False Margaret (or Margareth or Margareta) ( – 1301) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

woman who impersonated

Margaret, Maid of Norway Margaret (, ; March or April 1283 – September 1290), known as the Maid of Norway, was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death. As she was never inaugurated, her status as monarch is uncertain and has been debated by historian ...

. The real Margaret had died in 1290 at

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, and her father, King Eric II, died in 1299, succeeded by his brother King Haakon V. The following year a woman arrived at

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, Norway in a ship from

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, Germany, claiming to be Margaret, and accused several people of treason. She claimed that she had not died in Orkney, had been sold by Tore Haakonsson's wife Ingeborg, and sent to Germany, where she had married. The people of Bergen and some of the clergy there supported her claim, even though the late King Erik had identified his dead daughter's body, and even though the woman appeared to be about 40 years old, whereas the real Margaret would have been 17. She was

burned at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...

for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

Nordnes Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Vågen, Bergen, Vågen, Byfjorden (Hordaland), Byfjorden, and Puddefjorden surround the peninsula. The Akvariet i Bergen, Bergen Aquarium is locat ...

in Bergen in 1301, and her husband was beheaded. She may have been used by

Audun Hugleiksson {{Use dmy dates, date=October 2013 Audun Hugleiksson (Hestakorn) ({{circa 1240 – 2 December 1302) was a Norwegian nobleman at the end of the 13th century. He was the king's right hand, both under King Magnus Lagabøte and King Eirik Magnusson. ...

as a pawn in the plot against the Maid's uncle, Haakon V. The story of the betrayed Princess was spread through popular ballads in Norway and Scotland.Richard Oram:
Kings and Queens of Scotland
' Some years later a small St Margaret Church (Margaretaskirk) was built in Bergen near the place of execution, although this was frowned on by the authorities, and it became the centre of a local

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

. The eventual fate of the church is uncertain, but it was probably demolished around the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

References

Sources

External links

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on the church
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about the Iceland Saga on the case {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret, False 13th-century births 1301 deaths Impostor pretenders People executed by Norway by burning Executed Norwegian women Pretenders to the Scottish throne 14th-century executions by Norway 14th-century Norwegian women History of Bergen