Margaret of Savoy (June 21, 1382 or 1390 – November 23, 1464) was Marchioness of

Montferrat Montferrat (, ; it, Monferrato ; pms, Monfrà , locally ; la, Mons Ferratus) is part of the region of Piedmont in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, ...

, and a Dominican

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

Family

Margaret was the eldest of the four children—all daughters—born to Amadeo of Savoy,

Lord of Piedmont The lordship of Piedmont, later the principality of Piedmont ( it, Piemonte), was originally an appanage of the Savoyard county and as such its lords were members of the Achaea branch of the House of Savoy. The title was inherited by the elder br ...

(and titular

Prince of Achaea The Prince of Achaea was the ruler of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). Though more or less autonomous, the principality was never a fully independent s ...

), and his wife Catherine of Geneva. Her paternal grandparents were Giacomo of Savoy, titular Prince of Achaea, and his second wife Sibylle of Baux. Her maternal grandparents were

Amadeus III, Count of Geneva Amadeus III (french: Amédée III, 29 March 1311 – 18 January 1367) was the Count of Geneva from 1320 until his death. He ruled the Genevois, but not the city of Geneva proper, and it was during his time that the term "Genevois" came to be used ...

, and Mahaut d'Auvergne. Their claim to the throne of Achaea came from her great-grandfather Philip of Savoy, eldest son of

Thomas III of Piedmont Count Thomas III (c. 1246 – 16 May 1282), called ''Thomas of Savoy'' or ''de Savoie'', was the lord of Piedmont and a claimant to the county of Savoy from 1268. He was the eldest son of Thomas II of Savoy and Beatrice di Fieschi, niece of Po ...

and Guia of Burgundy. Philip married

Isabella of Villehardouin Isabella of Villehardouin (1260/1263 – 23 January 1312) was reigning Princess of Achaea from 1289 to 1307. She was the elder daughter of Prince William II of Achaea and of his third wife, Anna Komnene Doukaina, the second daughter of Michael II ...

, Princess of Achaea, and co-reigned with her from 1301 to 1307. They were both deposed by

Philip I of Taranto Philip I of Taranto (10 November 1278 – 26 December 1331), of the Angevin house, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople (as Philip II) by right of his wife Catherine of Valois–Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of A ...

but continued to claim the title. However Giacomo was a son of Philip by his second wife Catherine de la Tour du Pin and his claim to be the heir of Isabella of Villehardouin was disputed.

Marriage

On January 17, 1403, Margaret married

Theodore II, Marquess of Montferrat Theodore II Palaeologus (died 16 April 1418) was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1381. Life He was the thirdborn son of John II of Montferrat and Isabel of Majorca. Theodore was named governor of the margraviate after the death of his broth ...

, a member of the

Palaiologos The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; grc-gre, Παλαιολόγος, pl. , female version Palaiologina; grc-gre, Παλαιολογίνα), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek f ...

dynasty and male-line descendant of Andronikos II Palaiologos. Theodore was the widower of Jeanne of Bar,Clugnet, Léon. "Blessed Margaret of Savoy ." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Jan. 2013
/ref> daughter of

Robert I, Duke of Bar Robert I of Bar (8 November 1344 – 12 April 1411) was Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson and Count and then Duke of Bar. He succeeded his elder brother Edward II of Bar as count in 1352. His parents were Henry IV of Bar and Yolande of Flanders. Whe ...

, and Marie Valois. Her piety increased after she heard the preaching of

Vincent Ferrer Vincent Ferrer, OP ( ca-valencia, Sant Vicent Ferrer , es, San Vicente Ferrer, it, San Vincenzo Ferreri, german: Sankt Vinzenz Ferrer, nl, Sint-Vincent Ferrer, french: Saint Vincent Ferrier; 23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419) was a Kingdom of V ...

, who spent several months in

. This marriage lasted for fifteen years but was childless. Theodore died in 1418.Lucetta Scaraffia, Gabriella Zarri -Women and Faith: Catholic Religious Life in Italy from Late ... - 1999 - Page 223 "As an example of a middle way, there are the troubles of Margaret of Savoy (1382-1464)... the young princess was given in marriage to Theodore II Paleologus as a means to end the contention between the two royal families. Theodore was fifteen years older than she, a rough, military man, and already the father of two children who were nearly of the same age as the young bride."

Monastic life

When she was left a widow, she decided to abandon the world. Leaving the direction of the affairs of the marquisate to Jean-Jacques, the son of her husband by his first marriage, she retired to Alba where she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic. A little later, Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, asked her hand in marriage and begged Pope Martin V to relieve her of her vow. But Margaret opposed a formal refusal to this request and with several young women of rank, she founded a monastery and placed it under the rule of the order of St. Dominic. Redoubling her mortifications she remained a model of piety and died at

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...

, 23 November 1464.

Veneration

On 13 December 1464, her remains were placed in a simple tomb; in 1481 they were transferred to a different and much more beautiful sepulchre built in her monastery at the expense of

William VIII of Montferrat William VIII Palaiologos (Italian: ''Guglielmo VIII Paleologo''; 19 July 1420 – 27 February 1483) was the Marquis of Montferrat from 1464 until his death. He was the second son of Marquis John Jacob, and inherited the Marquisate after the deat ...

. They are presently held in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena, Alba. Four noble ''beati'' of the Savoy family are depicted on the vault of a bay in the south aisle of the church of San Michele in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

. Margaret is shown dressed as a nun holding three arrows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret Of Savoy (Blessed) 1390 births 1464 deaths People from Fossano People from Alba, Piedmont House of Savoy Marchionesses of Montferrat 15th-century venerated Christians Roman Catholic royal saints Italian Roman Catholic abbesses 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 14th-century people from Savoy Beatifications by Pope Clement IX