Margaret of L'Aigle (, ) (died 1141) was

Queen of Navarre This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the l ...

as the first wife to

García Ramírez of Navarre García Ramírez (), sometimes García IV, V, VI or VII ( 1112 – 21 November 1150), called the Restorer (, ), was the King of Navarre (Pamplona) from 1134. The election of García Ramírez restored the independence of the Navarrese kingdom af ...

. She was the daughter of Gilbert of L'Aigle and Juliana du

Perche Perche () (French: ''le Perche'') is a former Provinces of France, province of France, known historically for its forests and, for the past two centuries, for the Percheron draft horse, draft horse breed. Until the French Revolution, Perche was ...

, daughter of

Geoffrey II, Count of Perche Geoffrey II (died October 1100), Count of Mortagne and Count of Perche, was the son of Rotrou I, Viscount of Châteaudun, and Adelise de Bellême, daughter of Guérin de Domfron. Geoffrey was Count of Mortagne and Seigneur of Nogent from 1060 to 109 ...

Life

Though daughter of the Anglo-Norman lord of L'Aigle, she had connections with the region where she would marry. Her maternal grandmother, Beatrice of Montdidier, was sister of Felicia, Queen of Navarre and Aragon. Her uncle,

Rotrou III, Count of Perche Rotrou III (bef. 1080 – 8 May 1144), called the Great (''le Grand''), was the Count of Perche and Mortagne from 1099. He was the son of Geoffrey II, Count of Perche, and Beatrix de Ramerupt, daughter of Hilduin IV, Count of Montdidier. He was ...

, had fled Normandy in despair after a family tragedy, the loss of his wife, son, and two nephews, Margaret's brothers Engenulf and Geoffrey of L'Aigle, in the 1120 wreck of the ''

White Ship The ''White Ship'' (; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast off Barfleur during a trip from France to Engla ...

''. Leaving Margaret's mother Juliana in charge of his County of Perche, Rotrou returned to Aragon, where he had earlier spent time fighting, and while there this second time he arranged Margaret's marriage.

Marriage and children

Margaret was married in 1130 to García Ramírez, lord of Monzón, four years before his unexpected election to the throne of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. He confirmed the rights and privileges of the church of

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

on the advice of "''uxoris mee Margarite regina''" by charter dated 1135. Margaret was to bear García: * Sancho VI * Blanca, born after 1133, married

Sancho III of Castile Sancho III ( 1134 – 31 August 1158), called the Desired (''el Deseado''), was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158. He was the son of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his wife Berengaria of Barcelona, and was s ...

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

, named after her mother, married

William I of Sicily William I (1120 or 1121 7 May 1166), called the Bad or the Wicked (), was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile. William's title "the Bad" ...

Garcia's relationship with Margaret was, however, unstable. She supposedly took many lovers and showed favouritism to her French relatives. She bore a second son named

Rodrigo Rodrigo () is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' ( Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the la ...

, whom her husband refused to recognise as his own. He was never acknowledged as a son by the Navarrese king, even after Margaret's death, and he was widely considered a bastard, though his sister Margaret did not treat him as such. He certainly never behaved as anything other than the son of a king. Margaret died on May 25, 1141. Her husband later remarried, yet her younger daughter remembered her fondly.Jacqueline Alio. ''Margaret, Queen of Sicily''. New York, 2016, p 170.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marguerite of L'Aigle Year of birth unknown 1141 deaths 12th-century nobility from the Kingdom of Navarre 12th-century Spanish women House of Jiménez Navarrese royal consorts Mothers of Navarrese monarchs