsais, Missé and Sainte-Radegonde were merged into Thouars. It is on the River Thouet. Its inhabitants are known ...

, in the

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

department of France. Margaret is also famous for the legend that she was kissed or almost kissed by poet Alain Chartier while asleep in her own rooms (another variant of this legend has Anne of Brittany as its protagonist), though her age and location at the time of Chartier's death would have made that impossible.

Ancestry

References

Sources

* Ruth Putnam, ''Charles the Bold'' * Kendall, P.M. ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'', London, 2001, pp. 66, 393-395 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Margaret 1424 births 1445 deaths Margaret Stewart Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France Scottish emigrants to France French people of Scottish descent Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France People from Perth, Scotland Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France 15th-century Scottish people 15th-century Scottish women 15th-century French people 15th-century French women 15th-century French women writers 15th-century French writers Daughters of kings